Creative Victoria: A History of 119 Years of Creativity at Victoria University of Wellington

by Rachel Barrowman

Creativity isn’t all about individual inspiration and work. It sparks from the cross-fertilization of energy and imagination and ideas, and thrives in institutional, social, and cultural places that recognize the worth of cultural activity and creative expression, and that make room for and foster it. Over 119 years (and counting) Victoria University has made huge contributions to the cultural and creative life of Wellington and New Zealand, and beyond—in music, art, theatre, film, architecture, creative literature and publishing. It has actively sought to encourage creative thinking and creative expression—in a diversity of forms, across a diversity of fields—and to establish the creative arts as not only a legitimate but a vital part of the institution and its work. This is a story not only of the creative activity that has come out of Victoria, but also of the university’s role as a custodian of cultural treasures, and of its engagement with creative and cultural life beyond its doors. It is a rich and distinctive history, one of which the University can be proud.

175 pages, Paperback

Published July 15, 2019

About the author

Rachel Barrowman is an award-winning historian. Her publications include, The Turnbull: a library and its world (1995), and Mason: the life of R.A.K. Mason (2003), which won the biography category of the 2004 Montana New Zealand Book Awards. This biography also received a wealth of critical praise, and Kim Worthington described it as, ‘a superbly crafted biography’. Rachel Barrowman has worked as an editor for the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, and has been awarded key research fellowships.