News
International engagements lead to enrolments
Japanese education providers and students are booking Whanganui visits following successful international education engagements with local secondary schools.
Whanganui x Dundee: Textile Legacies enables a textile design specialist from Whanganui to undertake a month-long residency in Dundee, and a Dundee-based specialist to undertake a reciprocal residency in Whanganui.
The project recognises the deep-rooted history of textile production in both cities, and the significance of textiles in expressing and sustaining ancestral and familial connections. It also acknowledges the vital role that the reclamation of traditional textile practices plays in cultural revitalisation in both Aotearoa New Zealand and Scotland.
This opportunity is open to practicing designers and design specialists working within textiles and/or connected fields. Applicants must live, work or have a studio located within the Whanganui district. The residency will last 1 month (4 weeks) across April 2026.
Applications close at 10:00am on Wednesday 19 November 2025.
The full project brief, including details on how to submit, can be found in the below PDF.
Applications will be reviewed by a selection panel which will feature indigenous voices, sector specialists, and a representative from Dundee City of Design. Panelists are as follows:
Lizzie Day, Project Coordinator – UNESCO City of Design Dundee
Dr Emma Bugden, Manager – UNESCO City of Design Whanganui
Greg Donson, Senior Curator – Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery
Cecelia Kumeroa, Design Ambassador – Te Rūnanga o Tūpoho
Further information about Connections Through Culture’s 2025 grantees can be found here.
If you have any questions please contact Dr Emma Bugden, Manager Whanganui UNESCO City of Design on emma.bugden@whanganuiandpartners.nz
Whanganui X Dundee: Textile Legacies is coordinated by UNESCO City of Design Dundee and UNESCO City of Design Whanganui and supported by the British Council New Zealand and the Pacific’s Connections Through Culture Programme.
Image credit: Factory Shop (2018), photography by Erika Stevenson. Courtesy of UNESCO City of Design Dundee.
