We're running a crowdfunding campaign to help archive and share 13 Garrett's history - before she's gone forever
The archive was started on Matariki 2025 by a group of current and former residents, and has since evolved into a multi-media creative project.
With the upcoming eviction igniting a flood of stories and interest, we are using our last few months to gather stories from the thousands of people who have spent time in this iconic space, and we need your help to make this happen.
So, from August 13th til September 13th, we are raising funds through Boosted
Your donation will help us:
- Fund the outreach, collection and storage costs of the digital and physical archive.
- Produce at least three art projects using archival materials to tell the stories of 13 Garrett Street.
These are: a documentary film, a book, and a compilation album.
News outlets like Radio New Zealand have reported on the end of Garrett Street, but the framing has been a little off. Garrett isn't a 'party flat', it's an important community and arts space; one of the last non-commercial hold-outs in an increasingly gentrified city.
We want to tell our own stories, in our own words. A donation of any size will help us do it.
HOW THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT
Our priority is to cover our archival collection and storage costs, with a focus on gathering interviews before Garrett Street closes.
This includes:
- Website costs: hosting and domain, file-transfer service subscription
- Interview costs: koha for interviewers and subjects, plus travel costs, for 20 x audio interviews
- File management: stipend for work of organising incoming submissions
Our second priority is to fund the production of a film, book and compilation album.
The Book of Garrett
With your support, we hope to use the archive contents as the basis for a book on the history of 13 Garrett Street and its community.
Using transcripts of the archive’s interviews, submissions, and static media such as photos/posters it will track the stories of 13 Garrett Street as a community space from its beginnings in the early 90s up to and past its modern iteration's dissolution in 2026.We believe the story of 13 Garrett is a special one, and we want to tell it in our own words and with attention to all the shapes it has taken across the last 30+ years. What we create will not be comprehensive, nor objective; but we will make something that our community can see itself in and which tells our story for whoever comes after us.
This project will be led by Éimhín O’Shea.The Documentary Film
Will not be a regular documentary film, certainly not 'the story of Garrett street' from beginning to end. Kathleen is already starting with years of observational footage and hundreds of audio recordings, and will work to produce a series of moments that capture the many different moods of Garrett Street - the small clip on this page is a taste.The funds gathered will contribute to post-production costs - access to an edit suite, sound design, sound mixing and colour grading.
