Question 1

Why do you still exist?

Accepted Answer

Working conditions for women artists and writers aren’t great, with some exceptions that bring us deep joy. We live with a 32% gender pay gap and no policies that aim to reduce it.Too many of us lack the resources to develop our work and opportunities to present it to a public audience. Especially if it depicts ‘difficult’ and ‘different’ stories and images, about our lived experience of colonisation processes; of lesbianphobia and fear of nonbinary and trans people; of incest and other physical and spiritual violation; of disabilities; of single parenthood; of the physical and mental health systems and the justice system; and our lived experience in arts communities. Especially when in general, as women, we still bear the greater share of caring responsibilities.

Question 2

How does Spiral work?

Accepted Answer

We educate about women’s creative practices and legacies, and awhi and tautoko them with books, exhibitions, events, moving image, websites and archives. There have always been nonbinary people among us.

We’ve created, supported and held public spaces for work by women artists and writers for half a century, sometimes in association with sister organisations Kidsarus 2 (1978-ca 1985) and the  Women’s Gallery (1980-2004).

For more info, see:
Spiral Collectives   Projects 1975-2025 — A Catalogue (makariri 2025) 
Spiral Collectives Projects 1975-2025 — Some   Stories (koanga 2025)

Question 3

Why are awhi embrace, tautoko support so important to Spiral? Why do you ‘cherish’ creatives who are women, nonbinary?

Accepted Answer

You might expect us to use bigger  words, like ‘whakamana’ or ‘empower’. But we can’t. We didn’t empower Keri to write the bone people and it arrived in the mail with its mana intact. We didn’t empower Heather to write ‘Have you heard of  Artemisia?’. All we did was love their work and share it with audiences  who might appreciate it too.

‘Cherish’ comes from ‘carus’, ‘beloved, precious, valued’, the same Latin word that generated ‘care’ and ‘charity’.

If  you’re a woman, or nonbinary person, it’s tough to survive as a  creative practitioner. Many of us strengthen and flourish when we and  our work are cherished. So, Spiral cherishes. To build collective  wellbeing, we choose to engage our hearts and our artist imaginations in  collective acts that cherish creative work, its makers and its  audiences.

Two vibrant strands from our herstory affect our practices. Wāhine Māori have brought  their manaakitanga, their awhi and their tautoko to projects. And Heather McPherson and her Pākehā peers — who often also self-identified  as lesbians or lesbian feminists — modelled a consistent, kind embrace,  and support that both challenges and nourishes.Sometimes one influence is more obvious, sometimes another.

Our  50-year story demonstrates that our cherishing contributes strongly to  positive change, when combined with curiosity (“What if?”), persistence  and patience. It seems to help when we also detach from our individual  desires for financial or career advancement: this can be hard to do,  even for a short time. But problems are solved. Challenges are overcome.  And magic happens.

Question 4

What is your legal status?

Accepted Answer

Spiral used to operate under the umbrella of the Women’s Gallery Inc. Thanks to the generosity and expertise of Russell McVeagh, it is now a registered charity, The Spiral Collectives Trust (CC62215).

The Spiral Collectives Trust, and our fiscal host, Gift Collective, (CC40774) can both receive donations and grants, provide donation tax receipts, and disburse funds for expenses.

Question 5

Do you employ anyone?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes we contract specialists for particular tasks.

Question 6

How can I become a trustee?

Accepted Answer

Trustees  all have well-established arts practices and have worked on Spiral projects  before becoming trustees.

Question 7

I have a manuscript ready to go. Are you open to submissions?

Accepted Answer

We’re at capacity for the foreseeable future.

But we encourage people to ask to ‘borrow’ the Spiral imprint to publish  work that is by women and/or nonbinary people, or selected by them.

The imprint/logo may also be available for other creative projects.

Question 8

What kinds of ‘other creative projects’?

Accepted Answer

Spiral’s always welcomed what Heather McPherson described as ‘presence and capability’ and felt excited by ‘what if…?’ projects that trespass a little, try new ways to support and amplify creative expression by women and by nonbinary people.

Question 9

How does ‘borrowing’ the Spiral imprint work?

Accepted Answer

When you have a project that supports creative expression by women and/or by nonbinary people, in any medium, and want to take it to the world,  please ask us about forming your very own self-determining,  self-funding collective under the Spiral umbrella.

Question 10

What other support does Spiral offer?

Accepted Answer

EQUIPMENT: 
We link people who want to gift good second-hand devices to creative practitioners who need them.

Let us know if you’d like to go on the list of donors or recipients.

TAUTOKO:
We amplify work by women and nonbinary creatives on social media, whenever we can.

Tag us, and usually we'll tautoko your work and events.

LEGACIES
Historically,  we struggled to find information about our cultural grandmothers. We  wanted something different for future generations, to provide useful  information about the sometimes complex lives and work of those  associated with Spiral.

We maintain and protect Spiral’s archives, deposit them in public collections like the Alexander Turnbull Library and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, and educate about them. We  encourage others to do the same with their own archives and with their mates’ archives. It’s so easy to forget, to lose significant documents, analogue and digital. Please email us for more info.
 
Spiral Collectives   Projects 1975-2025 — A Catalogue 
Spiral Collectives Projects 1975-2025 — Some Stories

Question 11

I think my aunty exhibited at The Women’s Gallery / was published in Spiral. Where are your archives?

Accepted Answer

Mostly at the Alexander Turnbull Library — personal and organisational correspondence; other documents like minute books; photographs; audiotapes; video; ephemera; art works.

Our archive includes material from Kidsarus 2 and the Women’s Gallery and is open to everyone. A very small proportion of the collection is closed for some years because it contains sensitive material with the capacity to hurt living people.

Almost all our books are available for free download at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.

Image: Women's Gallery demolition 26 Harris Street Te-Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington 1983. Photograph Spiral.

Literature  is no-one’s private ground; literature is common ground. Let us  trespass freely and fearlessly and find our own way for  ourselves…literature will survive if commoners and outsiders like  ourselves make that country our own country, if we teach ourselves how  to read and how to write, how to preserve and how to create. 
Virginia Woolf

Question 12

How can I help?

Accepted Answer

Lots of ways! With us, or independently:

We love it whenever you tell us your stories and when you offer us your stories and images to include in our celebratory publications. We deeply appreciate the generous artists and writers who have contributed to Keri Hulme Our Kuru Pounamu and Spiral 8.

We live with a 32% gender pay gap (*Creative New Zealand & New Zealand On Air, A Profile of Creative Professionals [2022/23], p. 15.) Please  cherish women and non-binary creatives and their/our work whenever and  wherever you can, and help advocate for better conditions for them/us.  Any old time, any old where. With or without Spiral. Your  awhi matters. Your tautoko matters. So do your embrace, your support.  Many of us appreciate being asked 'How can I help?' or 'Are you OK?',  and welcome home cooking, and support for our caring responsibilities.

Join our social media — celebrate and amplify the creative work of women and nonbinary people with us, on
facebook 
instagram 
bluesky   
Youtube

Check out our books, freely available to read and download from the Christchurch Art Gallery te Puna o Waiwhetū site. 
Let us and others know what you think and feel about them. 
Recommend them whenever you can.

When AI 'scrapes' the  work of artists and writers for training purposes, without permission,  we suffer. Please support activism that seeks to redress this injustice.

Help build audiences on screens: watch out for work by women and  nonbinary people on tiktok, insta, streamers, YouTube, Vimeo, cinema and  television. Share with others what interests and excites you.

Offer your good used devices for redistribution to artists and writers who are women or nonbinary people. Many women creatives cannot easily replace essential hardware, so we have a programme that recycles used phones and computers and offers them to individuals.

Share your connections if you think they might benefit us.

Look out for our events, and our appearances at events that others organise.

Gift some time: offer your practical skills, always very welcome. Especially transcription, proof reading, and home cooking.

Help women and nonbinary people to maintain their archives in good shape and to make plans about where to house them safely.

Even the unbelievers amongst us welcome and cherish your karakia and prayers that support our kaupapa and intentions.

Donations are always welcome.

Our bank account is at Kiwibank: 38–9026–0058551–01 Spiral Collectives Trust.

Please  write your name in the reference box and then email us so we can  acknowledge you and issue a receipt. If you’d like us to use your gift  in a particular way, please let us know. We’ll certainly use it with  deep gratitude.

Most  donations qualify for a 33% tax credit up to your annual net income and  you can use your receipt, from us or from the Gift Collective, to gain  this tax credit. The IRD website has more information. GST is not  payable on donations.

--------------------
Image acknowledgements:
Spiral enjoys generous hospitality at Karukatea Featherston Booktown 2024. Photographer uncertain.
Launch for Kim Hunt’s The Freezer Books & Co Otaki 2024. L-R Biz Hayman cover designer, Kim Hunt. Photograph Spiral.
Cover Heather McPherson’s i do not cede, selected and with an introduction by Emer Lyons. Cover Biz Hayman.
Cover Women’s Film Festivals & #womeninfilm databases — A Handbook 2d ed including #directedbywomen #aotearoa
Parliamentary screening of Rouzie Hassanova’s Radiogram, Q & A 2020.  L-R Annie Collins, Rouzie, Emily. Photograph Lorna Kanavatoa.
On the road, taking Heather McPherson’s archives to Te Whanganui-a-Tara  Wellington, for deposit at the Alexander Turnbull Library, 2016. L-R  Marian Evans, Cushla Parekowhai. Photograph Selfie.

SPIRAL COLLECTIVES

ko mana wahine te pūtake

women's strength is our reason for being

HE KŌRERO
ATU ANŌ
(FAQ)

Pātai? Questions? Email us for more!

Why do you still exist?

How does Spiral work?

Why are awhi embrace, tautoko support so important to Spiral? Why do you ‘cherish’ creatives who are women, nonbinary?

What is your legal status?

Do you employ anyone?

How can I become a trustee?

I have a manuscript ready to go. Are you open to submissions?

What kinds of ‘other creative projects’?

How does ‘borrowing’ the Spiral imprint work?

What other support does Spiral offer?

I think my aunty exhibited at The Women’s Gallery / was published in Spiral. Where are your archives?

How can I help?

ko mana wahine te pūtake

WHAKAPĀ MAI
CONTACT US

kiaoraspiral@gmail.com

SPIRAL COLLECTIVES

ko mana wahine te pūtake

women's strength is our reason for being

HE KŌRERO ATU ANŌ (FAQ)

​

Pātai? Questions? Email us for more!

Why do you still exist?

How does Spiral work?

Why are awhi embrace, tautoko support so important to Spiral? Why do you ‘cherish’ creatives who are women, nonbinary?

What is your legal status?

Do you employ anyone?

How can I become a trustee?

I have a manuscript ready to go. Are you open to submissions?

What kinds of ‘other creative projects’?

How does ‘borrowing’ the Spiral imprint work?

What other support does Spiral offer?

I think my aunty exhibited at The Women’s Gallery / was published in Spiral. Where are your archives?

How can I help?

ko mana wahine te pūtake

WHAKAPĀ MAI CONTACT US

kiaoraspiral@gmail.com

HE KŌRERO
ATU ANŌ
(FAQ)

WHAKAPĀ MAI
CONTACT US