Acclaimed film director James Cameron who lives in and runs his global business from Wellington – and who is soon to become a New Zealand citizen, will share his insights on how to ensure the city’s flourishing at a Vision for Wellington’s inaugural public event scheduled for Wednesday 19 February 2025.
The Cameron event will be the first in a series of conversations, open to all Wellingtonians, and organised by Vision for Wellington, with prominent place-shaping experts and leaders from the community, business and politics to share their views on what makes a city and region thrive and what Wellington needs to do to transform itself into a flourishing, modern, ambitious city which all residents can enjoy and prosper in.
Vision for Wellington spokesperson, Dame Patsy Reddy, said: “We want to draw out the ingredients of a great city and why they matter. Having James Cameron – who chose to live and work in our region and is a champion of this place and its potential – as our special guest at our first event is an exciting way to focus on the many opportunities in front of our wonderful city.
“We are thrilled that well-known journalist and media personality, Paddy Gower, will moderate the conversation event in February.”
James Cameron said: “Vision For Wellington is the right initiative at the right time – an inclusive forum that will empower Wellingtonians to shape their own future and contribute to making this city all that it can and should be. I could live anywhere in the world but my family and I chose this city. I’ll be a New Zealand citizen in a couple months – and we’re here to stay. My children love it here and are thriving. I want the best for their future which is why I’m rolling up my sleeves and mucking in, with business leaders, innovators, and anyone really who cares about their city.”
In advance of the event, Stuff will be running a public poll which will enable all Wellingtonians to have their say about Wellington’s future and the vision that needs to underpin it. The results of the poll will inform the conversation on 19 February and the event series.
The February 19 conversation event and subsequent events will be livestreamed on Stuff and The Post so that as many Wellingtonians as possible can participate in the conversations.
Future conversations will focus on boosting business growth, opening-up innovation, investing in infrastructure, nurturing arts, culture and creativity, increasing tourism and events, and enhancing the city’s distinctiveness.
“Our event programme, including the input of Wellingtonians through Stuff’s poll and through the livestreams, will enable Vision for Wellington to shape a vision for our city from which a plan of action to revive our city and win back the confidence of its residents can be developed,” Dame Patsy Reddy said.
“We want our 2025 programme to be a world-leading example of participatory place-shaping so that, together, all Wellingtonians can send a clear message to existing and prospective councillors at next year’s local authority elections about what kind of city we want to live and work in and what the priorities need to be to make that happen.
“As we stated at Vision for Wellington’s inception, our sole focus is what’s best for Wellington and its people. Our 2025 programme will make clear what that looks like.”
Dame Patsy Reddy said that Vision for Wellington has established strong momentum since it launched in October.
“We have been shaping our work plan, developing our website, mapping out our event series and connecting with supporters.
“We are heartened by the strong and positive response from a wide range of Wellingtonians. We encourage all of the city’s residents to join in the conversation about the future of their city by going to: visionforwellington.nz”
