There's something magical about local community venues. Almost everyone can point to a moment that happened in one: a wedding, a family reunion, a drama class as a kid, learning to play football on a Saturday morning. These spaces gave us belonging, new skills, and a sense of purpose long before we had the words for any of it. In this episode of The Magic of Community Venues, we sat down with the people at Kete Aronui Community Rehearsal Facility, and one of the community groups that uses it, to hear what that actually looks like day to day.
Richard, Executive Director at Kete Aronui, puts it simply: community venues are education centres. Once you leave school, there aren't many places left that teach you something new just for the sake of it. Whether it's learning an instrument or picking up a new skill in a rehearsal space, these venues are quietly doing work that schools stop doing the moment you graduate. Not everyone has private space to do that kind of thing on their own, and for a lot of people, a community venue is the only option. Equitable access to spaces like this, Richard says, is "the core of society."
That's easy to say and easy to agree with. What's harder is actually running a venue well enough that people keep showing up.
None of the magic happens without someone doing the unglamorous work of keeping the venue running. At Kete Aronui, that fell to Connie and Richard, manually taking bookings by phone, processing payments, checking for overlapping room requests, and making sure people came and went at the right time. With over a hundred bookings a month, that's not a side task, it's a full workload on its own.
As Connie explains in the video, the real cost of that admin isn't just time, it's what the time gets taken away from. Back-and-forth emails, invoices, refunds, and the awkward "have you paid your bill" conversations all eat into the hours a venue could spend on bigger ideas: a mural project, a placemaking initiative, a new fundraiser. After moving to SpacetoCo, Kete Aronui cut their bookings admin time by 80%, freeing up enough time to open a new theatre in 2022.
"It cut down our operating time of dealing with bookings 80%. It has reduced the amount of time I have to sit on the computer and go through and ask people questions... we actually have a lot more time on our hands to grow the trust and the opportunities."
- Connie, Administrative Assistant at Kete Aronui Community Rehearsal Facility
It's not just venue staff who feel the difference. Ger Tew, founder of Recreators Community Upcycle Project, describes what booking a space used to involve: searching online, ringing venues individually, waiting to hear back, never quite knowing what's available or what it costs. With SpacetoCo, Ger says it was as simple as clicking through, booking the room, the time, and the date, and getting an automatic confirmation. No back-and-forth required.
Want to see the space for yourself? Check out TAHI, a large flexible dance space perfect for rehearsals, workshops, studio sessions or dance classes, located at 80 Onehunga Mall, Onehunga, Auckland.
For SpacetoCo's New Zealand Managing Director, Elle Bell, the point isn't just saving venues time, it's what that time gets reinvested into. When admin stops eating a venue's hours, the people running it can focus on building trust and creating new opportunities for the people who use the space. When a new group walks into a venue for the first time, whether it's to talk through a shared issue or make something together, Elle describes it as a kind of "popcorn effect": new connections forming that ripple out into a neighbourhood in ways no one can fully predict.
That's the real case for community venues. They're not just buildings people rent by the hour, they're where local economies get a boost, where communities build resilience, and where the next connection, the next idea, the next project gets its start.
Why do local community venues matter to a neighbourhood?
Community venues give people access to shared space for connection, skill-building, and belonging that they can't easily get once they leave school. They also drive local economic activity and help build resilient, connected neighbourhoods.
How much time can a community venue save by moving to online booking software?
Kete Aronui Community Rehearsal Facility cut their bookings administration time by 80% after switching from manual phone bookings and invoicing to SpacetoCo.
What does manually managing venue bookings actually involve?
Manually managing bookings typically means taking requests by phone, checking for overlapping bookings, processing payments, chasing invoices, issuing refunds, and following up directly with hirers who haven't paid.
Why is it hard to find and book a community space without software like this?
Without an online system, finding a space usually means searching, ringing venues individually, and waiting to hear back, with no easy way to check real availability or pricing upfront.
What can a venue do with the time it saves by automating its bookings?
Venues like Kete Aronui have used the time saved to focus on bigger initiatives, such as opening a new theatre space in 2022, rather than spending it on repetitive admin.