Baycourt Community & Arts Centre

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre is Tauranga's principal performing arts venue, at 38 Durham Street in the city centre and within walking distance of the waterfront, Willow Street and the CBD's accommodation and hospitality. It has been part of the region's arts and culture life since opening in 1983. Baycourt is a multi-purpose centre rather than a single-use theatre, which makes it workable for conferences, awards evenings and corporate presentations as well as performance.

Spaces and capacities

Baycourt has three main hireable spaces:

• Addison Theatre — the centre's principal auditorium, with tiered seating for 582 and a stage approximately 14 metres wide by 11 metres deep. The rake and full stage suit plenary sessions, keynote presentations, awards ceremonies, AGMs and product launches.
• X Space — a 200-seat 'black box'. It is designed to be reconfigured and is used for smaller performances, exhibitions and expos, meetings and functions where a flexible set-up matters more than fixed seating.
• Terrace Rooms — a meeting and function space for around 80 people. It works as a breakout room alongside a main-room session, or on its own for seminars, workshops, board meetings and pre-event receptions.

Meeting and event capability

Baycourt handles everything from large-scale international touring productions through to community performances and small business meetings, and offers a full range of technical, marketing and ticketing support services. For conference organisers the in-house technical capability is the practical draw: purpose-built theatre lighting and sound infrastructure and crew who run staged events week in, week out. The ticketing service is relevant where a conference programme includes a public-facing gala, fundraiser or performance element.

History and recognition

The centre opened in 1983 and has been an integral part of the Bay of Plenty's arts community since. It has been recognised with a supreme award from EVANZ, the Entertainment Venues Association of New Zealand.

Suitability

Baycourt suits organisers who need a proper auditorium in the middle of Tauranga — conference plenaries, awards nights, AGMs, seminars and cultural programming — with smaller spaces available alongside for breakouts and receptions. Its CBD position means delegates can walk between sessions, accommodation and food, which is useful for multi-day programmes. It is worth comparing against other Tauranga venues when a flat-floor or banquet layout is the priority, since Baycourt's strength is tiered, stage-based presentation.