Turner Centre

The Turner Centre is a performing arts, conference and events complex at 43 Cobham Road in Kerikeri, serving the Bay of Islands and the wider Far North. It pairs a purpose-built theatre with flexible function space, which makes it one of the few venues in Northland able to run a conference programme, an exhibition and a staged performance on the same site.

Spaces and facilities

• John Dalton Auditorium — a 408-seat theatre with an in-built sound system, a full counterweight fly system and four lighting bars. It suits conferences and plenary sessions as readily as performance.
• The Event Centre — a versatile room that can be split in half for smaller groups. It is fitted with a projector and screen, in-built speakers and a microphone setup, and is served by a commercial kitchen.
• The Plaza — a multi-purpose space with an in-built concert sound system, an LED lighting system and roller-door access, used for band performances, prizegivings, roadshows and conferences. Combined with the Event Centre, the space accommodates over 970 people.
• New World Theatre Bar — an intimate arrangement of tables and chairs with a licensed bar and an outdoor terrace. It works for pre-event gatherings and interval breaks, and also for presentations, live music, meetings and parties.

Meetings and events

The centre is set up for conferences, seminars, exhibitions, board meetings, presentations and gala dinners, with the roller-door access to the Plaza making it practical for vehicle displays and trade stands. The on-site commercial kitchen and licensed bar support catered functions. There is no accommodation on site, so residential conferences draw on Kerikeri's hotels and lodges, all within a short drive.

History

The building opened on 5 August 2005 as The Centre at Kerikeri and was opened by the then Prime Minister, Helen Clark. It was designed by local architect Martyn Evans, whose swooping roof — shaped to create space for stage machinery — earned the building the early nickname "the ski ramp". The main auditorium was named after John Dalton, and the venue itself was renamed the Turner Centre in 2011 after Doug Turner. Turner and Dalton had both volunteered at the old Kerikeri Memorial Hall in the 1980s and pushed for a purpose-built cultural facility for the growing Far North community. The second stage, the Plaza event centre, was completed in 2012; the two stages together cost around $20 million. The centre marked 20 years in 2025, by which point it had hosted more than 2,000 events spanning kapa haka, cabaret, comedy and opera.

For conference organisers working in the north, the Turner Centre offers professional theatre infrastructure and genuine scale in a region where both are scarce, and is worth shortlisting alongside other Northland venues for multi-day programmes and large dinners.