Opened by Mayor Tory Whanau and attended by the community, sector partners, local councillors, volunteers, and new and old staff.

The new location, at 220 Willis Street, is the fifth home for the centre over the 37 years it has existed.
The evening was graced by some very special speakers and was hosted by Drag King icon Hugo Grrrl.

Burnett Foundation Aotearoa Chief Executive Joe Rich spoke about the history of the Āwhina Centre in Wellington and the pride of having a centre that is bright, colourful and visible to all.

“The meaning of Āwhina is to help, support, assist or benefit. This sums up what the centre did from the beginning and what we do now,”

“But now our vision and scope has grown to include great sexual health for all of our rainbow whānau. What we do has changed, but how we do it has stayed the same, including our insistence on the importance of community-led responses in all areas of health.”

Joe acknowledged the significant work that had gone into the HIV response, by many in the room and communities across many decades. Bill Logan, one of the co-founders of the AIDS Support Network in 1984 and Dr Ayesha Verrall who championed the HIV Action Plan in her time as Minister of Health were among those celebrating the new space.

“We are fortunate that the HIV response has not been politicised in Aotearoa. The bipartisan support across parties in Parliament throughout the epidemic has been key to our success in keeping transmission numbers low,” said Joe.

Mayor Tory Whanau reiterated the love and support for the work of the Foundation and the importance of having a space that is warm and welcoming, which helps to combat stigma.

“Public health is crucial, and we’ll continue supporting the work that is done here. We can be proud that Wellington / Pōneke is a progressive bunch and there is a lot of love in this city and at council for this community.”

Dr. Ayesha Verrall reiterated the power of coming together as a community and the ambitious thinking that helped create the HIV Action Plan.

“If we mobilise around a big goal, as we did for COVID, we can meet that goal. We can reach no new infections in New Zealand. And we can reach a situation where there is no stigma for HIV in New Zealand. We have to set that as a priority, and we did.”

The speeches closed with Kiran Morar, recipient of the 2nd Annual Burnett Foundation Artist Partnership, and creator of Ganymedes Hand. The work is a series of larger than life playing cards which depict monumental individuals within the Queer and Trans histories of Te Whanganui-ā-Tara Wellington.

The figures of Bruce Burnett, Carmen Rupe, Chrissy Witoko, and Georgina Beyer represent the diaspora of our communities and acknowledge the hard work of those who have come before us in social, political, and communal realm.

Ganymedes Hand is proudly displayed next to the front desk of the new Āwhina Centre, and we invite community members to come in and experience it for themselves.