Relocated and refurbished, Papa Hou is open for bookings now!
We look forward to welcoming you into our new performance and function venues.
The heart of our venue offering is Papa Hou (meaning treasure box in te reo Māori). It’s a special space because it is set up to be a fully functional and flexible black box. A black box theatre is adaptable depending on your specific requirements, providing hirers, and particularly artistic hirers, more scope to be creative.
As well as providing the traditional theatre style, it can be set as cabaret, banquet, runway and other iterations of these. It has an in-house sound and lighting system, projector, specialized circus rigging and curtains. We’ve tried to think of the basics, and more. We’ve tried to keep it simple, with the ability for any group to increase infrastructure for greater complexity. Anything we don’t have can easily be accessed through our hire partners or your own providers. There is easy pack-in and pack-out access.
Papa Hou also comes with a dedicated foyer, which acts as a great space for guests to gather, with an optional bar add-on. We have on-site catering and can work with you to get the right solution for your group. At the back of the theatre, you will find a purpose-built green room and changing area. We’ve thought of everything to make your event run smoothly!
If you are looking for a smaller, flexible space, we have the Raupō Room. It’s a 91sqm room located adjacent to the café on the ground floor.
This space is flexible in terms of seating configuration and will suit formal and informal meetings, small group activities and workshops.
Rangimārie is a unique offering.
This space has a sprung floor and sound system, most suited for dance, yoga and other movement-based activities.
If you have guests coming from out of town, why not tell them about Hotel Give. It is located adjacent to the venue, which makes it handy. The hotel is owned and operated by the Y Christchurch, and profits go back into social enterprise, which is even better!
There are several options for dining. Of course, our onsite catering can design a menu for your group, or you can make use of the onsite cafe or adjacent bistro.
We will have onsite parking available from mid-2024, in the meantime we encourage your guests to use the Parkmate app, utilise public transport or use street parking.
For booking or general inquiries please contact us
64 3 963 2828
papahou@ymcachch.org.nz
We are located at 12 Hereford Street, Christchurch