POPPING AT THE TOP OF THE SOUTH
Within the Nelson/Tasman community there is strength and diversity, with more than 48 cultures making the region their home. One in five people living here were born outside New Zealand.
Nelson city is the third most ethnically diverse place in the country per capita; it’s the type of city that regularly attracts foreigners who visit, fall in love, and scheme ways to stay, often by opening a business.
Despite a tendency towards political conservatism and a high number of retirees and rest homes, the region still lives up to its popular perception as an arty enclave of sun-obsessed semi-hippies with a strong community heart.
It retains a solid arty core; it was the birthplace of pottery in NZ and as well as excellent local potters, craftspeople and artists, the institution that best reflects Nelson is the international phenomenon of the World of Wearable Art, an awards show that began in rural Tasman nearly 30 years ago but became so
