Landing your dream job in the arts sector doesn't often go hand in hand with a small rural town in provincial New Zealand. But for Karis Evans, that's exactly what she found when she moved to be closer to her partner. We caught up with Karis to look back at what that dream role meant for her and where it has helped her get to now.

Karis is a Wellingtonian by birth and spent many years living and working in the capital, as well as abroad in London, and over the ditch in Melbourne. While these major cities are renowned for their arts and culture, it was Manawatū that offered Karis the dream job she had been searching for. 

“I cut my teeth in the arts sector with a Master of Arts in Curatorship,” says Karis. “I loved doing this study in such a vibrant city – while I lived in Melbourne I visited a different gallery every week and still didn’t manage to tick them all off the list!” 

But when the pandemic hit, Karis’s plans took a turn, and she ended up finishing her degree from Crowne Plaza in managed isolation. 

“I wanted to be closer to my immediate family through the pandemic so chose to move back to Wellington. But it wasn’t long before I started to feel frustrated. I was always looking for jobs in the arts and not getting them – ‘how would I pay my rent’?” 

After working briefly in project management, Karis began to understand that she wouldn’t be able to have her dream job and live in her home city of Wellington. With her partner living in Palmerston North, she looked to the Manawatū as a place that offered opportunities to build a career and a home. 

And build a career she did. Since moving to the Manawatū Karis has landed her dream job not once but twice. As the Art Centre Manager for the Feilding and District Art Society Karis was living out a cherished dream. Yet fate, skills and determination had another surprise for her. Transitioning to her current role as Heritage Curator at Te Manawa was another stroke of luck she couldn't quite believe. Reflecting on this turn of events, Karis humbly acknowledges the rarity of such opportunities, expressing deep gratitude for the chance to fulfil her passions in roles that feel tailor-made for her. 

“Manawatū gave us the more affordable lifestyle we were after, and we knew we could always get down to the capital city for a daytrip. Moving out of Wellington truly helped us value doing the things we loved there without taking it for granted, while accelerating my career.”