Decorate a dunny - Meteor’s cheeky trick to celebrate 30 years

Thursday, 9 July 2026

Meteor general manager Cian Parker with a decorated toilet stall. The donor chose to paint the stall purple and put up a poster to raise awareness for Epilepsy New Zealand.

Forget buying a seat - Meteor Theatre wants people to buy a toilet stall to celebrate three decades as Hamilton’s creative hub.

The campaign is part of a fundraising drive to ensure the theatre remains a space for theatre, dance, cultural events, music gigs, gallery installations, and community events for the next 30 years.

Meteor general manager Cian Parker (Ngāpuhi) told the Waikato Times selling toilet stalls was a play on “buy a seat” fundraisers.

As a not-for-profit organisation, she said, Meteor Theatre is reliant on grants and donations to continue operating.

“We're a black box venue, so our seating is not fixed - it moves a lot,” she said.

“Instead, we thought we'd do our own little spin on it and people can buy a toilet cubicle and decorate it how they want to and they get a plaque.”

“It's a bit of fun, a bit of tongue in cheek, and trying to build resources for the venue.”

Punters wanting to show their support could also “buy a brick”, which would be displayed outside the theatre, or make a donation.

Each cubicle cost $1300 and buyers can either decorate the stall themselves or have the theatre’s staff spruce up the space with their chosen design.

So far, one toilet has been snapped up, with the donor painting the stall purple and putting up a poster to raise awareness for Epilepsy New Zealand.

“There's no rhyme or reason or rules - it's just leave your mark,” Parker said.

Meteor Theatre is celebrating 30 years at the forefront of Hamilton’s creative community.

The fundraiser will run until all of the toilets have been snapped up. Punters wanting to show their support could also “buy a brick”, which would be displayed outside the theatre, or make a donation.

As a not-for-profit organisation, she said, Meteor was reliant on grants and donations.

“Without funding, we can't operate - that's the bottom line.”

The venue was heavily subsidised to the creative community so that “anyone can walk in the door”.

“It doesn't matter their background or their budgets for their resources, they can come in and say, ‘I really want to put on a show, a workshop, exhibition’, and we support them with that, and so that means that we take the risk with them.”

“We hold them and provide them with wraparound support so that their events can be as successful as possible.”

Meteor would always be a place for people to springboard their own creative work, Parker said.

“[For] so many of us in the community, our first works were presented here. Many of us bring our works back here.

“We might tour nationally, internationally, but we always will bring it back here as a home, somewhat, for many artists here and no matter where their careers take them, there's always this gravitational pull-back.”

Her vision for the next 30 years was that Meteor would continue to be a home for Waikato creatives and audiences while championing accessibility and affordability.

“I imagine, that this continues to be a home for artists, but also audiences. We have audience members who consistently come to support those artists and so there is appetite here for more of that storytelling.”