Frequently asked questions
Answers are here.
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Where is confluence?
Confluence address is 12 - 14 Drews Avenue, Whanganui. Confluence leases several spaces within the heritage Backhouse building on the corner of Drews Avenue and Taupo Quay. The coworking and events spaces are on the floor 1 (ground) with step-free access during weekdays from 14 Drews Avenue. While the cinema is on the 2nd floor in the middle of the building. The main cinema access is provided via 12 Drews Avenue, plus 14 Drews if you require step-free access.
Where is THE BACKHOUSE?
The Backhouse is the most widely known name locally for the large concrete and stone clad building that occupies an entire city block at the bottom of Drews Avenue and Taupo Quay. Built in 1926 for Levin & Co wool merchants, it was sold to W K Backhouse in 1975, and became the manufacturing and sales base for their outdoor clothing products.
If you are driving from out of town via SH3 or SH4, the easiest way to find the building is to drive to the central city bridge. The town side of the bridge is Taupo Quay, and if crossing the bridge and facing the town you turn right onto Taupo Quay, heading towards to I-Site and Tram Shed. When you reach these you are at the bottom of Drews Avenue and will be able to see the large 3 story sand stone coloured building to your left. For vehicle parking there are coin operated meters outside the main entrance doors along Drews Avenue, plus card operated parking meters along Taupo Quay. There is also a public carpark with card operated meters accessible off of Drews Avenue about 40 metres up from our 14 Drews Avenue door, on the left hand side. Alternatively there is free all-day parking along Rutland Street and around the nearby park and riverside. Please contact us if you require an accessible parking space near our step-free access door at number 14 Drews Ave. If you are walking then a number of town buses stop on lower Drews Avenue and the InterCity bus terminal is opposite the Taupo Quay entrance to the Backhouse. Walking from the high street / Victoria Avenue is easy to reach lower Drews Avenue by heading towards the river and either walking down Ridgway Street and turning right at the crossroads, or continuing to the bottom of Victoria Avenue and the town bridge, turn right to walk along Taupo Quay heading towards the I-Site and Drews Avenue is on your left just opposite the Tram Shed and I-Site buildings. If you plan to cycle to Confluence then the current revamp of Drews Avenue includes plenty of bicycle parking racks near the 14 Drews Avenue entrance. What is Confluence?
Confluence is a privately run social enterprise owned and operated by Double Farley Ltd in Whanganui, New Zealand. While NZ has no official business structure for a social enterprise, Confluence uses it as a broad definition for how the business operates. Everything that happens at Confluence must fit within three core operating values of Community; Collaboration; Critical Thinking. Find out more about our values here.
Confluence provides a range of services that are all physically based in Whanganui, such as a public cinema, a public coworking space, and also a space for some public events. In addition to these public services it offers some digital services on this website, and occasionally offers private organisations or groups access to the space for non-public events or meetings. If you're interested in working with Confluence or finding out more about the business structure then please contact us. What is coworking?
Coworking or co-working is a relatively new solution that takes advantage of the digital age of working.
Nowadays internet speeds are sufficiently high to securely handle online business applications, online meetings, remote file storage, and more besides. So the traditional need and cost to house a companies workers together in a building no longer really applies for most businesses. Also consider the increasingly common benefit to work flexible hours for your employer, and those employees looking for a lifestyle family home in a regional town, rather than one that is within a commute of a major centre. All these situations are what coworking is designed to address. Coworking, especially in regional towns like Whanganui, provides a clean, central, well equipped, and modern office building that is available for anyone to use, for as long as they need to each day, week, or month. Unlike renting or shared office arrangements, coworking takes away all the financial and property management that these require. Instead each coworker, or their employer, pays to use a desk and space as needed. There are no minimum terms, no tie-ins, no rental agreements, no bonds, no overheads or running costs, no worries about maintaining the space, no concerns about insurance or security, and no stress of cleaning, tidying, or keeping the environment presentable for clients. Your Confluence coworker hosts service the space everyday, keeping it clean, safe, tidy, and well presented. They also help you set up when you arrive, are there for any technical queries that remote working can sometimes present, and above all that they are a simply a friendly hello and goodbye each day. So while Confluence Coworking does not suit everyone, for example those who need a dedicated workshop or who are constantly on the road visiting clients, it is perfectly designed to meet the needs of thousands of local Kiwi's who work from home in the Whanganui region, or those travelling through town that need a professional base for a day or two. Most coworking providers offer desks based on the amount of time you need them for over a given period. In the case of Confluence Coworking we offer desk deals that are measured in hours of access over a given month. These range from just a few hours for a morning or afternoon, through to regular hours and days that fit your lifestyle, or even full-time use with your very own desk and large area that nobody else uses when you're not here. All of Confluence Coworking desk deals are affordable and priced to be sensible for Whanganui and a regional town. Confluence Coworking is a long running and successful Whanganui business, that is 100% owned and operated by the local Whanganui company called Double Farley. Find out more by comparing our desk deals or giving us a call on 06 2813474. How much does coworking cost?
All our new desk deal prices are published on here on this website.
How do I become a coworker?
If you have coworked before, or just need a desk for a standard working day and time, then you can simply buy a standard deal directly from our website, remembering to add a note of when you first need the desk, and we'll be ready to welcome you on the day.
We also encourage everyone who is interested in Confluence Coworking, especially if you have never used a coworking space before, to pop up when we're open and have a look about. You can call us on 06 2813474 or email hello@confluence.kiwi to book a visit, and find us on our finding us page. We also welcome in casual visitors if you're passing by and we are open and available to show you around. IS Confluence cinema only for members?
No, Confluence Cinema is open to everyone, for every screening. It is a public cinema.
It operates just like every other public cinema in NZ and is bound by the same exhibitor requirements, including sourcing public performance licences, paying music rights, and abiding by NZ classification office film and age restrictions. The key difference is we are an independent boutique sized theatre, so we can carefully select what we show to suit a more discerning audience. We specialise in bringing Whanganui the best cinematic documentary, art-house, foreign, and film festival screenings we can find. We also welcome recommendations for films to screen, and are available for private screenings upon request. How is Confluence responding to COVID-19 alert levels?
All mandatory NZ government restrictions and advice are strictly adhered to at Confluence during the COVID-19 international pandemic. In addition to these measures as Confluence operates under three core values of Community, Collaboration, and Critical Thinking, so we choose to implement some additional precautions and restrictions at each Alert Level. These are also to ensure the additional workload of maintaining the safety of our community is kept to a manageable level. All of our current restrictions and precautions are detailed on our dedicated COVID-19 response page here: https://www.confluence.kiwi/covid19.html#/
HOw is CONFLUENCE FUNDED?
Confluence generates all income by offering a range of paid services to the public in Whanganui. These services fall broadly under the umbrella of the provision of Adult Education and include a public art-house cinema, community events venue, and a commercial coworking space.
Each of our main income areas contribute to, or take from, a budget that is managed by the owning company, Double Farley Ltd. In 2021 Confluence was offered an opportunity to relocate into a heritage building containing a new concept for community collaboration in Whanganui. This collaboration is being achieved through the collocation of business, business services, and aligned community organisations, into one building known as the Backhouse. The Backhouse initiative is a collaboration between UCOL and Whanganui & Partners, and one that Confluence is delighted to be a founding commercial partner and supporter of though the provision of services, skills, and experience to those within the Backhouse and the organisation as a whole. Confluence is an independently funded commercial limited business operating under a social enterprise model. It is a trading name of Double Farley Ltd. HOW DOES Confluence ADVERTISE?
Confluence chooses not to use any social media platforms. So you will not find a Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter account that is owned or operated by us.
Any social media pages claiming to be or represent Confluence Whanganui Ltd, or our owning company Double Farley Ltd are likely to either be fraudulent or using our business information without permission. Please disregard them in the first instance and report them to us if you feel you should. The exceptions are when our clients or customers themselves, voluntarily share information about Confluence or our services on their own social media pages. Specifically our position with the common social media platforms in NZ is as follows: Facebook: In 2020 we deliberately stopped using Facebook and deleted our page because we no longer wanted to support or use a service that, we believe, fails to follow basic publishing good practice. Facebook's continued violations since then mean we are no longer reviewing our position, and so will never return to that, or similar, platforms that choose the same operating model and relatively lax public publishing adherence. Twitter: Confluence no longer uses Twitter for communication and has deleted our previously used Twitter ID. While, in our opinion, Twitter has shown more evidence of good basic publishing practice compared to Facebook, it is not a platform widely used in our community and is still subject to failures to control inappropriate or damaging information spread. Other social media platforms: Confluence chooses not to use any other social media or similar digital platforms. While we embrace technology within all other aspects of our business, we prefer to limit our digital marketing to largely non-social platforms. Other digital advertising: Confluence does use a range of public facing digital platforms such as Vimeo, Adobe, national or local government, and some smaller targeted websites, including Flicks, The Databook, IMDB, LinkedIn, Film Whanganui, Coworker.com, and Cinemas of NZ, some or all of which may also include basic advertising listings for some of our services. Google: Confluence uses the business services of Google, such as email, maps, reviews, events, news, and YouTube. It also maintains a Google advertising presence for some of the public services we offer. Our use of Google is under regular review and our advertising on the platform is not specifically targeted, by us, to any subset of Google users. Apple and other mapping services: Confluence maintains an Apple Map location ID and a listing on other mapping services. Other websites: We do advertise on some product targeted platforms for specific services we offer, such as cinema listings services, event listings, and coworking space listings. Confluence is very grateful to many of these service providers who have offered services to us for free or at a reduced cost. Newspapers and local media: Confluence also occasionally makes use of printed advertising - both paid and free - in local newspapers. Flyers and information sheets: Bi-monthly printed colour flyers for the cinema are distributed from Confluence and some other local venues, plus we display street and window signage of what's on. Local support: Confluence is well supported locally, and remains extremely grateful for this, especially in the climate of the pandemic. We are thrilled with the continued positive word of mouth reviews, flyer hosting, window posters, and sharing of great customer experiences. Melita & Kevin truly cherish being part of the community. Can I join Confluence?
All Confluence services are, Alert level permitting, open to the pubic to use.
Confluence Coworking We do not use a membership model, so for example people wishing to become a Confluence Coworker can simply buy time to access our coworking desks for a number of hours as often or as infrequently as they wish. There is no commitment or cancellation period, and no bond requested. Becoming a Confluence coworker is open to anyone who is interested. You are welcome to explore our terms and conditions for more information, or give Melita or Kevin a call on 06 2813474 anytime (leaving a message out of working hours). Confluence Cinema is always open to the general public for every advertised screening, including all fundraisers. It operates just like every other public cinema in NZ. We have a flat ticket price that we hope is affordable for everyone, no matter what time of day, your age, or how you pay. There is a loyalty scheme to reward our frequent visitors with free tickets and other treats, but we do not operate a membership or society model. We do however support our local Film Society, charities, local groups, and NZ filmmakers as often as we can. So assuming you meet any minimum age restrictions for a film, you can come along to any screening and pay the same rate as anyone else. Everyone pays the same advertised price, but we also have a loyalty scheme offering occasional free tickets and other treats. We also maintain a list of email addresses which we use to send our eNewsletter too. You can join this list by emailing us at hello@confluence.kiwi or using this page. Confluence Events are normally open to members of the public but occasionally we provide invitation only event hosting for local organisations. Events that are advertised will always be open to the general public. Many are free, some have a ticket price, so please check each event's details. For the safety and comfort of everyone coming into Confluence, all events, coworking, and our cinema will always be no-alcohol served or permitted, and be operated under a Safe Space Alliance guideline. If you have further questions please call us on 06 2813474 or email events@confluence.kiwi.
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