A bid in an art auction in Port Chalmers on Saturday will help West Harbour's budding artists.
Port Chalmers School teacher Ian Landreth said the auction, in the Port Chalmers Town Hall, would raise funds for the West Harbour Arts Charitable Trust.
The money would fund a week-long project for about 500 pupils from Port Chalmers School, Port Chalmers Kindergarten, Koputai Early Childhood Centre, St Leonards School and Purakaunui School.
The project would finish with the children parading their artwork along George St, Port Chalmers, on Sunday, November 30.
For the auction, the trust sent out about 100 blank 24sq cm boards to artists, requesting they be returned as an artwork.
Nearly every board was returned, Mr Landreth said.
''The response has been amazing because it's raising money for the arts.''
Port Chalmers Kindergarten teacher Sapph Prentice said the art to be auctioned included works by many well-known artists, including David Elliott, Phillip Maxwell and Ewan McDougall.
Ms Prentice said the event had been held annually since 1996. Next year, it was hoped to include more schools, including Sawyers Bay School and St Joseph's School in Port Chalmers.
''We are trying to bring in all the children from West Harbour,'' she said.
