The building on the Kurow Recreation Reserve has been left empty for almost two decades, but Nicole Schofield said she was hoping to change that.
She planned to turn the old school building into an arts centre run by a non-profit trust Ms Schofield was setting up.
The centre would offer "all sorts" of programming for all ages — "from infants to the residents at Whalan Lodge".
"It started out as an art school but it’s moving more towards a centre of creativity," she said.
The plan was to have space for yoga, pilates and dance as well as visual art such as drawing, painting and craftwork.
It would also have a kitchen to be used for weekend courses or other events that required catering, she said.
Ms Schofield said there was definitely a need to support the arts in Kurow.
"Having a centre of creativity for everybody is something that the small towns don’t have.
"We have sports, we’ve got the pub, but arts is an under-catered for activity in rural towns.
"This is meant to cater towards the wider Waitaki Valley as well as 900 people up the Hakataramea Valley."
She is a trained art teacher who has spent the majority of her life teaching art classes.
Ms Schofield recently returned from the United States, where she attended a week-long arts camp.
"That was really inspiring to keep going with this project.
"Everybody enjoys arts, whether they know it or not."
The building was built in 1882 and is a heritage-listed building.
"The coolest thing about this whole project is that it was a school, and it’s going back to a school."
Ms Schofield presented her idea to the Ahuriri Community Board last month.
Board chairman Calum Reid said the whole community was behind her.
"It’s a no brainer. She’s going to have the full support of the board.
"It’s just an old building that’s starting to fall in disrepair and here’s someone that’s happy to fundraise, do everything you need to do to bring it back up to code and make it respectable again and get some use out of it."
Being on a reserve, Waitaki District Council staff have had to look into changing the designation to allow it to be used as an art school.
They were expected to report back to the community board with their progress at the November meeting, Mr Reid said.
Ms Schofield hoped the trust would be approved in the new year to align with the handing over of the building so she could begin restoration.
