FACT (Franklin Arts and Cultural Trust) started life as a Community Arts Council in 1977 and moved into premises on Queen Street, Pukekohe, in 1979. There it held classes, workshops and meetings for the arts and cultural community of Franklin. In 1996 Franklin District Council gifted to the group the former Pukekohe Borough Council building on Wesley Street and a year later, drew up a trust deed creating Franklin Arts & Cultural Trust.
The centre became a busy hub for creative and cultural activity, leading to discussions in the new millennium to enlarge the building. However, the opportunity arose in 2003 of building a new centre on Massey Avenue to house FACT, the Franklin Library Trust and the I-Site. In 2007, Franklin: The Centre became a reality.
FACT briefly united with the library and became the Franklin Art Culture and Library Trust, but after the formation of the Auckland Super City all libraries were absorbed in the large scale operations of the Auckland Region. The Art Centre eventually also joined the Super City Council and are now part of a team called Auckland Art South. Other galleries in Art South are; Fresh Gallery Otara, Hawkins Theatre- Papakura, Mangera Arts Centre- Nga Tohu o Uenuku, Nathan Homestead, Otara Music Arts Centre, Papakura Art Gallery, Te Tuhi Centre for the arts and the Franklin Arts Centre.
Although the region known as Franklin no longer exists after the boundries were adjusted and Pukekohe, where our art centre is based became part of the wider Auckland region it was decided that the Art Centre, which comprises of The New Zealand Steel Gallery, the Community Gallery, the Artefact shop and our art classes and programmes, would retain the name 'Franklin' Art Centre because that is what the local community knows it as and we still associate the old Franklin area as our support network of artists and patrons.
The Art Centre has three dedicated staff members, Suzette van Dorsser and Jennifer Stewart who collectively manage The New Zealand Steel gallery and the art programmes and events and Vanessa Graham who is responsible for the calendar in the Community Gallery and administration of the facility.