New Zealand Festival of the Arts

The New Zealand Festival of Arts is a multi-arts biennial festival based in Wellington New Zealand that started in 1986. The festival is produced every two years and runs across three weeks in a number of venues in Wellington City as well as outreach programmes in the region. The festival features both international and national acts from performing arts and music with a literary program also.

New Zealand Festival of the Arts
Location(s)Wellington
CountryNew Zealand
Patron(s)The Governor-General, Her Excellency The Right Honourable Dame Patsy Reddy, GNZM, QSO

History
Wellington Town Hall a commonly used venue in the New Zealand Arts Festival. Was unavailable in 2020 due to required earthquake strengthening.

The New Zealand Festival of Arts started in 1986 in Wellington, New Zealand, initially called the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts[1] (and also known as the New Zealand International Arts Festival). The festival was modelled off the Adelaide Festival in Australia.[1] Amongst the people creating this first festival were arts patrons headed by former Prime Minister Jack Marshall. The Wellington City Council and mayor Ian Lawrence supported the festival and the council has continued to support the festival. The festival made a loss for the first four festivals until in 1994 it turned a profit.[2]

Criticism of the council funding international acts in the first festival spawned an alternative event called Flying Kiwi focusing on local artists which was the genesis of the long running New Zealand Fringe Festival.[2]

In 2012 looking back at the legacy of the New Zealand Festival classical music critic John Button stated the festival placed Wellington as the cultural capital of New Zealand.[2]

Programme

A range of dance, theatre, music and outdoor events have been programmed over the years. This is across classical and contemporary includes some free events. The festival includes a literary Writers and Readers festival with Janet Frame one of the participants in 1986.[2]

The programme includes international acts, many not seen before in New Zealand. A small selection is named here to give an indication. The Staatskapelle Berlin State Orchestra played at the first festival in 1986 and was the first overseas orchestra to play in New Zealand in twelve years.[3] Sacred Monsters with dancers Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan was a hit.[3] The Dragons' Trilogy by Ex Machina (dir. Robert Lepage) in 2008 was notable for the positive reviews and for the five and a half hours length.[4]

The New Zealand Festival of the Arts also has a commissioning and partnership programme for New Zealand work and has premiered many productions. The playwright Hone Kouka has had three productions premiered at the festival, Waiora (1996), Home Fires (1998) and The Prophet (2004).[5]

Organisation
Guests at a lunch for key people involved in the 2020 New Zealand Festival of the Arts. (Government House, Wellington, 2 March 2020). Left to right: Horomona Horo, Lemi Ponifasio, Greg Cohen, Sir David Gascoigne, Dame Patsy Reddy, Laurie Anderson, Eyvind Kang, Shahzad Ismaily and Reubin Kodheli.

The New Zealand Festival is a charitable trust with a board of trustees[6] and is funded by a number of public and private organisations. These include Creative New Zealand and the Wellington City Council. There are a core staff on a salary and numbers increase in preparation for the festival.[7]

In 2014 there was a re-organisation and re-branding of an umbrella organisation to Tāwhiri: Festivals and Experiences. Tāwhiri core staff organise and programme the New Zealand Festival of Arts, and also the Wellington Jazz Festival, Lexus Song Quest (formerly the Mobil Song Quest), and Second Unit.[8]

In 2020 the New Zealand Festival of the Arts diverged in its artistic choices by using three curators for programming the three weeks. These people were Lemi Ponifasio, Laurie Anderson and Bret McKenzie.[9]

Festival Directors
Festival Year Artistic Director
1986 & 1988 Michael Maxwell[3]
1990 & 1992 Christopher Doig[10]
1994 Rob Brookman[11]
1996, 1998 & 2000 Joseph Seelig[3]
2002, 2004 & 2006 Carla van Zon[12]
2008, 2010 & 2012 Lissa Twomey[3]
2018, 2016 & 2018 Shelagh Magadza[3]
2020 Marnie Karmelita[13]

Past executive directors include Carla van Zon, David Innes, and Sue Paterson ONZM. David Innes and Carla van Zon went on to work at the Auckland Festival. Sue Paterson had also worked at New Zealand Ballet Company and Limbs Dance Company.[14]

References
  1. Hill, Marguerite (5 August 2016). "Arts festivals take off, 1960s onwards". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  2. O'Neil, Andrea (14 August 2015). "Wellington's arts festival debuts to standing ovation in 1986 – 150 years of news". Stuff. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  3. Cardy, Tom (31 March 2016). "Suddenly Wellington sort of grew up". NZ Festival. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  4. Hood, Lyndon (2 March 2006). "Arts Festival Review: The Dragons' Trilogy | Scoop News". Scoop. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  5. Smythe, John (2004). Downstage upfront : the first 40 years of New Zealand's longest-running professional theatre. Wellington, N.Z.: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0-86473-489-1. OCLC 60386677.
  6. "Charities Services | Home". Charities Services, Ngā Ratonga Kaupapa Atawhai. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  7. "New Zealand Festival of the Arts, 21 Feb – 15 March 2020". New Zealand Festival of the Arts. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  8. "Tāwhiri". Tāwhiri. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  9. Wenman, Eleanor (6 November 2019). "From the quirky to the powerful: New Zealand Festivals of the Arts 2020 programme release". Stuff. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  10. "Christopher Doig CNZM, OBE, MA (Hons) 1948-2011". christchurchcitylibraries.com. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  11. "Fringe Festival celebrates silver jubilee". Stuff. 18 February 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  12. "Carla van Zon". nzdc.org.nz. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  13. "NZ Festival's new Creative Director". New Zealand Festival of the Arts. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  14. Mitchell, Rob (20 July 2018). "Sue Paterson: Inspiration to artists, advocate for arts". Stuff. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
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