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Auckland Arts Festival

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(Redirected from Auckland Festival) Annual arts festival in New Zealand

night time shot of silhouetted people milling about big glowing orange red fences
Auckland Arts Festival venue at Silo Park on the waterfront in 2018

Formerly known as Auckland Festival, Auckland Arts Festival or Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Makaurau is an annual arts and cultural festival held in Auckland, New Zealand. The Festival features works from New Zealand, the Pacific, Asia and beyond, including world premieres of new works and international performing arts events.

History

The first Auckland Festival of the Arts was held in 1953, after four annual music festivals were held from 1949 to 1952. A bigger festival was planned due to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The festival continued annually until the 1980s and the last one was held in 1982. In September 2003 the inaugural event of the "new" Auckland Festival took place. Subsequently, the dates were moved to March and festivals were held in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015 before becoming annual in March 2016. In 2020 most of the festival's shows had to be cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, four concerts by the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra were streamed live online.

The 13th Auckland Arts Festival took place from 3 to 21 March 2021, although some events had to be cancelled as a result of Auckland entering into a lockdown in late February. Shona McCullagh became the artistic director from 2021 onwards, taking over from Jonathan Bielski.

The Festival is run by an independent not-for-profit trust, the Auckland Festival Trust. It is principally funded by Auckland City Council.

Programme

The festival's main objectives are to engage Aucklanders in the arts, to support New Zealand art and artists, and to reflect what is unique about Auckland. Its program features many events including dance, music, cabaret, burlesque, theatre, ballet, visual arts, film, and public forums, occupying most of Auckland's theatres, galleries and concert halls.

The festival programme features international acts and the Auckland Festival Trust also commission up to six new works each year. In 2017, they presented the new opera The Bone Feeder at the ASB Waterfront Theatre with music by Gareth Farr, based on a book by Renee Laing. In 2021 the festival programme was greatly affected by travel restrictions because of COVID-19. The programme of 70-plus events were therefore all from New Zealand.

Festival Directors

Year Artistic Director
2002 Mike Mizrahi & Marie Adams
2003–2004 Simon Prast
2005–2011 David Malacari
2013–2017 Carla Van Zon
2018–2020 Jonathan Bielski
2021– Shona McCullagh

Festival staff include chief executive David Inns who started in 2009 working previously at the New Zealand Festival in Wellington. Inns was also instrumental in the annual music festival WOMAD being in Taranaki, and was the director of the Taranaki Arts Festival from 1998 to 2002. Robbie Macrae commenced as Chief Executive in August 2022.

References

  1. Hill, Marguerite (5 Aug 2016). "Celebrations and centenaries, 1930s to 1950s". Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. Archived from the original on 2015-10-04. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  2. "Festival history – Auckland Arts Festival". Auckland Arts Festival. Archived from the original on 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  3. "Coronavirus cancellations guide: So Pop, Anzac Day services, and much of Auckland Arts Festival cancelled". Stuff.co.nz. 14 March 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  4. "Shona McCullagh in conversation with Indira Stewart". First Up. Radio New Zealand National. 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  5. "AAF 2021 Shows Status Update on 16 March 2021". Auckland Live. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  6. Christian, Dionne (2019-11-27). "Auckland Arts Festival names new head". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
  7. "Auckland Festival". Auckland City. 2007. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  8. Russell, Alexia (2017-09-19). "Auckland Arts Festival future secured". Newsroom. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  9. "About Us". Auckland Festival 2007. 2007. Archived from the original on July 20, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
  10. ^ "Twelve Questions with Auckland Arts Festival chief executive David Inns". NZ Herald. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  11. "Auckland Arts Festival – coping with Covid". Radio New Zealand. 2020-12-06. Archived from the original on 2020-12-06. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  12. "Auckland Festival a challenge". NZ Herald. 3 February 2002. Archived from the original on 2021-02-06. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  13. "Carla van Zon". nzdc.org.nz. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  14. "Festival head seeks to wow". Stuff. 2012-12-20. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  15. "Auckland arts job for Inns". Stuff. 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2021-02-02.

External links

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