Aotearoa New Zealand Festival is a multi-arts biennial festival based in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

New Zealand that started in 1986. Previous names are the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, New Zealand International Arts Festival, New Zealand Arts Festival and New Zealand Festival of the Arts. The festival is produced every two years and runs across three weeks in venues in Wellington City and outreach programmes in the region. The festival features both international and national acts from performing arts and music with a literary program also.

History

Wellington Town Hall, Wellington, New Zealand (11)

Aotearoa New Zealand Festival started in 1986 in Wellington, New Zealand. The festival was modelled off the

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

in Australia. Amongst the people creating this first festival were arts patrons headed by former Prime Minister

Jack Marshall Sir John Ross Marshall New Zealand Army Orders 1952/405 (5 March 1912 – 30 August 1988) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. He entered Parliament in 1946 and was first promoted to Cabinet in 1951. After spending twelve years ...

. 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. 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 The New Zealand Fringe Festival is an open access arts festival in Wellington, New Zealand held over several weeks in February and March each year. The 2020 programme marked the festival's 30th anniversary. Background The festival was establish ...

. In 2012 looking back at the legacy of the festival, classical music critic John Button stated the festival placed Wellington as the cultural capital of New Zealand. Wellington also had the Wellington Festival that was held every three years starting in 1959. The Wellington Festival Trust became the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts Trust. Another National Arts Festival was run by the NZ Student's arts council in 1977 involving, film, publications, happenings, music, dance, theatre, puppetry.

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 Janet Paterson Frame (28 August 1924 – 29 January 2004) was a New Zealand author. She was internationally renowned for her work, which included novels, short stories, poetry, juvenile fiction, and an autobiography, and received numerous awar ...

one of the participants in 1986. 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. ''Sacred Monsters'' with dancers

Sylvie Guillem Sylvie Guillem (; born 23 February 1965) is a French ballet dancer. Guillem was the top-ranking female dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet from 1984 to 1989, before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. She has ...

and Akram Khan was a hit. ''The Dragons' Trilogy'' by Ex Machina (dir.

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair lo ...

) in 2008 was notable for the positive reviews and for the five and a half hours length. 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 Hone Vivian Kouka is a New Zealand playwright. He has written 13 plays, which have been staged in New Zealand and worldwide including Canada, South Africa, New Caledonia and Britain. Kouka's plays have won multiple awards at the Chapman Tripp T ...

has had three productions premiered at the festival, ''

Waiora Waiora is a trio of indigenous Māori musicians from New Zealand. The three members of Waiora are Horomona Horo, Korey Atama, and Joshua Henare Rogers. The musical performances of Waiora are centred upon the ancient cultural practices of the M ...

'' (1996), ''Home Fires'' (1998) and '' The Prophet'' (2004). There is a literary programme as part of the festival, in 2020 it was expanded to three weeks. The 2022 literary programme was created by Claire Mabey, the director of Verb Festival and LitCrawl Wellington and was online. The programme included talks with

Mariana Mazzucato Mariana Francesca Mazzucato (born June 16, 1968) is an economist with dual Italian–American citizenship. She is a professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London and founding director of the UCL Institute ...

, N K Jemisin,

Clementine Ford Clementine Shepherd Ford (born June 29, 1979) is an American actress known for her appearance as Molly Kroll on Showtime's ''The L Word''. In April 2009, she joined the cast of the soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' in the role of Mack ...

Emily Writes Emily Writes is the pen-name of a New Zealand parenting writer based in Wellington. She has published two books on parenting, one of which has been adapted as a play. Biography Writes published her first piece of writing on her blog in March 201 ...

and a celebration of 30 years of HUIA publishing with co-founder Robyn Rangihuia Bargh and current directors Brian Morris and Eboni Waitere. Other parts of the 2022 festival programme were cancelled or scaled down due to Covid-19 public health measures.

Organisation

NZ Festival of the Arts 2020 vice-regal lunch

The New Zealand Festival is a charitable trust with a board of trustees 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. 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 The Lexus Song Quest (formerly known as the Mobil Song Quest) is a biennial opera singing competition, held in New Zealand since 1956. The competition is managed and presented by Tāwhiri, which also runs the New Zealand Festival of the Arts. Win ...

(formerly the Mobil Song Quest), and Second Unit. 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 Salā Lemi Ponifasio (born in Lano Samoa), is globally renowned for his progressive application to theatre, politicking, and engagement with indigenous, Māori and Pacific peoples. He was the Arts Foundation Laureate in 2011, and was the recipi ...

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

and

Bret McKenzie Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie (born 29 June 1976) is a New Zealand musician, comedian, music supervisor, and actor. He is best known as one half of musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement. In the 2000s, the duo's c ...

Festival Directors

References

External links

New Zealand Festival of the Arts

Tāwhiri
{{authority control Festivals in Wellington Arts festivals in New Zealand Festivals established in 1986 1986 establishments in New Zealand Theatre festivals in New Zealand Literary festivals in New Zealand