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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, prior to that had been four annual music festivals. A bigger festival was planned due to Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. The festival continued annually until the 1980s and the last one was in 1982.[1] In September 2003 the inaugural event of the “new” Auckland Festival happened. Subsequently the dates were moved to March and festivals were held in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2015 before going annual in March 2016. The 13th Auckland Arts Festival will take place 3-21 March 2021.[2] Shona McCullagh is the artistic director from 2021 - 2024 taking over from Jonathan Bielski.[3]
The Festival is run by an independent not for profit trust, the Auckland Festival Trust. It is principally funded by Auckland City Council.[4]
Programme
The festivals main objectives are to engage Aucklanders in the arts, to support New Zealand art and artists, and to reflect what is unique about Auckland.[5] 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.
In 2007 a dedicated music and cabaret environment Red Square was created to serve as a hub where artists and public gather during the festival. In 2011 it was re-branded as the Festival Garden and a new program element, White Night, modeled on Europe's Nuit Blanche events, a first for Australasia.
The 2013 Auckland Arts Festival was the most successful festival to date achieving record attendances and more than doubling the box office income. It featured more than 300 events and over 1000 artists participated including three national theatre companies. There were 63 sold out performances. Highlights included Group F's Breath of the Volcano, Urban (Circolumbia), Everything is Ka Pai, War Requiem (with the APO), One Man, Two Guvnors (National Theatre of Great Britain), The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (National Theatre of Scotland) and Rhinoceros in Love (National Theatre Company of China). A new Māori work HUI by Mitch Tawhi Thomas premiered alongside the re-staging of the Pacific musical The Factory by Kila Kokonut Krew. Audiences were again welcomed over 19 days to the Festival Garden in Aotea Square, including the Festival Club (Spiegeltent), Tiffany Singh's Fly Me Up to Where You Are which she created with 4,000 Auckland children, and Srinivas Krishna's video artwork When the Gods Came Down to Earth, as well as free music and family days. White Night took place throughout Auckland City with 83 galleries, museums and other locations opening their doors to more than 20,000 attendees.[citation needed]
In May 2014, Auckland Council voted unanimously in support of a trial annual festival as part of its budget meeting. The Council voted to provide for additional funding to the Festival for a trial annual festival in 2016. The 2015 Auckland Arts Festival was 19 days long featuring more than 900 artists from 33 countries. There were 145 ticketed performances and 208 free exhibitions and events in 86 locations across the city. Eorks were presented through the Auckland region including Leigh, Papakura, Titirangi and Howick, and reached 180,000 people. In March 2016, 1160 artists from 41 countries came to be in the festival again over 19 days and at more than 100 locations, presenting 125 ticketed performances across 35 shows, 200 free events, four world premieres, four season premieres and 15 New Zealand premieres. Between 8 and 26 March 2017, AAF 2017 presented 132 ticketed performances, 300 free events, and seven world premieres, across 130 venues and locations across Auckland. AAF 2018 took place 7-25 March and featured a pre-festival season of English National Ballet's production of Akram Khan's Giselle. A feature of the 2018 Festival to mark the 10th anniversary of the festival was the Festival Playground at Silo Park. The Festival Playground ran for the duration of the festival and was visited by 60,000 people with ticketed and free music concerts, visual arts, and a food and drinks pavilion.[citation needed]
Auckland Arts Festival 2019 took place 7-24 March and included the return of the Spiegeltent to Aotea Square with cabaret show Blanc de Blanc. The 2019 Festival saw the introduction of a new programme strand - Toitū te Reo. Translating as holding fast to our language, this signalled AAF's desire to champion Māori language through the platform of the arts with a goal that it be seen, heard and felt every day of the Festival. The Festival opened with Tira, a free concert in Aotea Square attended by approximately 2000 people and live-streamed on AAF's website and Facebook page reaching a further 6000 people. The concert saw people sing iconic waiata together in te reo Māori. The festival also included Komische Oper Berlin and 1927's production of The Magic Flute, a new dance work from Muscle Mouth, As It Stands, theatre Ulster American, physical theatre The Dreamer, the Silkroad Ensemble, and a contemporary music programme including Death Cab for Cutie, Four Tet, Beach house, Rhye and Neko Case. Halfway through the 2019 Festival, 51 people were killed in the Christchurch mosque shootings. As a result, Whānau Day was cancelled.[citation needed]
AAF 2020 was scheduled to take place 11-29 March, however was seriously impacted by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) global pandemic. In late February air cargo issues as a result of cancellation of flights resulted in the cancellation of the major outdoor event Place Des Anges. The Festival opened as planned on Wednesday 11 March with TIRA in Aotea Square featuring Hollie Smith, Hātea Kapa Haka and the six Auckland Everybody Sings choirs and was attended by 2000 people, and reaching a further 7000 people online. From Saturday 14 March, the New Zealand Government imposed border controls and limits on mass gatherings which saw the cancellation of a number of shows. On Thursday 18 March further restrictions limiting indoor gatherings to 100 people resulted in the cancellation of the rest of the Festival. New Zealand entered full lockdown on Thursday 25 March. Highlights of the eight days of the Festival which took place 11-17 March included: Ballet Preljocaj's Snow White, the trans-Tasman rom-com BLACK TIES from ILBIJERRI Theatre Company and Te Rēhia Theatre Company, Cold Blood, Los Angeles Master Chorale's performance of Lagrime di San Pietro, circus-cabaret Limbo Unhinged, Silo Theatre's UPU, and the world premiere of Ka Pō, Ka Waiata: Songs in Darkness.[citation needed]
Festival Directors
| Year | Artistic Director |
|---|---|
| 2002 | Mike Mizrahi & Marie Adams |
| 2003-2004 | Simon Prast |
| 2005-2011 | David Malacari |
| 2011-2017 | Carla van Zon |
| 2018-2020 | Jonathan Bielski |
| 2021- | Shona McCullagh [MNZM] |
References
- ^ 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. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Shona McCullagh in conversation with Indira Stewart". First Up. Radio New Zealand National. 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
- ^ Christian, Dionne (2019-11-27). "Auckland Arts Festival names new head". NZ Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 2020-09-20.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Auckland Festival". Auckland City. 2007. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
- ^ "About Us". Auckland Festival 2007. 2007. Archived from the original on July 20, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
External links
- Auckland Arts Festival – official website
- YouTube - 2020 Auckland Arts Festival Highlights
- YouTube - 2013 Auckland Arts Festival Highlights