One of the five writer sessions on Saturday saw authors, and siblings, Nicky and Mandy Hager interviewed by Auckland journalist Toby Manhire (left). Photo / Sandra Simpson
One of the five writer sessions on Saturday saw authors, and siblings, Nicky and Mandy Hager interviewed by Auckland journalist Toby Manhire (left). Photo / Sandra Simpson
The 10-day Tauranga Arts Festival yesterday finished on a high - 22 sell-out shows and the best feedback ever from patrons and performers.
"Our programme has been very well received in terms of accessibility to the arts," festival director Jo Bond said yesterday. "Having the Arboria luminarium on The Strandwas a visual marker of the festival, as well as broadening our audience and it was wonderful to see so many school groups take advantage of it."
More than 12,000 visitors entered Arboria during its almost 4-week stay in Tauranga, its only stop in the Bay of Plenty-Waikato region. The giant, inflatable, colour-filled, walk-in sculpture from England, which closed yesterday, also attracted 1900 school children.
The festival, which opened at 7am on October 22 with a specially composed waiata, performed by a community choir on the waterfront, has hosted 33 international artists in 13 shows and writer sessions, plus 65 Aotearoa artists and writers.
"The dawn chorus performance broke new ground as the festival's first musical commission," Ms Bond said, "and it's something we will look to develop in future.
"The festival is about more than just shows on stages as local businesses of all sorts benefit from having the performers and visitors in town - many of the performers have said how much they loved being here and want to come back."
This year's festival has also seen shows performed at Dry Dock Cafe in Wharf St and Huria marea in Judea, where Regan Taylor received a standing ovation for SolOthello, his one-man performance and adaptation of Shakespeare's play performed in te reo and English.
"Having these venues really added something to the shows and I'd hope we can continue to develop such relationships for future festivals," Ms Bond said.
