The Bay will get a chance to explore Exxopolis as part of the Tauranga Arts Festival in October. Photo/Alan Parkinson
The Bay will get a chance to explore Exxopolis as part of the Tauranga Arts Festival in October. Photo/Alan Parkinson
The 2015 Tauranga Arts Festival line-up will be announced tonight.
The festival is Tauranga's biggest show of the year, showcasing a variety of local and international acts over 10 days across the city and wider suburbs.
Claire Mabey (left) and Jo Bond.
Festival director Jo Bond said the launch was a culmination of two years' hardwork.
"As soon as one festival closes, we begin organising the next," she said.
Ms Bond said the appointment of an associate director, Claire Mabey, had allowed her more time to focus on reaching a new level with this year's programme.
The festival has commissioned a performance work for the first time which will open the festival at a free, outdoor event at 7am on October 22.
Ms Bond was also pleased the biennial festival had co-produced two shows, an international work which will tour New Zealand and Exxopolis Luminarium - an inflatable, colour filled, walk-in sculpture, which will be situated on Tauranga's waterfront from October 16 to November 1.
"Working with other festivals in New Zealand means we can bring more and better things into the programme, but this sort of co-operation is revolutionary."
The 2013 festival was able to inject more than $2.6 million into the local economy but finding funding and sponsorship for the project had become more difficult, she said.
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Inside the Luminarium, which will feature as part of this year's Tauranga Arts Festival.
"We have worked hard to set up a realistic budget and are grateful to the festival's financial supporters and our audiences, without them Tauranga and the Western Bay wouldn't have the 10 days and nights of the most exciting entertainment."
TECT was again offering discounted ticket prices to TECT card holders, she said.
Tickets go on sale tonight from Baycourt Theatre and Ticketek and programmes would be available tomorrow.
Arts festival
Established in 1999, The Tauranga Art Festival delivers a world-class programme featuring leading artists and performers
The 2015 Festival runs from October 22 - November 1.
