Rotorua Lakeside concerts to continue but funds still need to be found

The success of this year's homegrown Lakeside concert means another concert will go ahead again next year, despite some question marks over who will pay for it.

The Rotorua Lakeside Trust held a "thank you" evening for the volunteers who worked on the Lakeside 2018 concert, Whenua #itsabouthome, at a function on Thursday night at the Millennium Hotel.

Trust member Stuart Edward, who is also chairman of the Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust (RECT), said a meeting had been held between the two trusts recently to decide its future.

He said the Lakeside Trust was buoyed by positive feedback about the concert and RECT had agreed it would support the event again.

Image 1 of 23: Lakeside. Racheal McConnell, (left), and Joe Fraser.

He said, however, it was yet to go through its formal funding application to determine how much money would be given.

In previous years RECT had funded $120,000 - the most of any sponsor - but for this year's concert it dropped the funding by $70,000 to $50,000, meaning the Lakeside Trust had to use reserves to put on a concert this year of the same standard.

Edward, who chaired Thursday's thank you evening on behalf Lakeside Trust chairman and brother Ian Edward, who was away at a conference, said work was already starting to gather funding from other sponsors, including approaching other trusts.

He said the underlying message that was being received was that Lakeside needed to continue because it added so much vibrancy to Rotorua.

Whenua #itsabouthome featured local artists who had made a name for themselves. Previously big name acts had been brought to the city for the free concert.

Artistic director for this year's concert, Richard Anaru, said he was blown away at the success of the show.

"This is the result of what we can do together. If we haven't proved it now I don't think we ever will ... Let's move this forward."

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick, who is also on the Lakeside Trust, said the concert was described as a risk.

"We took a risk, but it wasn't a risk we just needed to believe we could do it together and we did it the Rotorua way."

Chadwick said future Lakeside concerts were a must on the Village Green and there needed to be work done to keep the children causing "raruraru" (trouble) on the outskirts of the concert under control.

Chadwick, who couldn't attend the February 17 concert as she was a marriage celebrant that day for a close family friend, said she couldn't wait to hear the feedback.

"I phoned the next day and I think you were all having breakfast somewhere and you were screaming at me down the phone 'it was incredible, it was amazing'.

"For the first time I think as a community we showed that creative talent was alive and well ... we had just not woven it all together before."