Taranaki Arts Festival Trust CEO Suzanne Porter honoured at TSB awards 2024

From left: Charlotte Littlewood, Taranaki Regional Council chair; Neil Holdom, New Plymouth District Mayor; Taranaki Arts Festival Trust CEO Suzanne Porter, Stratford District Mayor Neil Volzke and Rob Northcott, deputy mayor, South Taranaki District. Photo / Andy Jackson

This year’s Taranaki Mayoral Award has gone to a woman whose mission is to make Taranaki a vibrant and entertaining place to visit or call home.

Suzanne Porter, CEO of Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (TAFT), received the honour at the 30th TSB Taranaki Chamber of Commerce Business Awards on Saturday night.

Stratford District Mayor Neil Volzke listed Porter’s contributions to Taranaki.

“Her vision and passion for our province means that she is always looking for innovative and creative new projects to showcase our region and keep us entertained,” said Volzke, on stage at the TSB Stadium.

Porter, from Hawke’s Bay, arrived in Taranaki in 2000 to manage Puke Ariki, the new combined museum, library, and visitor information centre. She only planned to stay four years.

Six years later, she took over as CEO of the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (TAFT).

Under her leadership, TAFT has evolved from presenting a biennial arts festival to a rich programme of events, including annual stars – Womad Aotearoa and the Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, which finished on Sunday.

TAFT also runs a quartet of arts festivals – Winter Fest, the Right Royal Cabaret, Reimagine and Spiegel Fest, which opens on Thursday.

Aptly, the MC for the awards was comedian, storyteller and singer Jackie Clarke, who went prima diva at last year’s Right Royal Cabaret.

“With Womad and garden festival events, data shows that over 70% of those attending are from outside the region, which has a huge benefit to the local economy,” says Volzke.

“But our community is always front of mind. Locals get the opportunity to experience a diverse range of events, that normally, would only be seen in the larger cities.”

Porter was stunned to receive the award.

“When I heard it was a she, and that she came from Hawke’s Bay, my heart started palpitating,” she said backstage.

“It’s lovely and having seen the list of the recipients who’ve had it before, [it’s] really quite a stellar line-up.”

She was also proud to be one of only three women recognised since the award’s inception in 2002.

On stage, Porter thanked TAFT’s many partners and sponsors, long-term supporters, ticket buyers and volunteers.

“My success is very much underpinned by a really incredible team of staff, both past and present, and incredible boards,” said Porter, who now calls Taranaki home.

She was grateful to both the Womad and TAFT boards for their trust and belief in her as CEO and for taking “massive risks” to put on events.

“I drove along the waterfront the other day, and I felt very proud because the Spiegeltent was being built on one side, and on the other side, there was a beautiful train that was in town that carted 200 garden visitors down to Hawera to visit our South Taranaki gardens,” said Porter.

“TAFT is very much regional. We’re not New Plymouth-centric. We’ve got a long history here, and I’m sure we will continue to present amazing, beautiful, wonderful things for all of you.”