Carla's Korero - 20/11/2012

Kia ora koutou, talofa lava,

I had a little bit of a break after the Festival launch (my vege garden is planted and waiting for Summer to arrive!), but am back and raring to go.

We've had a great reaction to the Festival line-up and tickets sales are going well, particularly for the extensive family and community programmes. There are many shows that the whole family can enjoy together, from grandparents to little ones - bring the whanau. Not to be missed is Circolumbia's Urban - scary and thrilling.

Auckland artist Tiffany Singh is already working in schools throughout Auckland on her project Fly Me Up To Where you Are. Students from 8 - 14 are working with Tiffany to express their hopes and dreams on Tibetan-style prayer flags, all of which will become a stunning installation erected in Aotea Square for the duration of the Festival. If you know a school that might like to participate, please tell them to go to the school's page on our website. It is free to take part and bringing the message of our children's hopes and dreams to the heart of the city and central business district is something we believe is very important.

The musical The Factory has just had a week's workshop, which went really well.  Some of the cast sang at the launch and sounded glorious. Auditions are being held for further roles in early December. Producer Jonathan Alver and our very own Tama Waipara as Music Director, are working with amazing Directors Anapela Polataivao and Vela Manusaute to create a great musical we hope will tour NZ and overseas after its Auckland Arts Festival season. Wouldn't it be great if we could export New Zealand's first Samoan musical to the rest of the world?

We're also calling out for complaints (that's right, complaints!) for our Parlour Complaints Choir, who'll turn all your greatest grizzles into glorious song on White Night. Send yours today to parlourgroup@gmail.com

And the fabulous (and ever-growing) behind-the-scenes team are tidying up loose ends from launch before we hit the next surge. Marketing and publicity are going off, and the Programme and Artist Liaison team are madly finalising contracts, and booking fights, hotels and freight. They have to ensure everything is right down to the smallest detail - Manaaki is important to us.

Nga mihi mahana

Carla

PS Last time I said some photos of the launch were on the website.  They are now, look under NEWS or on our Facebook page.