Rockquest to run new stage show
The team behind the annual Smokefree Rockquest high school events will now be running the replacement for Stage Challenge.
In February, Education Minister Chris Hipkins promised the Government would step in to find a replacement for the popular school cultural event, after it was canned due to a lack of funding.
Stage Challenge, which started in 1992, was one of the biggest events on the high school calendar, but was scrapped in January after the foundation in charge said it couldn’t keep up with costs.
The Stage Challenge Foundation emailed teachers and sponsors to say the annual event, along with associated event J Rock, would not go ahead in 2018.
More than 500,000 students had participated in the shows in the past 25 years. Last year, 17,000 students took part.
On Tuesday, Hipkins - a former Stage Challenge participant himself - said a new school arts events would replace Stage Challenge later this year.
Rockquest Promotions Ltd (Rockquest) would run the event in 2018, funded by a one-off grant of $800,000 from the Ministry of Education.
The ministry was also working on a longer-term funding model going forward. This arrangement was a one-year contract with Rockquest.
‘‘I couldn’t stand by and let these events disappear,’’ Hipkins said.
The ministry ran a tender process and received a range of good proposals from those who wanted to run the Stage Challenge replacement.
The events, which have yet to be named, will enable Year 1 to 13 students to engage in music, drama and dance in their local communities.
Smokefreerockquest founder and director Pete Rainey said he hoped schools and students would be excited about the new format, and while it was governed by the ministry’s criteria around the curriculum there would be ‘‘some exciting elements’’.