The year arts the bounced back
A dazzling garden light show, vampires, a revamped theatre and much more made 2014, despite a few hiccups, a good year for the arts in Wellington, writes Tom Cardy.
AREVITALISED New Zealand Festival, the continuing popularity of The Hobbit trilogy, a surprise low-budget hit and a refurbished Bats Theatre were highlights for the arts in Wellington this year.
Fortunately, there were few low points, although Te Papa struggled to attract hoped-for numbers for some exhibitions and its chief executive departed.
There was also the occasional controversy – a reminder that art can challenge and polarise people as well as entertain them.
The biennial New Zealand Festival under new artistic director Shelagh Magadza sold 116,000 tickets – 6000 more than in 2012 – and pumped an estimated $70 million into Wellington’s economy, $14m more than the previous festival. The most popular show was Power Plant, which transformed Wellington Botanic Garden into a giant light show and art installation.
But despite its success, it was also announced that the festival is going to look at running a series of ‘‘mini festivals’’ to complement the main festival, as it faces competition from the growing Auckland Arts Festival, whose organisers have decided to make an annual event.
The annual New Zealand Fringe Festival, featuring 700 shows in three weeks, was listed by National Geographic as one of the world’s top 10 ‘‘must do’’ events.
The annual three-day New Zealand Art Show at TSB Bank Arena was also a hit, with more than 11,000 people visiting and buying art, up from 8300 last year.
It was the same for the World of WearableArt Awards, also at TSB Bank Arena, which sold more than 53,000 tickets to 15 shows, breaking audience records.
Italian Francesco Ventriglia was announced as the next artistic director for the Wellington-based Royal New Zealand Ballet, replacing high-profile American Ethan Stiefel. Earlier this year the ballet company performed in the United States for the first time in 21 years, including shows in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Minneapolis and New York.
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, also based in Wellington, is being heard all over the world after recording the soundtrack to The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in Wellington Town Hall before it was closed for earthquake strengthening. The NZSO came out in support of a Wellington City Council proposal to include a ‘‘national music hub’’ in the Wellington Town Hall and Civic Square precinct.
‘‘The Wellington City Council’s Civic Precinct Master Plan would ensure the internationally acclaimed acoustics of the Town Hall auditorium are put to their best use,’’ NZSO chief executive Christopher Blake said.
Wellington artists, composers and musicians also got significant exposure in Edinburgh at its International Festival, International Jazz and Blues Festival, Art Festival, Book Festival, Festival Fringe and Military Tattoo this year, with help from Creative New Zealand.
It included jazz band The Troubles, composer Gareth Farr and Java Dance Company’s show Back of the Bus.
Bats Theatre in Cambridge Tce, closed for earthquake strengthening and a big makeover in 2012, reopened with more space for shows and rehearsals. Watch, the first show to be staged, scooped prizes in the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards.
Brothers Zane, 22, left, and Degge Jarvie, 20, with Imogen Stone, 18, performed a comedy circus act at this year’s hit Fringe Festival.
The winner of this year’s $20,000 Parkin Drawing Prize in Wellington raised eyebrows for its similarity to a renowned photograph from the 1930s of astronomer Edwin Hubble. ‘‘It’s a nonissue. This is a normal thing in the art world,’’ artist Douglas Stichbury said.
Controversy also surrounded New Zealand’s next $700,000 entry in the Venice Biennale, the world’s biggest arts fair, although this time it wasn’t over the artist – Auckland-based Simon Denny – or his work. Instead it was the inclusion of Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager as an adviser.
Documents issued under the Official Information Act showed that Creative NZ feared Wellington’s Hager could create a political risk or embarrassment as high as the Prime Minister’s Office.