Auction to fund festival work
THE Southern Lakes Festival of Colour committee has announced its inaugural Celebration of the Arts cocktail party and auction will feature guest speaker New Zealand actress Rima Te Wiata.
Festival cochair Hetty van Hale said she wanted a guest speaker at the event who could talk about the arts and ‘‘someone on our committee suggested Rima and she accepted.’’
Te Wiata recently starred in the New Zealand movie Hunt for the Wilder-people in which she played Aunty Bella.
Its the first time festival organisers have held their own fundraising event and the money will go towards commissioning a unique work to be premiered at the 2019 Festival of Colour.
Mrs van Hale said the cocktail party and auction would be an opportunity for festival goers to have a ‘‘glam night out’’ without having to rush off to a show.
‘‘This is a chance to have some fun, have a few drinks, meet new people who also love the arts who you may not get to meet at a show because everything is so frantic,’’ Mrs van Hale said.
The festival hoped to raise about $20,000 at the function towards the cost of the 2019 production.
‘‘We don’t know what type of work it will be yet, but it’s likely to be a production that involves the local community,’’ Mrs van Hale said.
Tickets for the cocktail party and auction were limited to 200 and could be bought on line through the Festival of Colour website.
More than 50 items would be auctioned at the event, to be held at the Lake Wanaka Centre on Monday, March 27, a week before official opening of the Southern Lakes Festival of Colour.