NZ Festival leads the way in technology
‘‘It's all about bringing the best art from around the world and also presenting the best New Zealand artists.’’
The woman in charge of New Zealand’s largest festival says digital technology is going to change the way artists and festival-goers interact at next year’s event.
New Zealand Festival executive director Meg Williams said technology had ‘‘transformed’’ what organisers and artists were able to do.
‘‘[It] is quite extraordinary. Digital technology now means the audience can become a performer in the event itself, they can interact with it, they can play with it.’’
The festival had kept its sense of identity since it began in 1986, while also continuing to push the boundaries, Williams said.
‘‘It was started by a very ambitious group of Wellingtonians and at that time it was the first festival of its kind in New Zealand.
‘‘So we’ve taken that ambitious goal and we are still running with it 30 years later.’’
Williams, who has been with the festival since 2011, said it was held every two years to create a ‘‘sense of occasion’’.
‘‘I think having it every two years really means that everyone waits with bated breath, and then a programme comes out and then the bookings come in and you get that old-school sense of festivity, which is why festivals were designed in the first place.’’
The New Zealand Festival ‘‘really punches above its weight’’, she said.
‘‘The festival does ambitious things for a city this size … The key thing is it’s all about bringing the best art from around the world and also presenting the best New Zealand artists.’’
However, organising a festival was not without its challenges, as that was ‘‘the nature of the beast’’.
One of the major challenges was creating the programme from a ‘‘wishlist of events’’.
‘‘We’ve got to try and achieve getting the artists and the programme that we want, but things can change.
‘‘In the past, you might have artists that aren’t able to attend so we need to change all or adjust what we are doing in the programme.’’
It was also a challenge to stage outdoor events in Wellington’s weather, she said.
In addition, with the Wellington Town Hall closed, it meant organisers ‘‘had to get a bit creative’’.
Since it started, the biennial New Zealand Festival has sold about two million tickets and drawn a total audience of 5m people.
Last year, the festival attracted more than 300,000 people who gathered to see 1079 artists from 25 countries in more than 300 performances.
The economic impact for Wellington for last year’s festival activity was estimated at about $105m.
The festival is funded by Wellington City Council, Creative New Zealand, as well as through ticket sales, grants and sponsors.
Looking to the future, the focus remained on presenting the audience with ‘‘extraordinary experiences’’, Williams said.
New Zealand Festival was the winner of the Vibrant Gold category at the Wellington Gold Awards on July 7.