Southlanders put on their creativity caps

Earlier this year,Southlanders indulged in a month-long celebration of all things creative.

The Venture Southland-managed May Arts Festival for 2009 comprised over sixty different events in all genres of the arts, held over the month of May. Following on from 2008's marketing of the arts initiative, this year's festival became more strategic in its programming, ensuring that all genres of arts were covered with a good mix of local and "imported" talent.

Venture Southland’s management of the festival involved scheduling and programming the festival, liaising with other arts organisations to include their events in the festival, facilitating the production of 10,000 28-page brochures which were distributed all over Southland and managing some of the events.  A comprehensive marketing campaign was undertaken with all media involved in both editorial and advertorial articles. Significant funding from community partners such as the ILT Foundation, Community Trust of Southland and Creative NZ Communities enabled the festival to produce the brochures, facilitate the free events and ensure that the selected events could go ahead.

Most regions throughout New Zealand enjoy arts festivals to varying degrees.  Invercargill now has an established festival that celebrates and offers some of the very best in arts practice in a concentrated timeframe. Bringing outside artists to Southland is a costly and often risky business, avoided by many promoters who cannot cope with the financial risk.  Their access to funding is often non-existent.  A not-for-profit organisation such as Venture Southland can secure funding and facilitate the festival, enabling the public to enjoy an annual feast of artistic excellence not normally provided by the market.  

Creative Projects Manager at Venture Southland, Angela Newell, said festivals were traditionally a time to "over-indulge" on events and feedback has confirmed that many people went to multiple events during the month. There was a "buzz" generated by being out and about in the city at different things, bringing many people together. Discussing shared experiences, enjoying new works and having a good choice of entertainment are positive aspects of the festival. Planning for next year’s festival which is likely to feature around the same number of events is already underway. 

Russ Dear, who organised jazz concerts at the museum and in selected restaurants during the festival, said that one of the major spin-offs from the event is that some venues have decided to feature jazz musicians on a regular basis. “Soprano’s already have a jazz night once a month but since the festival, EAT in Windsor has decided to feature jazz in the restaurant every Friday night.” Audience numbers reached maximum capacity for many of the five free museum concerts, which were held on Sunday afternoons. Mr Dear hopes the festival will continue to grow in years to come and provide a wealth of entertainment opportunities for the community.