The No.8 Wire - Issue 33

Gondwanaland Ministry of Culture
Artists' Information Bureau

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An Electronic Alert for 891 of Wellington's Creative People
Tail-end Octo-numerical Interview: HELEN VARLEY JAMIESON



33.00
KNOW THYSELF

http://www.teara.govt.nz/

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33.01
CALLING ALL HANDS
A Request from Fearless Leader, Chris Morley-Hall…

Please can you send this SOS out:

I am searching for any one who is or thinks they are a circus performers , fire performers ,stilt performers , street theatre, roving performers…someone who could create a specific performance...Anything considered

cheers
Chris Morley-Hall
"El Capitan"
Gondwana Productions Ltd
Po box 9320
Wellington
elcapitan@whopperchopper.org.nz

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33.02
LATIN LOOK

The new Wellington Art Centre gallery (61-63 Abel Smith St) will host a exhibition by local Latin American artists now based in the Capital City. Organised by Incal Casa Latina Wellington, with the support of the Council’s Community Services office, the exhibition offers a close look at contemporary visual arts practice with unique links to Latin American cultures and traditions. An opening reception will be on Saturday May 28th at 7 pm with the participation of Los Andes-Latin American Folk Music Group. Readers of the No.8 Wire are invited. For more information, please call :

Natalia Parra Sierra 04-5688636 Rolando Olmedo 04-5687095
Curadora Director Incal-Casa Latina

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33.03
THE FUNDAMENTAL HYPE

http://www.thefundamentalpractice.org/Indextemp.html

http://www.etal.info/

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33.04
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
TV Talent Required…

Kia ora and hello:
We’re casting for a TV Campaign – 6 commercials in total – for the Heart Foundation to promote well being and keeping fit.

This is a great campaign for new talent – the agency wants everyday looking people to take part, from a range of cultural and social backgrounds.

Commercial 1: 5 Samoan men and women – older woman 50ish; girl 10ish; sporty guy 35ish; younger guy – late teens, early twenties; sporty woman 25 – 30ish.
Commercial 2: 5 women aged from 50 – 65 years – multi-cultural, Chinese, Pakeha, Maori, European etc.
Commercial 3: 2 European/Pakeha male, female –
40 – 45ish – large body types required.
Commercial 4: 2 European/Pakeha male, female – male 35ish, woman early to mid twenties.
Commercial 5: Maori, Pacific Island woman – aged 30ish.
Commercial 6: Maori male and daughter – male aged 25ish, daughter 3ish.

There shoot day will be one day, taking place between Friday 27th May to Friday June 3rd 2005. At this stage exact dates and times for each commercial are still to be finalised so please make sure you are available during this time. I’ll contact you as soon as this has been confirmed.

Fees range from $1000 to $4000, depending on the commercial and role cast – exclusive of 20% agency fee – also no speaking parts.

To learn more, call Wayne Widdowson 04 570 1672 or 021 1296 734

Best wishes

Ka Kite Ano
Wayne Widdowson
Talent Manager, Simzisani Creations

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33.05
TAKE OVER A SPACE

For Artists, Cheap Studios in Vacant Commercial Space
By LISA CHAMBERLAIN

Published in the New York Times: May 8, 2005

Growing up in New Orleans, Bradley Wester used to play with office supplies. Now he's an artist in New York who uses stationery, name tags and stickers for his pop-inspired art, and for the last few months, he has been working out of a small, 350-square foot, light-filled office in lower Manhattan.
It is a huge improvement for Mr. Wester, who for the previous two years worked in his Park Slope apartment because he couldn't find an affordable studio space. "Here I am in a downtown Manhattan office building, all grown up and still playing with office supplies," Mr. Wester said.
The space costs him only $280 a month, although there is a hitch: he can lose it at any time, whenever the landlord shows up with a tenant who will pay the market price of about $45 a square foot annually, or about $1,300 a month.
Mr. Wester is one of many artists who temporarily inhabit 42,000 square feet at 40 Worth Street donated by Newmark & Company Real Estate to the nonprofit arts organization Chashama, which began Accessing Real Estate for the Arts, or AREA, to provide free or cheap temporary space donated by real estate owners, developers and property managers.
"We want to be supportive of the arts," said Jeffrey Gural, chairman of Newmark, which owns 40 Worth Street. "Rents in the city are high. Some artists just can't afford space. So we donated the space with the understanding that if we get a tenant, they have to get out."
And that, in a nutshell, is the concept pioneered by Chashama. The same idea has recently been aggressively adopted by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, which in December 2004 began trying to put together artists needing space with landlords having vacancies.
Chashama was started in 1995 by Anita Durst, daughter of Douglas Durst, co-president of the Durst Organization, which has owned and developed real estate in Manhattan since the early 1900's. As an artist herself, and because of her family connections, people often came to Ms. Durst seeking help with space to rehearse, create and put on shows. What started out as an informal means of helping her friends and colleagues was formalized into the AREA program three years ago. "At first we were almost totally dependent on my family," Ms. Durst said. "But landlords are starting to see the benefits of having their empty spaces temporarily enlivened by artists. And because we provide liability insurance, it's no risk to them." Landlords who have participated in the program say that they like donating to the arts community and contributing to the vibrancy of the neighborhood, and that they would rather show prospective tenants a space that is in use rather than sitting empty.
According to Cathy Nanda, who oversees AREA, Chashama has secured more than 100,000 square feet worth approximately $3.1 million for artists all over the city. Its most recent donation is a former bank building in Long Island City owned by Brause Realty Inc. "It took us awhile to get our arms around the concept," said David Brause, vice president of Brause Realty. "We wanted to talk to other landlords who had done these short-terms deals and everyone said great things. And if people come to Long Island City and learn more about the neighborhood, that's good for everyone."
Because it often takes longer than anticipated to find tenants, leases with artists that are typically three months often turn into six months or longer.
To select artists to fill the spaces, Chashama uses a panel of gallery owners, artists and curators. Artists are then matched with appropriate spaces as they become available.
One lucky recipient of an AREA performing arts studio award is Uncle Jimmy's Dirty Basement, a raunchy puppet rock band that is currently rehearsing for a show at P.S. 122 that opens on May 19. For two months, Dirty Basement is paying $400 for 24-hour access to a space at 40 Worth Street that approximates the stage on which they'll be performing. "In the past, we've had to pile into a tiny rehearsal space to get ready for shows," said Tom Burnett, a co-creator of Dirty Basement, which has performed at Joe's Pub and the Bowery Poetry Club, among other venues. "So it's quite a luxury to really plan out every single move, onstage as well as offstage."
The success of AREA caught the attention of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and five months ago, the nonprofit arts organization started its own version, called Swing Space, a few months after the new president, Tom Healy, took over.
"Even though this can't solve the permanent studio or housing crunch for artists, if we get this program going, we can have tens of thousands of square feet in constant rotation for artists," Mr. Healy said.
With an estimated million square feet of commercial space sitting vacant at any given time in Lower Manhattan, the Swing Space program has already secured 50,000 square feet of vacant space. The organization occupies a corner on the ground floor of the Equitable Building, owned by Silverstein Properties.
Liz Sargent will put on a performance art piece, beginning Thursday, that was developed specifically for the 11,000-square-foot former bank branch in the Equitable Building.
"I've been in the space for about a month," said Ms. Sargent, "which is great because I can really live in it and know it. My piece is very set heavy and costume heavy." Not only is the space free to Ms. Sargent courtesy of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, but she also received a commission from the organization as well.
General Growth Properties, a real estate investment trust, has also been an enthusiastic participant in Swing Space, recently donating a former Liz Claiborne retail store at South Street Seaport, which is being used by some dance companies that are developing shows. With dressing rooms, smooth wood floors and mirrors, the space is perfectly suited to the task. Recently the dance companies held daytime open rehearsals so people at South Street Seaport could enjoy a bit of culture on their lunch break.
Of course, the power of artists to enliven a neighborhood has long been known by one of the city's most recognizable real estate developers, David Walentas of Two Trees Management in Dumbo. While Mr. Walentas once lured artists to the area by offering long-term free or very inexpensive studio space - a luxury long since abandoned as rents have skyrocketed - Two Trees is making short-term donations of space in a new second floor cluster of galleries on Front Street at the corner of Washington. With most of the spaces leased to paying galleries, a few oddly shaped or otherwise difficult to lease spaces are being donated to arts organizations on a rotating basis.
In March, M.F.A. students from the Pratt Institute showed their work in 4,200 square feet of space at the Front Street gallery. Fashion Institute of Technology students will also use space for curatorial training. Recently opened is a show of emerging photographers organized by Positive Focus, a nonprofit Brooklyn arts group which is occupying 1,400 square feet in May. The organizations only have to pay for electricity.
The concept might soon be taken overseas. Choros International Projects, a nonprofit group sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts, would like to use the idea to revitalize cities like Belgrade. "We will be meeting with real estate folks in Belgrade in the fall," said Rados Piletich, development director of Choros. "I really hope the city gets on board with the Chashama temporary space model because it's pretty unique. I've never seen anything like it."

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33.06
IT"S A VISUAL WORLD

Links to all sorts of visual art makers, presenters, and supporters in New Zealand

http://www.nz-artists.co.nz/links.htm

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33.07
DANCE UNTIL SOCKLESS

Wellington’s favourite cavalcade of terpsichorean happenings returns with a flourish, followed by a pas de chat, rounded out by a lobster quadrille…

http://www.feelinggreat.co.nz/arts/event/dance/290.php

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33.08
LITMUS TEST

On 27 May, Massey University’s School of Fine Arts in Wellington will launch LITMUS – a new platform for contemporary arts research, practice and presentation. Distinct amongst University arts initiatives nationally, LITMUS is not a gallery, but a catalyst for the production of new work in new contexts.

LITMUS – as its name suggests – is conceived as a means to develop and test a range of strategies and conditions for the making, reception and discussion of contemporary art. Focusing on projects which are public, temporary and which exist beyond gallery space, LITMUS provides an open and flexible structure in which to bring artists, curators and researchers together to create and write about artistic activity in an expanded field.

Operating on campus from the former Director’s Office of the now relocated National Art Gallery, LITMUS inherits a rich contextual history. Embracing the potential of this context as a stimulus and site for contemporary art, LITMUS – in its first year of operation – focuses its attentions within the museum. In a series of projects the initiative will work with significant national artists to develop new work, which engages with the particularities of this remarkable location.

The inaugural LITMUS project Sit Talk Look Write, which opens to the public on 28 May, is a new site-responsive work by Wellington artist and Fine Arts lecturer Simon Morris – made specifically for the LITMUS facility in the former Director’s office.

Radically transforming what is currently a standard and anonymous office space within the administrative annex of the College of Creative Arts, Morris’s work will vitalise LITMUS as an active environment for research and discussion, and signal the initiative’s commitment to the development of contemporary visual art.

Sit Talk Look Write presents a process-based wall drawing, together with new furniture, reworked existing furniture and interior surfaces to encourage viewer awareness of space and function. While inhabited by Morris’s work, the LITMUS facility operates as both exhibition site and office. The viewer becomes participant and visa versa.

Closely aligned with the aims and scope of LITMUS, Morris’s practice has long been engaged with the conditions of site. His work has developed from the field of painting into the expanded terrain of installation, architecture and public space. In previous projects, he produced wall drawings that aimed to reveal the architectural qualities of interior environments and heighten the viewer experience of space in time. More recently, this trajectory has concerned itself with ideas related to objects in three- dimensions.

LITMUS will be launched on 27 May at 6pm. Sit Talk Look Write is open to the public from 28 May to 8 July, with weekly hours of Wednesday–Sunday, 12noon–4pm. Access via Massey University Entrance D. From main doors to the Museum Building, follow signs to mezzanine floor and space 10Bmezz10.

For further information and/or images please contact Kate Griffin, LITMUS Project Director on tel: (04) 801 2794 extn: 6197 or email: k.a.griffin@massey.ac.nz.

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33.09
PUBLIC ART QUESTION

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/pubart08.html

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33.10
HAPPY TIMES

Strange sounds. Strange sites. A strangely beautiful place to be…Happy.
Four  nights of the Ecstasy Trio this week, with special guests
 
Jeff Henderson - saxophone
Tom Callwood - bass
Chris O'Connor - drums
Thurs 19 - Sat 21 10pm  $5 / $10
 Sun 22 - 8pm,  $5 / $10
 
and coming up soon...
 
MAY
25/26  ZIRKUS BIG BAND
27 SCRIBES OF RA
28 AFRICAN DANCE PARTY by WAAKELIS
 
JUNE
1  JOE CALLWOOD QUINTET
2 CONSOLE 6508
3 SHOOTING PARTY
4 DITZY SQUALL
 
9 NORMAN MEEHAN QUINTET
10 ATTIK / SEVEN SUNS
11 TWINSET
 
And look out for
THOUGHT CREATURE, the CHANDELIERS, THIS NIGHT CREEPS, GOON, FETE DE LA MUSIQUE, MINT CHICKS, the SITUATIONS, LEILA ADU, DIE DIE DIE, BOMB THE SPACE 2005
at 
Happy
corner Vivian and Tory Streets
384 1965
www.happy.net.nz

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33.11
ULTIMATE ENJOYMENT

For Enjoy's first show in its new 147 Cuba Street premises, we present:

The End of Water
Shay Launder
Opening Celebration: May 24 6pm
Performance with Natalie Moreno starting 6.30pm
Artist Talk: Wednesday June 8 6pm
May 25 – June 10

Ideas for banners for The End of Water:

Headlong into the Future
Gravity Must be Worked On
Drowning Methods and Accidental Speech
We Are Dirt
Our Desperate Velocity
The Honesty and Generosity of the Future
The Forested Desires of the Future
Grow, you rubbishy weed, you are not alone in the forest
Rebuild!
Water for Sadness
Deepest Values and Aspirations
I Surrender
Secret Happiness
Great Ship, Fully Laden
Your Departure
Towards Improvement
New Societies
On the Threshold of Miracles
Recent History of Failed Relationships
Gravity versus Tears
I'm too sad to tell you
Please Forgive Me
Before It's Too Late
I Need Your Help
Deferred Maintenance
What should we do with the Animals?
We Whisper News Into Each Other's Ears
The Ground Falls Away
Preparing Ourselves for the Future
The Sun's Noise
The End of Water: Ex-Divining Sticks.

Sticks, in conversation.
What are they talking about?
They are reaching out to each other.
but they are sticks, after all, so not very
affectionate by nature,
They can't help it

the whole span of love, which has been languishing, will be swept up and take residence in the world. The birds already know of it and find it inside softened boulders. Rescue teams will be sent in to retrieve it and encounter intoxicated animals. Sometimes they never return. We will patch together our clothes and call out to one another across ravines and streets. These activities mark the distance of our disappearance, which is that of a glorious exit of the emergency kind.

Please note Enjoy's new opening hours:
Wednesday to Friday 11am - 6pm
Saturday and Sunday 11am -4pm
 
 
Enjoy Public Art Gallery
Level one, 147 Cuba Street
Wellington
 
384 0174
enjoy@enjoy.org.nz
www.enjoy.org.nz
 
The Enjoy on-line discussion forum is up and running again.
Go to www.enjoy.org.nz/discuss to have your say.

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33.12
LUCIRE AND THE WORLD

Knowing whom not to listen to…
In creating a new venture, knowing whom not to listen to is as important as absorbing good advice

by Jack Yan, founder and CEO of Jack Yan & Associates and publisher of Lucire.

THIS WEEK is pretty important to me as a publisher (as well as a professional brand consultant and typeface designer). In late 2003, I made an unusual decision: to turn a web property I owned into a print magazine. It was, by and large, unprecedented in the world of publishing (one other publisher had done it at that point). In the days ahead, I’ll personally work on a brand extension to the print magazine, but, more importantly, see the launch of Lucire in Romania. I didn’t do it alone; the key was listening to the right people and rejecting all that was wrong with 20th-century business.

I won’t say the path was an easy one. The web magazine is number two in Google, slipping every now and then to third when Condé Nast has a good week, but we could have owned the online fashion category if we wished. To give up the title of the world’s leading online-only fashion magazine in favour of becoming just web-and-print title was not an option, either. Instead, Lucire had to become something special.

The story has been told before: the twenty-first-century brand must have social responsibility. It is vital for a brand’s survival today.

Secondly, it is important today for a magazine, regardless of medium, to have constant contact with its readers.

Thirdly, while think global, act local has its merits, it is the era of think global, act global, and it matters not that one has a small business.

But the story is not complete. The rest of the story is about what we blankly rejected because it was démodé and irrelevant for 21st century business.

It may be very cocky to say this only after two editions, one in Australasia and one in Europe, but I like to think of Lucire as part of a global movement. We began it online, where global movements are commonplace. I refer not to Ebay or Google, but socially responsible groups such as TakingITGlobal. I am closely involved in one, the Medinge Group, which is made up of the world’s top branding authorities—where we do look at changing our part of the world by making brands more transparent and honest. I refer to those informal networks of people who band together because they see the opportunity to effect change. whether it’s privately hosted or on Yahoo!.

If you are in publishing and you didn’t notice this, then, in my opinion, you are in trouble.

It’s that spirit that, despite having come from the end of the 20th century, was a vanguard of the next century. In the 1990s, postmodern critique was fashionable. In branding, No Logo was the seminal moment, Something had to give, and I proposed the concept of moral globalization; I talked about how brands could become more human, even more spiritual. The consumer movement couldn’t be ignored, either: it came of age in the last decade.

Those who suggest that we continue branding just as we always did, maybe by putting up an extra sheen and give social responsibility mere lip service, are misguided. I had to ignore them.

But there was one thing that I knew, but didn’t want to believe. For years, I resisted doing a print edition. Print was seen by the “digiratti” as a retrograde step. But here we are in the 2000s and the allure of print is as strong as ever. Nearly all those people who said they would stop buying tabloids when Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed were killed (or assassinated) have failed to keep their promise. Since we’re not going to change millennia’s worth of habits, we decided we had to be part of the print world.

However, that world had things I didn’t like. Largesse, arrogance and formality. I am blessed to have never formerly worked in the industries I have chosen to work in: consulting, software and media. We joked about JY&A Consulting being the anti-McKinsey long before they were handing out books on their work for Enron. And in the months before Lucire approached launch, we heard that we were the ‘anti-Vogue’. Well, I was born on the anniversary of Condé Nast’s passing, so perhaps there is some meaning there.

If I was to spend this much money, then some things had to be done in the way Lucire had evolved, never losing the character or the values we found in the 1990s.

That meant the lean structure of the web site had to stay. That meant that we did not complete three months’ worth of articles before launch, because that would not afford us any chance to adapt to consumers. It meant trusting your team to create articles and artwork that represented the magazine’s ethos. It even meant putting aside the idea of traditional demographics because based on my observation of consumer behaviour on the web, the budget–premium distinction had disappeared. It meant listening to everyone from advertisers to consumers, and treat them respectfully. And if this magazine was to have a chance in exporting, either in intellectual property or physical magazines, it had to consider New Zealand as part of a global society.

I can’t say this was all laid out before me the months before October 4, 2004, our New Zealand launch date. Nor was I totally sure of my own capabilities. But I imagine most of us felt it deep down, and with hindsight, we can now see the bigger picture.

A lot of this came from the selection of the right people or just trusting that they would be there: Phillip Johnson has stuck by us through thick and thin, for a start. Lisa Tardrew, our director of advertising, contrasts her rivals and is, therefore, our finest ambassador in Auckland, New Zealand. Nicola Brockie, our editor-in-chief, has managed to maintain a level head during all the growing pains. For five out of six covers (and likely seven out of eight), Jessica Tarazi created world-class make-up. Doug Rimington, a photographer who doesn’t distinguish between classes of people. Fiona Barnett, who understands global design. Printers who knew my record. Folks on our team who are too numerous to mention. All are internationally minded people, adopting an attitude that is a necessity.

Since then, we’ve had Americans tell us that it’s the antipodean version of W (we actually had Vogue in our sights rather than anything of Mr Fairchild’s), and others believe we might be the benchmark, at least in our home country, for our sector. I hope so. Or that at least we lead in some ways, helping our readers, and helping our advertisers connect properly in an age of segmentation and consumer democracy and advocacy.

Our attitude remains, nonetheless, informal. And that is what drew the Lucire Romania team and head office together. Mirella and Valentin Lapusca have done a magnificent job of re-creating Lucire there, following the ethos of the “master edition”, our harnessing everything from FedEx to web servers. The magazine may be physically shorter there, measuring the same width but A4 in height, but there is no denying that, with its New Zealand-designed typefaces, it is Lucire.

I salute our Romanian team. Mirella and Valentin took a chance on our vision after we had delivered only two issues to the New Zealand and Australian public. That was when I knew that our relationship would be founded on trust first. The contract we executed merely became a formality. In some countries I can name, mistrust would have come first, the contract a document to live and die by. But I hold those values of the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights dear to me: ‘innocent till proved guilty’ are not only words, they are a good way to do business. Due process is in the Fifth Amendment, though on some days I wonder.

However, it is an underlying belief even in our coverage and the issues we get involved in. As a member of the media, I stand for what my company stands for: ethical solutions with the strongest awareness of integrity, rights and freedoms. That’s my declaration and Lucire, that organic brand, that global movement, is living proof of it.

One day, I’d like to see more countries with their own Lucires. There is no secret that I would like to see it Stateside, run like a New Zealand magazine. Good business is a mixture of high-stress and ‘She’ll be right,’ that slogan beloved of antipodeans. There are other markets, too, ones that are willing to see how a 21st-century title can be run. Nationals in those countries I would like to connect with, and humbly await their consideration.

http://www.lucire.net

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33.13
IT”S ONLY HUMAN

New Zealand’s inaugural human rights film festival Opens Wellington 25 May

A film festival with a difference –– is bringing extraordinary documentaries and dramas to the big screen near you.

With a programme that includes the radical, entertaining Resistencia: Hip-Hop in Colombia, the global street battles of The Fourth World War, and the heartfelt independence struggles of people in Burma and across the globe.

The Festival features some high profile dramas topped by British director Ken Loach’s Bread and Roses (starring Adrien Brody, lead actor in Peter Jackson’s King Kong); and the newly released, stunning fictional account of the September 11 hijackers, Hamburg Cell produced by New Zealander Finola Dwyer.

“The films in our festival tell stories which touch lives, and we are delighted to be bringing them to New Zealand audiences” festival co-director Carol Nelson says.

“These films are fresh, raw and real,” says co-director Boris van Beusekom. “We’re seeing a global explosion in documentary film making as people take advantage of exciting advances in camera and editing technology and are now able to document human rights abuses and victories in their own back yard.”

The festival is the initiative of the Human Rights Network of Aotearoa New Zealand, an independent, non-partisan, non-government organisation formed in 2000.

www.humanrightsfilmfest.net.nz

Auckland 12-19 May Academy Cinema
Christchurch 13-15 May Regent on Worcester
Wellington 25 May -1 June The Paramount

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33.14
FOOT FETISH

Courtenay Central Dance Fest 2005

Hi Everyone

Courtenay Central Dance Fest is the greatest public event of the Dance Your Socks Off! festival. Each year we build a stage in the food court at Courtenay Central, (on Courtney Place in Wellington) and invite dance groups to perform and promote their group or Dance Your Socks Off! events. This year Courtenay Central Dance Fest is on Monday, 5th September from 5:00pm - 8.00pm

If you would like to be involved in this event please fill in and return the attached registration form as soon as possible, BEFORE Friday, 1st July 2005. The time slots will be allocated on a “first in first served” basis, so get in early!

Please feel free to pass this information onto anyone who would be interested in being part of this great community event!

Kasia Wypych
On behalf of DYSO Festival Coordinator
Recreation Wellington
Wellington City Council
Cell: 021 141 8116
salsa_bomba@paradise.net.nz

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33.15
DOWN THE CYBER RABBIT HOLE

One stop online access to cultural information…

The government will invest $3.6 million to develop an internet portal for New Zealand's cultural sector.

Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Helen Clark welcomed the announcement of $3.6 million to develop an internet portal for New Zealand's cultural sector.

Helen Clark said the cultural portal will offer a co-ordinated web presence for government cultural agencies, government funded cultural organisations, and other cultural entities.

"The portal will promote New Zealand's cultural goods, services, events, and activities to a wider, more diverse audience both nationally and internationally," Helen Clark said.

"The portal will help to meet the demand for web-based information to assist in planning, pre-booking, and paying for cultural tourism related activities.

"It will include research on New Zealand culture and cultural identity through access to the Dictionary of NZ Biography, NZHistory.net, and Te Ara: the online encyclopedia of New Zealand.

"There will be links to organisations including Te Papa, the NZSO, the Historic Places Trust, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and Archives New Zealand. The portal will provide access to New Zealand broadcasters and links to local and regional cultural institutions such as art galleries and museums.

"The first stage of the project will be to build the infrastructure of a web portal, as a common access point to arts, culture and heritage information, including the ability to search across associated government agency websites.

"The second stage will set up a cultural events website within the portal, with a facility for online bookings. The final stage will offer access to cultural products, activities, and services," Helen Clark said.

The portal is included in the Digital Strategy for New Zealand announced earlier in the week. The government will provide $3.6 million (GST exclusive) over four years as part of Budget 2005 to develop the cultural portal.

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33.16
ENJOYING THE BENEFIT

Goodbye 174
Leaving Party and Benefit gig
Saturday May 21st from 6pm
Featuring bands: The Stumps, THE JUDGE, New Zealand and Golden Axe
Level one, 174 Cuba Street
Entry by donation

You are invited to Enjoy's final celebratory bash at 174 Cuba Street. We're throwing a party with an eclectic and vibrant line-up of live music and performance this Saturday. Kicking off just after 6pm, we present an evening of both debut and repeat performances by some familiar faces to Enjoy.To help raise funds for the move to our new space down the road we ask that you please give generously at the door.

Enjoy Public Art Gallery
Level one, 174 Cuba Street (but not for long)
Wellington
 
384 0174
enjoy@enjoy.org.nz
www.enjoy.org.nz
 
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33.17
BARTLEY NEES OPENS TONIGHT

New location: 2 Blair Street, Wellington New hours: Tuesday - Friday 12 - 7pm, Saturday - Sunday 11am - 4pm New show: group exhibition featuring work by Max Gimblett, Sara Hughes, Niki Hastings-McFall, Judy Millar, Simon Morris, Anne Noble, Neil Pardington, Sofia Tekela-Smith, Wayne Youle.

Opening: this Friday 20 May 5.30pm 20 May - 19 June 2005

After a decade in Cuba Street Bartley Nees Gallery has moved to the corner of Blair and Wakefield Streets and a more easily accessible ground-floor location. The move represents a significant advance for the gallery and aguably the best space in Wellington for the display of art by a great range of emerging and established artists.

Please find attached an invitation to our opening party. If this time does not suit you to come and visit our beautiful new space and opening exhibition, we will be open for previewing on Thursday from 5.30 - 7.30pm and from 11am on Friday.

For more information or a print quality image of art from the exhibition:
please contact Alison Bartley
Bartley Nees Gallery
2 Blair Street, Wellington
Phone: 04 801 9795
http://www.bartleyneesgallery.co.nz/

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33.18
BATS BATS BATS

Kia ora BATSters!!!

The final week of the ODDFELLOWS NZ International Comedy Festival will have you rolling in the aisles – we have three outstanding stand-up comedians with three fantastic shows. Opening tonight- James Nokise’s Enter the Jandal, then I Love David Hasselhoff by Cori Gonzalez-Macuer and Just a Buck Eejit starring Darren Jardine.

Next week at BATS - don’t miss the return of the best of the Fringe! Karaoke Poetry returns to BATS for four nights only – awarded Best Spoken Word and Best of the Fringe 2005. Also Sheba Williams stars in The Josephine Baker Show. Check out www.bats.co.nz for more information.

To book for any performance at BATS simply email book@bats.co.nz with your name, number of tickets and date you wish to attend. We will reply to confirm your booking and you can pay when you come to the show.
Enter the Jandal
Season: Tuesday 17 – Saturday 21 May
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $15 full price/$12 concession and groups 12+

Part stand-up comedy show, part mocumentary, Enter the Jandal tells the disastrous story of James Nokise, Samoa’s biggest celebrity since The Rock, struggling to spread his name across the globe.  But his dreams quickly turn to disappointment as multiple failures force this big-time island star to take on two-bit parts and live stage performances. Enter the Jandal is the latest offering from James Nokise, recently returned from a three month tour of the UK.

I Love David Hasselhoff
Season: Wednesday 18 – Saturday 21 May
Time: 6.30pm
Tickets: $15 full price/$12 concession and groups 12+

Name: Cori Gonzalez - Macuer
Nickname: Wesley Snipes,  Uncle Jesse from Full House
Likes: muffin bakes
Dislikes: Kryptonite, people looking at him, lamb
Fave Actors: Sean Penn, that Asian chick from Shortland Street
About his show: Who cares about the show? Cori's just happy to be alive. Since getting nominated for the ODDFELLOWS Billy T Award this year, people have wanted him "out of the way". Luckily, he has been able to defend himself by firing punchline bullets from his comedy pistol. Come see his show. David Hasselhoff might be there. He's lovely.

Just a Buck Eejit
Season: Thursday 19 – Saturday 21 May
Time: 9.30pm
Tickets: $15 full price/$12 concession and groups 8+

Having lived here for a number of years Darren decided enough was enough, it was time to become a citizen of this beautiful country. So armed with his application form and passport photos, he embarked on a journey to find out what it takes to become a ‘Kiwi’. And so was born the ‘Irishkiwi’, a combination of the Irish’s gift of the gab and the sheer unrivaled understated enthusiasm that New Zealanders have.
Travelling the country, Darren sets about finding the key to fitting into New Zealand life, or simply the best way to not being always seen as a FOB (fresh off the boat). From trying all the ACC activities like bungee jumping and sky diving to more cultural activities like farting in a hot tub in Rotorua and getting away with it.

BATS Theatre
1 Kent Terrace
Wellington, Aotearoa
bats@bats.co.nz
bookings 802 4175
office 802 4176
www.bats.co.nz

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33.19
IT"S OUR PUBLIC ART

How the plop art and monumental approach to public art has given way to process, community participation, and the artist as shaman-facilitator...

http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/1999/12/yes_in_my_front.php

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33.20
IT”S IN THE STARS

Matariki: The Mäori New Year Tour

Towards the end of May or early June each year the star cluster Matariki - or Pleiades - appears in our dawn skies. The Maori New Year begins with the first new moon after Matariki's appearance. Come and join Te Papa and the Carter Observatory to learn more about this time of feasting, entertainment, and ceremony.

A guided tour departs from inside Te Papa's main entrance at 3pm and includes a tour of Matariki taonga (treasures) and stories at Te Papa followed by a bus ride to Carter Observatory for a planetarium performance and refreshments, returning to Te Papa by 5.30pm.

The tour costs $20 per person and reservations are essential as maximum numbers apply. Please contact the Te Papa Tours Manager by phoning (04) 381 7111 or faxing (04) 381 7170 or emailing reservations@tepapa.govt.nz

Tour dates:     Tuesday 7 June
        Saturday 11 June
        Tuesday 14 June
        Saturday 18 June

Tour departure time:    3pm

Tour completion time:    5.30pm

Cost:   $20 per person

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33.21
FEELING GREAT WANTS YOUR STUFF

Hi everyone!

The deadline for submission of all material for our July publication is looming in the next couple of days (I'm also taking July School holidays material too but please get this in as soon as possible). I'm keen to put in as much imagery as possible so please forward any images you may have (if they are 300kb or more) so we can promote your event. Thank you in advance.

Kind regards,
Amanda Gregan
Marketing & Publications Co-ordinator, Recreation Wellington
www.feelinggreat.co.nz

801 3459
Fax 801 3635
amanda.gregan@wcc.govt.nz

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33.22
STREET SOUNDS CAPTURED

You May have seen in your travels down Lambton Quay , a blind girl busking with her gorgeous lab (eves). It’s a little known fact that she has also Recorded an album with local musicians (me being one of them)
Well The lady in question is Carol Henry and The Album is called "Its not dark in here" . Launch date has been set for Thursday 26 May @ the front room in Hania St , Mt Vic (front of the old James Cabaret).

Doors will open at 6:30 there is a $10 cover charge. If you are interested advanced bookings can be made by contacting me…

Andrew Richardson
027 2680 458

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33.23
CHICAGO BEAN

Anish Kapoor's 110-ton masterpiece reflects the world around Chicago's Millennium Park. Is this the most significant, monumental, important work of public art in our times? You be the judge…

http://www.millenniumpark.org/sbcplaza.htm

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33.24
ACOUSTIC MUSE ARRIVING

Notes form the folk underground...

This Sunday is important for 2 reasons....
 
Marinated Muse is the Acoustic Routes monthly concert for May - at the Museum of City and Sea, Queen's Wharf. We will have a nautical theme - with traditional shanties and other songs of the sea. Hosted by Robin Brew, this should be a a super evening with lots of opportunity to sing. Remember the special venue - start time 8pm, admission $10 ($7 AR members)
 
Blind Date draw: at the May concert on Sunday we will draw the names into groups for June's Blind Date concert. If you haven't got your name down already, email me and be sure you are in.
 
This is loads of fun - get matched with 3 or 4 other players, take a month to practice up 10 minutes of material, and then play it for our June concert. Anything goes - last year's was one of the best club nights many of us can remember.
  
Other upcoming events:
 
Flying Piglets present
DUCHAS
Traditional Irish music on Harp and Flute
8 June, 8pm Expressions Theatre, Upper Hutt. Booking 04 527 2168, info@expressions.org.nz
 
Duchas is a duo of top class performers of the traditional music of Ireland. Their programme consists of traditional Irish dance music, the popular airs of Ireland, and the popular ballads. Their debut CD Draíocht was released in 2003. June NiChormaic (flute) and Michael Rooney (harp and concertina) have both been All-Ireland champions on their respective instruments.
  
Duchas have been performing together for several years, playing concerts, ceilidhs and classes. They regularly tutor at summer schools for traditional music in Ireland. Duchas' growing popularity means that they now travel widely, including extensive concert tours and festival appearances in America and Australia.
 
On two previous visits to New Zealand Duchas have built up a strong following. On their third visit to New Zealand they will  teach flute and concertina at the CeolAneas (Music from the South) Celtic workshops and concerts 2005 in Nelson over Queen's Birthday Weekend ( www.ceolaneas.org) and will play concerts from Northland to Dunedin.
 

And for home musicians from Anthony Gallon
 
You may be interested to know about the book I have just published. It is the only book in the world that teaches musicians how to set up a powerful home recording studio for $1000! I believe the time is right and technology is ripe that this is not just possible and already happening, but I believe it will change the future of music as musicians become recording artists and learn to work more collaboratively with producers to achieve a unified goal. Check out www.studiojunkies.com/book.htm to see the table of contents and download a sample pdf.

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33.25
CASH IN

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR PRIZE IN MODERN LETTERS
The biennial Prize in Modern Letters is designed to acknowledge and advance the work of emerging writers in New Zealand. The value of the Prize is NZ$60,000.
The Prize in Modern Letters was established by Glenn Schaeffer, founding patron of the IIML. As well as highlighting the achievement and potential of a major new writer, the Prize will significantly enhance awareness of New Zealand literature in the USA and internationally.
The inaugural Prize in Modern Letters was won by novelist Catherine Chidgey in 2002, and in 2004, the prize was awarded to poet Glenn Colquhoun.
The Prize in Modern Letters is awarded every two years. The following deadlines relate to the 2006 award. Nominations close 29 July 2005. Shortlist announced October 14, Winner announced March 2006.
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/modernletters/activities/prize-in-modern-letters.aspx

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33.26
DOWN AT CITY GALLERY

‘Lucien Rizos … where I find myself’
Michael Hirschfeld Gallery at City Gallery Wellington
20 May – 19 June 2005

Although Lucien Rizos has been working in street photography since the 1960s, and has amassed a vast body of work (much of which is housed in the National Library archives), he seldom shows his work . In this exhibition, Rizos explores the concepts of personal and public 'memories' and the ways in which we record them by contrasting his photographic and hand-drawn images with a hanging of conventional 'family' photographs.

JENNY HARPER – KEYNOTE LECTURE ON BRIDGET RILEY
SEEING AND BELIEVING: The Reception of Bridget Riley’s Art
Sunday 22 May, 2pm

A special opportunity to learn more about Bridget Riley’s life and work with Jenny Harper, lecturer in art history at Victoria University of Wellington, who has a long-standing friendship with the artist.

Jenny Harper will examine Riley’s life and work from her early black and white paintings to her increasing concern with the self-generating luminosity of pure colour, and trace how Riley’s innovative work explores the truth of what one can see.

Book with Robyn Walker, e: robyn.walker@wcc.govt.nz, t: 04 801 3987
Admission charge for exhibition applies
Presented in partnership with Victoria Continuing Education

NOW SHOWING IN SQUARE
Showing from today (16 May) in the entranceway to City Gallery Wellington, Lonnie Hutchinson’s moving image work ‘Red’ (2002).

Set to a remixed version of Black Magic Woman, sung by Auckland’s Ladi6, ‘Red’ is an exquisitely-animated video work that explores notions of ‘whenua’ (the colour red) and continues Hutchinson’s interest in patterning and decoration. ‘Red’ will be screening around the clock from 16 May to 8 June.

COMING SOON …LATE NIGHT SESSIONS, PART 2
Satisfy your senses at City Gallery Wellington! Take in the eye-popping paintings of Bridget Riley while listening to the seductive sounds of local musicians from the While You Were Sleeping collective.

Friday 27 May
Gallery open until 10pm
$5 entry after 5pm
Playing from 7pm: Seht and Peel

Seht will play the same note so quietly, for so long and with such slight decoration you'll think your brain has melted and your heart has stopped.

Peel engage in a game of call and response - catching, transforming, and responding to sounds created by an impressive array of percussion machinery.

www.city-gallery.org.nz

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33.27
CREATIVE CHOICES

'PORTFOLIO CHOICE'
19 May- 8 July
Art Compass
132 Tory Street
Wellington

Choose a unique art or design from any of our artists to be printed on a T-shirt, specially for YOU! Be part of this unique fundraising event and show the world how fantastic supporting Art Compass can be.

Also for sale: original art
prints
jewelry
art cards
and our popular T-shirt collection

Marcel Baaijens
Programme Director
Art Compass Studio-Gallery
supporting artists with intellectual disabilities Compassion Centre
132 Tory Street
Wellington
385.9298 / 021-1770.181

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33.28
YELLOW MOON POETRY
Yellow Moon Nutshell - Open to Australian and New Zealand Poets only.
Categories: A - Cinquain ; B - Idyll (idealised country living) ; C - Limerick ; D - Humorous/nonsense poem;  E - Tetractys.
Enrol online - http:www.yellowmoon.info/    
Closing May 21 2005
Elegy -  Open to Australian and New Zealand Poets only. An elegy is a lament, a formal poem of loss and grief, which pays respect to the attributes of someone who has died. While an elegy does not seem to be wedded to any required pattern, it does have a fine tradition and many inspiring examples. For the Yellow Moon competition, you are asked to write a poem in 11-24 lines, free verse or traditional. Your elegy may be a formal poem for a public figure whose contribution to society you admire, or it may be a private poem for someone you loved and respected.
2 equal first prizes of $100 each and publication in Yellow Moon literary magazine issue 17, Winter 2005. Entry form on website - http:www.yellowmoon.info/    
Closing May 31 2005
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33.29
SCRIPTED SEARCH

New international publishing co looking for  scripts…
Don Long has been appointed publishing manager at South Pacific Press, a new international educational publishing company based in Wellington. Don was formerly a senior editor and publisher at Learning Media.
He is a member of UNESCO's Education Sub-commission, is a member of the Society of Author’s Wellington management committee (and a former member of the Society’s executive committee), and is the course director of a course in the National Diploma in Children’s Literature on multicultural children’s literature. 
The Maori translation of his children’s book, The Battlefield (Reed), Te Tahuna, won a LIANZA award in 2004. South Pacific Press is currently looking for Reader’s Theatre scripts for the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand markets. 
For an author’s brief, email don@southpacificpress.com.  

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33.30
CIVIC THEME PARK

Chicago builds a wonderland amid its urban heart…

http://slate.msn.com/id/2118377/

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33.31
CALLING ALL SHORT STORY WRITERS
Enter the Bank of New Zealand Katherine Mansfield Awards 2005.
The Premier category prize is NZ$10,000, Novice and Young Writer category prizes are NZ$1,500 each.  The winning Young Writer's school is awarded NZ$1,500 and a creative writing workshop hosted by a prominent New Zealand writer.
For eligibility criteria, full entry conditions and to enter online visit www.bnz.co.nz/kmawards.
Entries close 30 June 2005.

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33.32
ART IN KILBIRNIE

Exhibition of Artwork from Stephanie Scott
 
NAXOS GALLERY
Kilbirnie Cres
Kilbirnie
Wellington
387 2958
 
Opening Night : Tuesday, 31 May 2005 at 6.00pm
 
“This exhibition is made up of my figurative works, which have focussed on colour dynamics, and also includes some of my abstract pieces.  Both styles reflect my keen interest in the physical role that light plays within a composition.” - Stephanie Scott
 
www.arty-farty.co.nz
 
Exhibition runs from
31 May 05 - 14 June 05

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33.33
SINGING ALONG WITH THE MUSE

The Word Collective Presents: Karaoke Poetry
Back by Pop Opera Demand!

Winner ‘Best of the Fringe’ and ‘Best Spoken Word’ Fringe NZ 2005

Karaoke Poetry is poetry like you have never heard, or seen, before. It features live music, pop references, cheesy video and kitsch set design. Craig Ireson has made poetry accessible and fun while retaining the intellectual edge that has always set poetry apart as the thinking persons’ pop music.

And if poetry is the new pop then what would the karaoke booths be like? Imagine wannabe poet stars blasting Blake, Baxter and Tuwhare , banshee like, for the sodden nighthawks instead of paying an off key wayward homage to Britney, Boney M and the usual suspects.

Karaoke Poetry features original poetry and song from Craig Ireson (SK8Board Poets, Word Festival) with original Karaoke Video by Johanna Sanders, (Rear Projection Window Best Visual Artist from Fringe 2004). It also features live music from Andrew Savage (Sunship) and a deliciously irreverent cameo from Ciara Mulholland (Sniper, Most Original Production, Chapman Tripp Theatre awards, 2004).

It returns to BATS Theatre this May after critical and popular success in last summer’s Fringe Festival.

Writer and performer Craig Ireson says “Karaoke Poetry is about a time in the not so distant future when people are tired of the idle idols and prefabricated pop stars stumbling and mumbling their way into the charts and rich lists. This is a time when people return to poetry and poets as their pop stars.”

This is not an open mike night, but a raucous revising of the poetical canon by an award winning crew of genre benders. So don’t worry; no-one will be asked to warble out “I will always love you” or do an acapella Sam Hunt number. Karaoke Poetry is guaranteed to satisfy your curiosity, defying classification and demanding attention with its sassy stomp through popular culture.

The Word Collective have challenged themselves to strip away the preconception that performance poetry is a lifeless, two dimensional affair. And they have succeeded; wowing audiences for two Fringe Festivals running, alongside producing the 2003 and 2004 Word Festivals, where over 1000 people have collectively met to share their own stories and poetry. The Third Annual Word Festival is in the pipeline for August 2005.

Karaoke Poetry at BATS Theatre
7.30pm, Wednesday 25 - Saturday 28 May 2005
$15 (full) $12 (concession)
BOOK AT BATS (04) 802 4175, book@bats.co.nz

For more information please contact Craig Ireson
craigireson@hotmail.com, 027 242 3453, (04) 389 8177

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33.34
TE WHAEA, SOON

Coming to Te Whaea:

Battles of the Heart 31 May - 4 June - War through the eyes of extraordinary everyday people, performed by second year actors at St Andrew's Church Hall, 30 The Terrace. The show is produced in association with Gaylene Preston Productions and includes monologues from the film War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us and Alison Parr's book Silent Casualties, as well as scenes from Allen O'Leary's play Fond Love and Kisses.

Slaves to the Rhythm - Choreographic Season 17 - 25 June - Slaves to the Rhythm brings together New Zealand's most outstanding percussionists STRIKE and 2nd & 3rd year contemporary dance students from the New Zealand School of Dance. Find yourself at the mercy of the driving rhythm.

The Chekhov Season 9 - 13 September - The second year class of actors is split into two groups - each group will perform a different show each night - one group will perform Chekhov's The Seagull (a comedy with three female parts, six male parts, a landscape, much talk about literature, and five tons of love) while the other performs Anne Bogart's Small Lives Big Dreams (a play about memory that examines how characters in Chekhov's plays are haunted by the past while attempting to look forward).

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33.35
CON/TEXTUAL

Texts and Subtexts
John Di Stefano

In the exhibition, Texts and Subtexts, interdisciplinary artist, video-maker, writer and curator John Di Stefano explores the controversial figure of Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922 – 1975).

As a politically engaged artist and openly gay man living in the tumultuous Italy of the 1960s and '70s, Pasolini was continuously portrayed by the media as a social outcast. His name became synonymous with scandal and 'otherness' despite the fact that he was highly respected as an artist and intellectual. He was assassinated in 1975 leaving behind a rich and varied body of filmic and written work.

Di Stefano's installation-comprising video, sound, photography, interactive book-work, and site-specific works form a sort of alternative museum that attempts to critically reframe aspects of the public archive of press imagery, filmic material and varied ephemeral texts left behind by the slain filmmaker.

In Texts and Subtexts, Di Stefano's approach is that of a critical meditation which attempts to reclaim Pasolini's 'otherness'. As a first-generation Italian-Canadian, Di Stefano's relationship with Pasolini is not that of a biographer, but that of a translator who shares a cultural and linguistic background with the filmmaker. Di Stefano negotiates the complexities of cultural translation and acculturation to suggest that we think of the expression and representation of identity as porous and fluid, made up of numerous overlapping symbolic and cultural experiences, all modulated with the use, and abuse, of language(s).

John Di Stefano (MFA, UCLA) is an interdisciplinary artist, video-maker, writer and curator. He is Associate Professor, and Director of Postgraduate Studies at Massey University's School of Fine Arts (Wellington). His studio work is focused primarily in video, installation, photo-based and time-based media, and has also included performance, bookwork, site-specific and public art projects. He has extensively exhibited and published internationally since the mid-eighties.

“Pier Paolo Pasolini, screen writer, essayist, poet, critic and novelist, was murdered violently in 1975. Pasolini is best known outside Italy for his films, many of which were based on literary sources - The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales. Pasolini referred himself as a 'Catholic Marxist' and often used shocking juxtapositions of imagery to expose the vapidity of values in modern society. His friend, the writer Alberto Moravia, considered him "the major Italian poet" of the second half of the 20th century.

Pelorus Trust Mediagallery
Friday 13 May 2005 -Saturday 4 June 2005
9.00am till 5.00pm

The New Zealand Film Archive
PO Box 11449 Wellington
Aotearoa, New Zealand
384 7647
http://www.filmarchive.org.nz

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33.36
Coming up this week on Frontseat
Sunday Evening on TV1
A SLOW TRICKLE:
Frontseat analyses what's in Budget 2005 for the arts and looks ahead to what the next political term may hold for New Zealand's arts community.
RADIO WARS:
Julie Hill looks at the new slew of commercial radio stations and their fight for dominance over the 'breakfast' and 'nine-to-noon' slots. She examines the quality of the content between the advertisements, and assesses what National Radio's 'relevancy audit' will mean for the public broadcaster's personalities (not to mention the ‘bird call’).
WOMAN ON THURSDAY:
Oliver Driver talks to journalist Bianca Zander about the new slew of female-focused media, and whether it’s a damaging regression into old-time femininity, or an astute reflection of what’s been happening amongst younger feminists, who are reclaiming crafts like knitting and preserving in a retro-feminist nod to their grannies.
STUDENTS OF THE NIGHT:
'Hobby courses' have come under threat following damaging headlines about classes in diving and singalongs. Now all extra-curricular courses are getting the once-over to decide what's important, and this means popular adult & community education night classes at local high schools are coming under the microscope. Jeremy Hansen investigates.
STILL PRESENT:
A compelling new exhibition at Victoria University's Adam Art Gallery features photographs of isolated people and isolating places, exploring psychiatric institutions in photography. Frontseat talks to curator and gallery director Sophie McIntyre and photographers Chien-Chi Chang and Jono Rotman. 

NEXT WEEK!
All Black hooker and Highlander captain Anton Oliver is an arts-literate music fan and the proud owner of a NZ-made guitar. Mu (aka Chris Faiumu) is the rugby-loving captain of the Wellington all-star band Fat Freddy's Drop, who have rocketed to the top of the Top 50 Album chart with their debut long-player 'Based on a True Story'. In a world where music plays an important part in hyping up the crowds at live games, and where a Friday evening match often precedes a night out watching local bands, Frontseat is delighted to bring these two men of action together for a rare and special conversation.

http://www.frontseat.co.nz

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33.37
ZERO PLUS ONE, ETC

Does the Fibonacci Sequence rule the universe?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/features/story/0,11710,1481787,00.html?gusrc=rss

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33.38
JAZZ GIG

The Wellington International Jazz Festival is seeking a 2005 manager. The two week long Festival in October features international and New Zealand jazz artists in a variety of settings.

The Festival Manager has overall responsibility for all aspects of delivery including artist liaison and contracts, programming, venue management and ticketing, budget and reports, sponsorship and funding, staff, marketing and publicity. Staff including Publicist/Marketing Manager and Production Manager report to the Festival Director.

The Wellington International Jazz Festival Trust is seeking a person with experience in event management and fundraising/sponsorship. The successful applicant will also demonstrate good communication skills and the ability to understand and deliver the outcomes desired by the Trustees, whilst making their own contributions to the event. Ability to work under pressure, a passion for music/arts or events and a willingness to go the extra distance is desirable.

Reporting to: Wellington International Jazz Festival Trust
Term: Full time contract position May 30, 2005 to November 25, 2005 (26 weeks). Please send expressions of interest and/or curriculum vitae to:

Wellington International Jazz Festival Trust
PO Box 11 987
Wellington
Email: simon.bowden@artsfoundation.org.nz

Please note that this appointment is subject to confirmation of funding.
Salary: Full time equivalent of $30,000 plus full time equivalent of $20,000 at risk. Bonus options

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33.39
JUMP AND JIVE

Musical Babies and Tots at Wellington's New Arts Centre

Wellington's musical little ones have a special place, every Friday morning, at the new Wellington Arts Centre. The popular Musical Babies and Musical Tots programmes began on May 12, and offers weekly sessions for parents and children who want to explore music, dance, movement, and creative play.

Music educator Sarah Conroy will be running the classes, and she can be contacted now about enrolment and participation. The classes offered at the new Wellington Arts Centre, 61-63 Abel Smith Street, are as follows:

Thursdays at 10:00-10:30 am
Musical Tots: a fun music and movement class for children aged 18 months to 4 years.

Thursdays at 10:45-11:15 am
Musical Babies: a fun class of singing and finger play for babies aged 12 to 18 months.

Thursdays at 11:30-12:00 am
Musical Babies: enjoy a fun and close time with your baby in a class designed to start your child off on their musical journey. For babies aged 6 to 12 months.

Fees for term two are $58.50 for nine sessions or $52.00 for PTL holders. Musical Babies and Tots classes begin on Thursday 12 May 2005 and run until Thursday 7 July 2005. To register your place for next term, please contact Sarah Conroy on 976 2754 or by email to sarah_mike@paradise.net.nz. Class sizes are limited and pre-registration is essential.

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33.40
PINTERESQUE

Betrayal, by Harold Pinter
A Backyard Theatre Production
At the Gryphon, 22 Ghuznee Street
Through 28 May 2005
In February 2005, Pinter announced that, after 29 stage plays, he wasn't writing any more, preferring to channel his energies into other activities, particularly poetry and politics. He said he was incensed by the betrayal of the people by the Labour Party and stated it as his mission to get rid of Tony Blair.
With his retirement from writing for theatre, could this production be seen, then, as part of a retrospective?
"It could", says Julia Harris, who plays Emma, "if the subject and the characters were in any way dated, but they're not. They ring as true in 2005 as they did in 1978. People don't fundamentally change, and Pinter was writing about the fundamentals of human nature."
Phil Peleton, who plays cuckolded husband Robert, agrees. "I think if you were going to have a retrospective, you'd have to put Betrayal in there. It's not as surreal as some of his earlier plays, but it's still concerned with the same issues - class, social conformity, role playing. To me these characters are constantly trying to redefine their roles and relationships. They're desperate to find affection and safety, but in that very brittle English way.
When Betrayal first appeared in 1978, it received some of the harshest reviews in theatrical history. Some critics saw Peter Hall's production as a shameless throwback to an era when the drama preferred to concern itself with adulterous husbands, "other" women, and interminably eternal triangles. Yet a revival in 1998, by Trevor Nunn to popular acclaim, showed that the script is as up to date as ever.
Emma's marriage to book publisher Robert, which had survived seven years of adultery, is now finally crumbling. At risk, also, is the friendship between Robert and Jerry, Emma's lover.
From this poignant starting point, Harold Pinter's award-winning play travels back in time, visiting pivotal points in the relationships between these three characters. We stop where the story actually begins—at a party, with a kiss. Who betrays whom, and how, is the essence of the play, told in Pinter's sparse yet eloquent style, and replete with his iconic pauses.
Husband and wife Mark and Julia Harris and colleague Phil Peleton are no strangers to the Wellington stage or to each other. They have all worked together as actors and singly as directors. Now, they bring their experience together directing each other's performances as a collaborative venture.
Says Mark Harris: "it's been a very interesting and stimulating process. We started rehearsals sitting and talking, rather than blocking. We shared a common understanding of the characters and the subtext of the piece before we moved onto the stage in earnest. So, the direction is seamless. I can't even tell who managed which bits now. I've directed Julia before, and we've both acted with Phil, but now we're all working so closely it's very exciting. There's a level of trust that belies the subject matter of the play."
Backyard's production of Betrayal is now on at the Gryphon Theatre, 22 Ghuznee St. and runs until 28 May. Shows are at 8pm, except on Sundays at 4pm. There are no performances on Mondays. Tickets are $20 ($15 for concessions and groups) and bookings can be made by phoning 0832 77202
http://www.backyardtheatre.co.nz/

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33.41
ALL IS MENDED

Wellington’s most fearless company The Bacchanals are thrilled to be able to announce an exciting, hilarious, wondrous, five-nights-only return season of their sell-out production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s classic comedy about a man who makes his girlfriend have sex with a horse. If you were one of the many folk turned away last time, here’s your chance to finally see the show; and if you saw it and loved it, here’s your chance to see it again!
A Midsummer Night’s Dream premiered at BATS Theatre in January and played to capacity houses throughout its run before undertaking a twelve-centre tour of New Zealand small towns. The Dominion Post called it “loud, boisterous and comical”, the Wanganui Chronicle praised the “stand-out performances”, the Waitomo News said it was “a superb redefinition” and added that “the energy and passion of this show will entice and delight you”, Hawkes Bay Today said it was “absurd and highly entertaining” and the Capital Times said it was “quite honestly one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen”, summing it up as “an unforgettable production”.
The short return season will play at Capital E’s McKenzie Theatre in Civic Square for just five nights only from Tuesday 10 May to Saturday 14 May as a prelude to another small-town tour in the middle of the year. What better tonic is there to take your mind off the impending approach of winter, and what better way is there to warm the blood than watching eight lithe, sweaty actors playing twenty-three different roles in two short hours? Iambic pentameter, astounding verse-speaking and lightning-quick costume changes combine under the influence of The Beatles, Where The Wild Things Are and The Simpsons to present Shakespeare’s comedy in a style you’ve never seen it in before. There is also a giant dog.
The show stars James Stewart, Alex Greig, Tina Helm, Irene Flanagan, Hadleigh Walker, Erin Banks and Natasya Yusoff, and is directed by David Lawrence, with lighting by Joshua Judkins.
The Bacchanals are a company dedicated to exploring text-based theatre, redefining classic works and making theatre accessible to all both economically and geographically. Previous productions include tours of Romeo and Juliet (“excellent” – NZ Listener; “the most engaging Shakespeare I’ve seen” – Sunday Star Times) and Twelfth Night (“with such multi-talented actors lifting the NZ cultural scene and making their work accessible to all, theatregoers of all ages may rejoice” – Wanganui Chronicle), a multi-media updating of Euripides’ The Bacchae (“The Bacchanals are to classical theatre what Jimi Hendrix is to the blues” – studentz.co.nz) and the NZ premiere of Sarah Kane’s Crave (“my god it’s beautiful” – The Package). For more information, history, pictures, gossip and scandal-mongering, visit their website at
www.thebacchanals.net

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TELLING TALES

Wellington Storytellers’ Cafe at the New Arts Centre

The Storytellers’ Café is the home of storytelling in the Capital. From 7:30 – 9 pm on the first Tuesday of every month except January, the café is open to everyone.  Come along to the next session at the new arts centre, 61-63 Abel Smith Street. All you need to do is bring your ears!  Each month a different teller takes the stage, and there is always room for offerings from the audience.  Cost is $5, tea, coffee and nibbles are provided.

Contact: 021-687-627

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COPY THIS

Applications open for major non-fiction awards:
New Zealand writers of non-fiction books are invited to apply for two grants, each worth $35,000, in this year’s Copyright Licensing Ltd (CLL) Writers’ Awards.

The CLL Writers’ Awards were established in 2002 and are financed from copyright licensing revenue collected by CLL on behalf of authors and publishers. This is the second time that two awards of $35,000 each have been provided.

Last year, the awards were presented to two Dunedin-based writers to enable them to devote time to a specific non-fiction writing project and to provide reasonable research expenses for their projects. Poet and critic David Eggleton, and writer and academic Lloyd Spencer Davis were each awarded $35,000.

Eggleton is using his award to work on a contemporary guide to New Zealand cultural history. Spencer Davis describes his work-in-progress as a science book – the unravelling of Darwin and Darwinism – but also part travelogue, part personal memoir. He says that the award “offers the prospect of the one commodity a writer really needs – a period of uninterrupted time”.

A grant of $30,000 was awarded in 2002 to Sarah Quigley to write a biography of poet and patron of writers, Charles Brasch. In 2003, a $35,000 grant was awarded to Dr Paul Miller, a senior lecturer at Victoria University’s School of English, Film and Theatre, for a biography of one of this country’s most important literary scholars and cultural theorists, Bill Pearson.

The Board of Copyright Licensing Ltd (made up of authors and publishers) encourages all established writers of non-fiction to consider applying for one of the two awards on offer this year. It is hoping to encourage applications from writers with interests in the sciences, business, Maori and Pacific studies, the arts and beyond. Applicants must be New Zealand citizens or permanent residents and writers of proven merit.

Applications close at 5pm on Friday 15 July 2005. The two winners of this year’s awards will be announced at a special ceremony to be held on Tuesday 20 September 2005.

Click on the link below for full application details.
http://www.copyright.co.nz/writersaward.htm

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33.44
COLD CHILLIN’ AT THE DOWSE

The New Cool
May - August 2005
The Dowse Art Museum

The New Cool are dancing to their own version of the commercial beat and reshaping the way we think about business.

The New Cool showcases the stories of 12 young New Zealand companies, celebrating creative business outside the 9 to 5. Defying the 'slacker' reputation of youth culture, companies (including Dawn Raid Entertainment, Huffer Clothing, Loop Aot(ear)roa Recordings, Disruptiv, Illicit, Sidhe Interactive, and Insidious Fix), have successfully transformed their creative passions into business dollars.

These inspirational stories are all about big ideas
and very small beginnings, the hard years, the timely successes, the concept of 'co-opitition' that comes from working with and for your mates, and the simple satisfaction of waking up each day and loving what
you do.

The New Cool is a highly interactive multi-media event that will be on show at The Dowse from late May - August 30, 2005.

Free Seminars: A series of free seminars will also run alongside the exhibition giving visitors the opportunity to meet the directors of some the The New Cool companies and learn how to develop a positive entrepreneurial attitude.

www.dowse.org.nz
(04) 570 6500
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THE NO.8 WIRE: PAST AND PRESENT

Archives of the No. 8 Wire are on-line at
www.arts.blogspot.com

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CONTACT THE NO.8 WIRE

To be removed from this email list…

To be added…

To submit contents, events, opportunities, or comments to contribute to…

Please send word to arts@wcc.govt.nz

Furthermore, send comments, questions, requests, etc to

Eric Vaughn Holowacz
Wellington Arts Centre
61-69 Abel Smith Street
Wellington, New Zealand
Arts@wcc.govt.nz
04-385-1929
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THE NO. 8 WIRE INTERVIEW CONTINUES

The Octo-numerical Query.
A batch of questions is presented.
A creative person answers.
http://www.octonumerical.blogspot.com/


HELEN VARLEY JAMIESON


What cities/towns have you lived in (or spent more than a few months in), beginning with your place of birth.

Dunedin, Sydney, Wellington, Edinburgh, Belgrade


What are the earliest stories you remember hearing?

Dr Seuss, Beatrix Potter, Winnie the Pooh, Lewis Carroll, the Narnia series, the Moomins, bible stories, fairytales (my parents were librarians & we read every book in the children’s library)


What music was present and still memorable from your youth/adolescence?

It was all classical music at home, until I was 10 & to my great delight received “The Best of Abba” for xmas; four years later, my xmas record was the Clean EP “Boodle Boodle Boodle” & as a teenager I was immersed in the Dunedin music scene, & punk/ska/new wave/rock. I listen to my records a lot – recently on the turntable there’s been Magazine, Orchestral Manoevers in the Dark, Tubeway Army, Blondie, Patti Smith, the Monochrome Set, PIL, to name a few.


For you as a creative person, who are three influential artists or thinkers?

Laurie Anderson; Leonora Carrington; all the women of the Magdalena Project & many others.


What is your dream of happiness?

Sunshine, long grass & the sound of the ocean


Who are your favourite or most admired figures from history?

Ghandi; the suffragettes; anyone who has stood up for their beliefs.


Name three films that you consider profound, moving, or extraordinary.

I’m a theatre maker so I’ll speak about performances that have had a strong impact on me.

“Dracula” at the Fortune Theatre, Dunedin (in the old Athaneum Library in the Octagon), mid-1970s. A bat that was meant to fly scarily across the audience broke half way and dangled helplessly above us for the rest of the performance. The transparency of the magic was more fascinating than if it had worked properly.

A solo show by Hone Kouka at Allen Hall Theatre in 1988 or 89; at one point he played an old kaumatua, speaking in Maori, and the lights gradually went down to darkness but he continued speaking. The audience shifted uncomfortably, thinking the lighting operator had made a mistake. Then Hone’s voice came out of the darkness saying (in English): this is what it’s like when you hear Maori, you switch off. It was a profound moment; the next year I studied te reo Maori.

“Once” by Derevo (Russia), at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1998; magic, fantasy, inventiveness, madness – a chaotic journey of imagination. It reminded me what kind of theatre I’m most interested in.


What was your first real job? second? third?

Geriatric nurse aide; student president; online project manager (in amongst a whole lot of arts admin & writing jobs).


If you had to eat the same meal every day, what would it be?

Hoummus & pita bread (i do eat this every day)


Name a few books that you couldn't put down, would read again, haunt you still.

The Powerbook by Jeanette Winterson (& everything else she’s written); Possession by A.S. Byatt; Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic; Techgnosis by Erik Davis; Mauve Desert – the book by Nicole Broussard & the CD-ROM translation by Adriene Jenik; Unlevel Crossing by Michael O’Leary; Lupinchen (a children’s book); Ridley Walker by Russel Hoban; the plays of Sarah Kane; anything by Janet Frame, Katherine Mansfield, Patricia Grace, Kathy Acker, Peter Olds, Margaret Atwood, Sarah Waters; and … and … and …


What have you done, seen, experienced, or produced that was a disappointment to you?

Politicians constantly disappoint me.


What was the most recent live performance you attended, and where was it presented?

“The Cabaret of the Unlikely”, Roadworks Theatre Company, at BATS Theatre, Welllington (it was great).


In one sentence, can you define art?

No.


What word of advice would you offer an aspiring artist in your field?

Try it, & don’t be afraid to fail. (oops, that’s 8 words of advice)


Where would you like to live, but have yet to?

Upstairs


What would you like to do, but have yet to?

Help to organise the second Magdalena Aotearoa International Festival of Women’s Performance. Go on the Trans-Siberian Express.


Briefly describe a project you are planning for the future.

The first cyberformance festival – a weekend of live performance taking place completely online.


What one question would you add to this Query?


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Helen Varley Jamieson is a theatre maker and writer whose work experiments at the meeting point of theatre and the internet. She is a member of the globally distributed cyberformance troupe Avatar Body Collision, whose shows have been presented at festivals around the world. She is also a playwright, a trustee of Magdalena Aotearoa, and the web queen of the Magdalena Project. Since 2003 she has managed UpStage, a purpose-built web-based venue for cyberformance.

www.creative-catalyst.com
www.avatarbodycollision.org
www.upstage.org.nz

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ENDNOTE

Shhhhhhhhhhhh….