AUCKLAND’S FRESHEST ARTS FESTIVAL CELEBRATES
THE SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH
Southside Arts Festival returns, 17 October – 3 November 2013
The city’s annual celebration of south Auckland’s Māori and Pacific urban culture is back. From 17 October to 3 November, a line-up of more than 20 events and performances, all applauding the extraordinary creative talents that have emerged from south Auckland, bursts into life both in the south and, more than ever before, at venues around the city.
The Southside Arts Festival programme encompasses theatre, music, dance, fashion, street and visual arts, and the written word. Celebrated international guests, artistically accomplished South Aucklanders and both emerging and established Māori and Pacific artists will showcase their work across the three weeks. These include
Ladi-6, Okareka Dance Company, Iva Lamkum, Mara TK, Lorene Taurerewa, internationally-renowned baritone
Eddie Muliau’maseali’i and members of the three-time World Hip-Hop Dance Champions,
The Royal Family.
Of the Southside Arts Festival, Auckland Mayor Len Brown, says, “This is one of the most exciting events on Auckland’s arts calendar. The south-side of Auckland is home to some of the hottest emerging and established talent in the country and this is a great opportunity to showcase that talent.”
Highlights of the Southside Arts Festival are outlined below. For the full programme, please visit
www.southside.org.nz.
The
Southside Gig is an all-day event bringing together the very best urban arts and performance in the heart of south Auckland – the Vodafone Events Centre. There’ll be a workshop and showcase hosted by the internationally acclaimed
ReQuest Dance Crew; and a Graf-Art competition judged by Canada’s boundary-pushing
Kaput and hosted by Aotearoa’s
Bobby Hung (aka. Berst TMD).
BGirl Bonita from The Rock Steady Crew, New York hip-hop pioneers, will oversee a series of workshops, performances and battles featuring some of the finest Bboys and Bgirls from around Aotearoa. The Southside Gig ends with a free concert headlined by the stellar
Ladi6 with support from bright young stars of Aotearoa’s underground hip-hop scene
Raiza Biza and
Team Dynamite.
Fashionistas need to attend
Cult Couture, a large-scale avant-garde fashion showcase with a Pacific twist. This visual and musical spectacular will showcase some of the country’s best emerging fashion designers and is judged by a panel of industry experts including Kiwi fashion designer
Adrian Hailwood, fashion museum curator
Doris de Pont and fashion editor
Dan Ahwa. Designers compete for a $12,000 prize pool to support their fashion careers. Hosted by performer
Mika, Cult Couture audiences will also be entertained
Mara TK from Electric Wire Hustle – often referred to as the ‘South Pacific’s answer to Marvin Gaye’, Pacific Soul diva
Iva Lamkum, Funkommunity’s
Rachel Fraser and award-winning South Auckland DJ,
Manuel Bundy.
The Mixer is a one-night-only gig by some of the very best Polynesian musical talent, presented by Southside Arts Festival and Niu FM. The 2013 Mixer’s theme is
Old Skool, with all musicians, including R&B songstress
Ria, contemporary rapper/composer
Anonymouz, bands
Three Houses Down and
Sons of Zion, and
Dei Hamo with
DJ Al Goodie, performing their own version of a classic track – from floor-filling disco to 90s hip-hop anthems.
One of the sell-out events of previous Festivals is the
Southern Gallery Express Art Tour, a free cultural jaunt taking place every Saturday in the Festival. Ticket holders board the bus in K’ Rd and venture out to explore visual arts exhibitions in South Auckland’s creative hotspots. Each tour will be hosted by artist-performers, including the brilliant South Auckland Poets’ Collective.
Many other performance and arts events make up the Southside Arts Festival programme...
Theatre productions include the Māngere Arts Centre season of Auckland Theatre Company’s
Niu Sila by Oscar Kightley and Dave Armstrong, and
The First Asian AB directed by Renee Liang and performed by Ben Teh and Paul Fagamalo
The music programme also includes a large-scale Manukau Symphony Orchestra concert,
We Are Pasifika, featuring sopranos
Daphne Collins and
Rejieli Paulo, international Baritone,
Eddie Muliau’maseali’i and conducted by
Opeloge Ah Sam. There’s also a children’s concert performed by the award-winning Manukau Concert Band.
Visual arts highlights include
Secret Walls x Aotearoa, New Zealand’s version of the
Secret Walls live art battles that originated in London. There’s a three-day mural project at Mangere Library by students from Mountain View Primary School and Southern Cross Campus,
Te Tuhi Billboards by
Matt Ellwood and
Yoon Tae Kim,
Homage to Hoi Polloi by
John Vea; New York-based visual artist
Lorene Taurerewa’s
Prestidigitation and the
2013 Objective Art Awards.
Dance works feature strongly, including
Where is Home? by
Okareka Dance Company,
Home, Land and Sea by
LIMA Dance Theatre, as well as a Pacific Dance ChoreoLab showing.
There is also a screening of short films by Pacific Filmmakers at the Auckland Art Gallery,
The Best of Pollywood, curated by
Craig Fasi.
Mayor Brown says, “The Auckland Plan, our 30-year blueprint for the future commits to making arts and culture part of Aucklanders’ everyday lives. The Southside Arts Festival programme is a great example of our council team working with communities to make that happen.”
More than half of the festival programme is free for attendees. Venues include Māngere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku, Fresh Gallery Ōtara, Ōtara Music Arts Centre, Vodafone Events Centre, Te Tuhi and Otahuhu College, as well as Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland War Memorial Museum – Tāmaki Paenga Hira and Pah Homestead.
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