'Undergrand' features performers playing a white baby-grand piano in different spots throughout Tauranga. Photo: Supplied
This year's Tauranga Arts Festival has kicked off, marking the start of bringing an annual arts festival to the city and wider Western Bay of Plenty area.
The festival has been offered biannually since 1998. Artistic director Megan Brown said she and general manager Sarah Cotter both started with the festival near the end of last year, and rushed headlong into pulling the festival together on this new annual basis.
She said moving to an annual festival was a big change and quite a huge undertaking for the team.
"Artistic director sounds like quite a glamorous job title - working in the arts - but the reality - when we are such a small team, particularly in regional festivals - is that we are the people meeting security, we are unlocking gates, we are moving chairs, we are putting up signs, we are making passes and packing envelopes."
Seven shows were sold out before the festival began, including a Tami Neilson concert and a comedy show by Hayley Sproull.
Tauranga Arts Festival artistic director Megan Brown. Photo: Supplied
"Which is really exciting, but we are so reliant on that box office income and those ticket sales, and I think as we look at our future sustainability, we need to look at funding models where we're not working from one festival to the next," Brown said.
This is particularly important, because it can take many years of negotiations to bring an international act over to New Zealand for a festival appearance.
One such show is 'Creation Creation', by Adelaide-based company Windmill Production Company.
"We are so lucky to have [the show] coming to Aotearoa," she said. "It's a really beautiful mix of puppetry and theatre that comes to life, and it's all about asking life's biggest questions."
'Creation Creation', by Adelaide-based company Windmill Production Company. Photo: Supplied
The festival also has free options like 'Undergrand', billed as a "roaming, open-air musical experience", where performers can be found playing a white baby-grand piano in different spots throughout the city during the festival, including the tidal steps on the Tauranga waterfront and on Main Beach, Mount Maunganui.
Brown said the whole arts sector in New Zealand faced a funding crisis that wouldn't go away.
"We've all got rising costs, and the pool of money is getting smaller and smaller," she said. "How we navigate that is a problem."
For the next few days, that problem can take a backseat to enjoying the sight of crowds flowing through the doors of festival events.
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