My Account
Auckland Arts Festival has fallen victim to Covid restrictions for the third time in succession, with more than 50 of its 80 events cancelled.
However, artistic director and Leigh local Shona McCullagh remains unbowed and is more determined than ever that the remaining events should go ahead for the sake of artists and audiences alike.
“I began on March 10, 2020 and March 19 was the first lockdown, so I saw the tail end of my predecessor’s festival go down with Covid,” she says. “My first one was 2021, which was heavily impacted because we’d just been put into another lockdown and we had to cancel the first week’s events, though we managed to carry on with a lot of pivoting and pirouetting measures. And now here we are in 2022 … it’s deeply saddening, but we know it’s the best way to keep everyone safe.
“However, the festival team and our artists are resilient and endlessly creative, and we will deliver a very special suite of safe events for our audiences in March.”
These include two Scottish theatre works, Lament for Sheku Bayoh and The Super Disability Roadshow, two world premieres – the play A Stab in the Dark and dance piece Waiwhakaata – Reflections in the Water – and the Siva Afi fire dancing festival, all of which move online.
Outdoor attractions include Fantastic Planet, the installation of giant inflatable humanoid figures in the Auckland CBD, Wynyard Quarter and a third surprise venue.
And poetry written by young people from high schools throughout Auckland, including Rodney College, will be appearing on walls, billboards, bus stops and more as part of Spoken Walls: A City in Verse.
Shona says the pop-up poem venues will include Warkworth and Wellsford, and she remains committed to bringing festival events out from the city.
“Having lived here for 10 years when the kids were younger, I know about the spaces and the audience and I’m really committed to ensuring that we bring works to the Mahurangi region,” she says, although three events in Warkworth last year were not a huge success.
“Last year didn’t get a strong turnout, but you’re always learning – was the work not a good fit, did people know it was happening? But we always have a commitment to not just delivering a festival in the CBD. There’ll always be a loyalty from me to this area.”
She hopes arts fans will adapt to the alternative or online productions and events at this year’s festival, which runs from March 10 to 27.
“My hope now is it’s a chance for us all to ensure we’re supporting the artists. They’ve done it tough for so long now. Although online is not everyone’s cup of tea, I hope people will make the effort.”
But she remains optimistic.
“Artists love to create and perform, that’s never going to change and they’ll always find a way to do that. There’s some beautiful fresh thinking out there and we’ll see a revolution in delivery in the next five to 10 years.
“Creativity, like water, will always get through. It’s unstoppable.”
Info and tickets: www.aaf.co.nz
