17 Oct 2021

The State of live festivals under Delta

From Standing Room Only, 12:15 pm on 17 October 2021

Postponing, rescheduling, cancelling, even rebranding...  Organisers of the country's biggest arts, film and music festivals are having to make huge calls on the fate of their events in the light of ever more Covid-19 related roadblocks.

One major music festival has been cancelled.  The Royal New Zealand Ballet company has cancelled its planned national tour - though it will perform in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.  And the International Film Festival was forced to shut down its Auckland leg entirely.

But life goes on.   Programmes are out for the Auckland Arts Festival, and the renamed Aotearoa New Zealand Festival in the Capital.   The WOMAD world music festival is about to do the big reveal of its programme for March next year.

And the WORD Christchurch Literary Festival and Auckland's Artweek are determined to try and make sure that their shows will go on. 

Lynn Freeman talks to Meg Williams from Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts and David Inns from the Auckland Arts Festival about their plans for next year.

Simon Morris asks Catherine Fitzgerald, Chair of the New Zealand  International Film Festival Trust, why Auckland was taken from the Festival, and how affected the rest of the country has been.

And planning two "fairground rides with no safety rails" is how the organisers of two November arts events have described it.  Lynn talks with Rachael King, from Christchurch's WORD literary festival, and Deborah White, from Artweek Auckland.