Caroline Crick - The Nelson Arts Festival

 Read more from Caroline here.

Looking at the Nelson Arts Festival catalogue when it arrives in the mailbox is always like taking a peek at your Christmas presents a bit early – tempting, tasty and inclined to make one squeak with excitement. The festival is always my favourite time of year – the herald for Nelson’s non-stop summer events programme and a chance to kick the winter blues firmly out the door and celebrate our wonderful blend of art, culture and events.

Whether you like sitting outside a café listening to free music on a sunny day (Westpac Red Square is on most days in the city centre), getting a hefty dose of live poetry, dance, theatre or music, or just enjoying the family vibe of the Port Nelson Mask Parade, a visit to Nelson at this time of year is a great start to your Kiwi summer.

This year’s Port Nelson Mask Parade, held in the City centre, was looking a bit iffy due to forecast rain, but the weather gods smiled and it went ahead with ne’er so much as a drop falling. A sea of colour, faces, artistic interpretation, dance and music rolled past my possy on the Cathedral Steps, Nelson and Tasman’s school children once again relishing the buzz of being the main focus of a community event.  

The More FM Carnivale followed, with circus rides and the big wheel spinning in Trafalgar Street, live music from local bands to get the crowds pumping and street buskers  giving a fantastic kick start to the Festival.

The bulk of the Festival shows were held at Founders Park, Nelson’s own heritage park, transformed into a performance venue, café and meeting spot for the 10 days of the festival, with a few others scattered around at other venues such as the Suter and the Woollaston Estate Winery.

My first show was the enigmatic poet Glenn Colquhoun’s North:South –a stunning poetic entanglement of Celtic and Maori Mythology . This love story between two small islands, one  in the Northern Hemisphere and one in the Southern, and the physical and spiritual journeys between them played out by characters redolent of Ireland and New Zealand, Maori and Celt, with love, anger, sex and war, thievery and skullduggery  were all enacted by Colquhoun with the assistance of Bob Bickerton and Richard Nunns, playing their signature Irish and Maori traditional instruments to underscore the cultural identities of the places and peoples described.












During the week that followed I enjoyed live soul/jazz by diminutive songstress LA Mitchell – who surprised and delighted with her original lyrics and songs, wide vocal range and engaging sense of humour. I went to the Thinking Brunch – a panel discussion chaired by Te Radar with debate between writers and thinkers Craig Potton, Brian Turner and Charlotte Grimshaw on the role of the written word in our fast changing world. I listened to Elizabeth Knox reading from and talking about her recently released novel ‘The Angel’s Cut’ – a sequel to the much loved Vintner’s Luck, and got further insight into the enigmatic fallen angel, Xas, the main character in the books.

I sat as a fly on the wall in Hotel – a sharp and thought provoking exploration of what we do when we think we are alone in that most impersonal and transitory of spaces – a hotel room, where you assume no-one is watching, never giving a thought to others that may have inhabited that space in a kind of parallel universe.

I loved the melodies and finely crafted lyrics of Rosie Tin Teacaddy, with Billy Earl and Betty Grey singing and playing their way through songs about life, love, and loss and how a nice hot cup of tea is usually the best salve for any ill. Backed by two guitars, a cello and violin this was a stringed instrument extravaganza. The charming harmonies between the two very well dressed vocal leads left us all smiling and delighted.

And in between all this I hung out at the Granary Café enjoying coffee, conversation and the odd sneaky glass of wine. I chatted to the sculptors working on their pieces in Founders Park. Andy Waugh’s Hazburgite boat took shape slowly over the week as did a stunning black granite wall medallion by Tim Royall. Fiona Sutherland’s piece started as a roll of chicken wire but by the end of the week a beautiful arching female form was emerging, and Ken Laws’ hand hammered stainless steel wall pieces took on faces and personalities as he worked his magic with the metal.

I missed out on tickets to the legendary Sitting Room – Grant Smithies sell out dance gig, and Flicker – an innovative dance performance. I heard reports that theatrical Satire Le Sud was hilarious, that Belgian singer Micheline van Hautem was spine tingling, that the Butler left the audience gasping and reeling, and that the Messiah, staged in the acoustic cavern of the Nelson Cathedral, was uplifting. The younger ones were well catered for with Pirates at Founders, Faerie Lou and her Twisted Tales, Tale of a Dog and Passing Wind. As one friend commented when faced with such a great selection of events “It’s just impossible to see everything but aren’t we lucky to have it all on offer!”

The Festival wound up on Labour Day with the Family Finale at Founders Park.  The Big Sing was packed with families singing along to Nelson’s World Ukelele Orchestra, the best dressed pet show brought everyone’s pet dog to the catwalk while Brazilian band Tambolele got the crowd jumping  to their South American Rhythms.

Nelson really is blessed to have such an active arts community, and to have an event like this timed to coincide with the greening of the trees, the longer evenings and warmer days.  It’s a wonderful celebration that helps everyone shake off winter and get in a positive frame of mind for the summer to come. 

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