Hawke's Bay Arts festival thrills crowds

Crowds of all ages thrilled by a spectacular light show during the Hawke's Bay Arts Festival. Photo by Tim Whittaker.

A week into the Harcourts Hawke's Bay Arts Festival, organisers are expecting to reach about 20,000 people by the time it wraps up next Sunday.

Festival chairman Andy Heast said so far, the two week festival had been "pretty full on".

"It really ramped up over the weekend, with all the shows and performances we had on in multiple venues, so it's pretty exciting.

"So far, it has been an absolutely brilliant response from the local community to come into the shows, from te main festival site in Havelock North to Napier, Waipawa and Wairoa, it has just been an awesome response.

"People have been so enthusiastic about what we have presented to them, with lots of sell out shows and standing ovations, and we have had the most beautiful weather to boot."

Heast added the festival garden at Havelock North was "a real treat" this year, making for a great atmosphere.

So far thousands of people had already enjoyed the festival, with about 3000 people filling the streets of Napier to enjoy the free White Night show, which involved free public performances.

"We know the audiences are well up on last year, and one of the things we are particularly proud of this year, is our education and youth programme. We have reached 10,000 school children with a festival experience, we've gone out to schools, had workshops and had poetry workshops for the last couple of months leading up to the festival.

"It has just been phenomenal because the tie up with Harcourts has been fantastic. Their independent agents stumped up the money.

"So with that and White Night, the audience we know we are going to reach is about 18,00 to 20,000 people, which is just phenomenal."

More highlights were ahead for the coming week, including a performance from NZ Arts Foundation laureate Delaney Davidson and a "must see" performance of 1918 at the Blyth Performing Arts Centre, as well as a specially commissioned piece from local producer Puti Lancaster's 'Freedom is Behind my Breath'.