Record numbers attend 2023 arts festival

Jenny Mitchell and Mitchell twins closed the festival.

Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival director Pitsch Leiser says the idea behind this year’s festival was to bring people together in celebration of “our beautiful community”.

The idea was a good one as more than 30,000 people flocked to events across the 2023 festival, which closed last Friday.

That made it one of the most attended festivals in its nine-year history.

For this year only, standard tickets to most shows were on sale for $25 – half their usual cost. In addition, seven entirely free events were put on across the festival, including headline act 360 ALLSTARS, which was enjoyed by almost 1800 people across Hastings and Napier venues.

More than 5000 school children throughout Hawke’s Bay, from Mohaka to Waipukurau, were able to experience free performances as part of the Festival in Schools programme.

“It was our goal to create as many opportunities as possible for people to be able to participate, and find joy and happiness in the arts, after what has been a particularly difficult time for our region,” Leiser said.

The stacked 2023 programme presented a variety of genres including circus, music, dance, theatre, family events, visual arts, and literature. Crowd favourites included opening night sensation Back to Black, Irish group Gráda and quirky Kiwi comedy act Rise of the Olive.

Free community events saw unprecedented attendance, including the Hawke’s Bay Arts Trail and Napier’s Nuit Blanche, which saw a record-breaking 10,000 people attend.

“All of us at Arts Inc. Heretaunga want to give thanks to the incredible support of Mills Family Trust once again, ECCT, the Hawke’s Bay Foundation and patrons. Thanks to these groups, we’re proud to not only have been able to present a spectacular line-up of events, but to have been able to make this year’s festival the most affordable and accessible ever,” Leiser said.

“The wheels are already in motion for 2024 – which will mark 10 years of the Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival – so watch this space!”

Keep updated on future festival news at www.hbaf.co.nz