Don't mention the A-word

A new Auckland festival needs the right name, learns GILBERT WONG.

Auckland is about to get its first international festival, but the accent will be on the region rather than art.

Interim Auckland Festival project manager Margi Mellsop says market research showed some resistance to the word "art."

"It's not going to be an arts festival. That concept is strong in Wellington. Auckland is a different beast. The decision is that the festival should be a celebration of Auckland rather than international art."

The feasibility study aims for a two-week festival centred on The Edge, with free public events throughout the wider region.

The interim Auckland Festival board, chaired by Albert Wendt of Auckland University, wants to fill two key positions by August - an executive director, who will be responsible for sponsorship and administration, and a creative director in charge of programming. This will give the pair a long enough lead time to organise a two-week festival for 2003, on a similar scale to the International Festival of the Arts in Wellington.

A feasibility study puts the cost at between $5 million and $7 million, with the bulk expected to come from sponsorship.

The so-called "taster" festival, called The Launching, will run over three days from March 16, centred on Aotea Square. The plan is to flood the square to create a giant pond for watercraft and rename the space Ponds Edge.

The free event, made possible by an initial $350,000 grant from Auckland City, will feature the Auckland Philharmonia, the Black Grace Dance company and kapa haka groups.

The main performance will be a 40-minute extract So Far ... from the contemporary opera in progress, at present called The Prophet, by composer Gareth Farr and theatre director Michael Mizrahi. Based on the poetry of James K. Baxter, the opera is described as a thematic celebration of New Zealand.

Opera singers Helen Medlyn, Deborah Wai Kapohe and Carmel Carroll will perform, joined by actors Stephen Lovatt, Elizabeth Hawthorne and Michael Morrissey.