A week-long school arts festival featuring Northlanders who have excelled in acting, music, dance and sculpture aims to show students the arts can lead to a successful career.
ToiTU runs at Bay of Islands College in Kawakawa all this week with a performance night open to the public on Thursday.
Performers will include young opera star Kawiti Waetford, now training in London; Maori puppet maker and taonga puoro (traditional instrument) expert James Webster; and dancer Nancy Wijohn, just returned from a European tour with Atamira Dance Company. They will be joined by students performing music, drama and kapa haka.
The festival is organised by Davina Wallam-Duke, an uku (clay) artist and head of the arts department, with drama teacher Michele Wilson and music teacher Rose Loveridge.
She said ToiTU aimed to celebrate the arts, nurture and develop talent at the college, and prove the arts could be a genuine career option.