Twelve days of Xmas: Performing arts that won't break the bank

The Auckland Airport grant will help with the Saintz Up end-of-year concert.

Auckland Airport is giving $120,000 to 12 charities as part of its annual 12 days of Christmas. The Herald is profiling each initiative.

When every child in a large family wants to sing, dance or act classes can get expensive.

So when three of Nainz Tupa'i and Rebecca Va'ai's four children wanted to be enrolled in classes, the Auckland couple decided to teach the kids themselves.

They started the lessons in their living room about eight years ago and when their friends heard what they were doing, they sent their children along, too.

"Bit by bit the programme started to grow from there. We ended up having to find another space and went to an intermediate and outgrew that and we are now based in two suburbs," Va'ai said.

Saintz Up Performing Arts Trust now teaches up to 600 children aged 3 to 16 in New Lynn and Mangere East.

But Va'ai said there was such a big demand for the classes in New Lynn, which cater for the West Auckland and Central Auckland crowd, that they are looking at setting up another base next year.

In all the years they'd been running the classes, Va'ai said, they had never increased the cost from $5 per lesson. Each module runs for two terms.

"The reason why we've done that is, for us, it's really important from the early beginnings and from where we started. We knew the importance of families having to put three or more children into a programme that it was affordable for all of them to attend.

"If we had our way we would make it free and have funding for the whole programme."

Both Tupa'i and Va'ai have a strong performing arts background and are the directors of the classes while employing eight others to teach the six modules: guitar, vocals, drama, choir, dance, Samoan culture.

"We have a team of tutors and there are 10 of us and we get around both programmes and we are also based in schools. Schools are knocking on our doors to come in and operate their performing arts programmes.

"We have a small, tight team but that needs to change obviously with the growth of our programmes."

To celebrate their members' efforts, the group puts on a big end-of-year performance at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau and some of Auckland Airport's $10,000 willgo towards funding that, while the rest willpay for instruments and equipment, including more speakers for the dancers and guitars for the students to practisewith.

Va'ai said dance was the most popular module, but the 10 classes were sharing two speakers which were being lugged between the two venues.

Auckland Airport chose the charity because of the work it was doing in South Auckland and wanting to support the city's musical talent.

The airport's general manager of people and safety, Anna Cassels-Brown, said: "There's a wealth of talent in our Auckland schools, including in the airport's South Auckland neighbourhood."

Because it was Christmas, why not give them the gift of a music, she said.