Applaud 2005 Christchurch Festival of the Arts is about to open July 20. Michael Adams profiles festival director Guy Boyce...
The electric Hawaiian shirts and eye-catchingly bright corduroy pants of Christchurch Arts Festival director Guy Boyce belie his humble and self-effacing nature. And it is his focus on promoting the arts instead of himself that has led to his rise in the creative sector.
Image: Cirque Éloize from Canada perform Nomad - at night the sky is endless - at Applaud 2005Applaud 2005 Christchurch Festival of the Arts is about to open July 20. Michael Adams profiles festival director Guy Boyce...
The electric Hawaiian shirts and eye-catchingly bright corduroy pants of Christchurch Arts Festival director Guy Boyce belie his humble and self-effacing nature. And it is his focus on promoting the arts instead of himself that has led to his rise in the creative sector.
Image: Cirque Éloize from Canada perform Nomad - at night the sky is endless - at Applaud 2005He's come a long way since graduating with a BSc in Physics from Waikato University in 1981. A successful audition for the New Zealand Drama School drew him away from a quantitative career in science and into a qualitative career in the arts.
Employment in the form of 14 consecutive shows at Dunedin's Fortune Theatre came straight on the back of drama school. But it was while he was cutting his teeth on a professional acting career that he decided he really wanted
to pursue a career off stage.
As is customary for people working in the creative sector fulltime continuous employment has meant he's travelled the entire country in pursuit of the dream. But it was his tenure as theatre manager of BATS from 1993-1994 that really set him on the path he's on today.
BATS lead to Downstage which lead to Playmarket which led to the Christchurch Arts Festival.
For the boy in bright colours in the midst of the subdued mid-tones of Christchurch, the 2001 festival was a baptism of fire.
"Being a festival director is like nothing else and nothing can truly prepare you for this sort of work. There are no schools for budding festival directors. You learn how do it on the job."
Now he can look back at his first festival with the degree of good humour that comes from surviving a near disaster.
"How we got through 2001 festival is a mystery."
"We made all manner of programming blunders and programme items broke budgets. We lost money and had to crawl to the Christchurch City Council for a bailout. The Festival was audacious and a leap for Christchurch, but it
was the commissioning of the Pacific Crystal Palace that ultimately convinced the city to keep faith with us. This venue took the Festival to the heart of the city - no mean feat for an arts event in the middle of a red 'n' black Canterbury winter!!"
After the festival finishes the seasonal staff of 20 disappear leaving only Boyce and the general manager in the office. From 2001 - 2004 that was Kim Acland, now general manager of the Auckland Theatre Company.
"We did a stock take of the festival," understates Boyce deliberately.
"We were determined not to make the same mistakes in 2003. So we planned a much more conservative festival. 2003 made $175,000 so we were way out of debt. It was so satisfying to walk into the City Council with a cheque to
repay the loan."
Out of 2003 Boyce realised that festival directing was all about balance. If a festival makes a lot of money then it hasn't been cutting edge and innovative enough if it loses money then there's been no "point of entry" work.
But most importantly the 2003 festival, the first time "Applaud" was used as a brand, taught Boyce how important it is to get the positioning right.
Now for his third festival, Boyce's programming sensibility is really beginning to define the philosophy in the festival.
"Applaud" the Christchurch Arts Festival is a regional festival but that doesn't mean it isn't international in content or ambition," explains Boyce.
"It means that we programme work for its connection and relevance to our local audience."
"Being a regional festival has the potential for cultural cringe but we're pointedly turning that around," says Boyce.
"We're turning the concept of parochialism on its head, and that's where our strength is, we're proud of being regional and I think we're on the crest of renewed international interest in the local."
"Sometimes the more local and particular an art work is the better its ability to cut through the 'noise' of our busy modern lives and represent real universal themes. It seems ironic but that is what makes work appeal internationally; it is very much about investing in real people's responses to real places and laying up how we live, breathe and respond to our locale,
what makes us different to the rest of humanity, and paradoxically what binds us to the world. "Global" entertainment has become so "please-all" that its very non-specificness has made it bland."
But Boyce's international programming isn't simply a process of passing a promiscuous eye upon the exotic other. He looks for connections between Christchurch and other cultures to ensure work is both relevant and packs an emotional charge. And as Christchurch becomes ever more multicultural that
means more parts of the world are opening up to the festival.
Boyce remains cognisant of overplaying connections and insists it's not about collapsing the differences between cultures that is important but picking up an affinity on the outlook on life.
"We're finding a market here for work that is wholly different to what we have in New Zealand but it still resonates here because there are so many affinities one can find between local audiences and work created around the world."
This year's festival has a very strong Canadian connection and the theatre programme exemplifies the programming philosophy.
"In Canada and New Zealand producers are turning to local stories and histories to clearly state their points of difference. And as this work is attracting an audience," says Boyce.
"And festival directors like myself are more willing to take a punt on this work."
"I think a national form is emerging in both countries at the moment. It's like becoming masters of the short film."
"Theatre producers in both countries really have a knack for doing work on a smaller scale but which is big on narrative and inventiveness; work that involves small casts but which captures the feel of whole communities. This is where the emergence of our national styles truly intersect."
And does he think this year's festival has the balance right?
"There is a good feeling about festival and the programming philosophy has been given the general nod of approval. Now we just have a nervous wait to see if the colour of the festival we've planned this year appeals to the audience here. I think and hope, it will."
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14 Days Until Festival Fever Grips Christchurch City
In 14 days the curtain will rise on the 6th biennial Christchurch Arts Festival, "Applaud" 2005. And with its biggest programme to date, organisers hope festival fever will be the city's next winter epidemic.
As Christchurch dons it's festival colours in the days leading up to the festival the anticipation will be palpable.
The excitement and tension of festival and construction deadlines collide just days out from the festival with the official opening of the newly refurbished Isaac Theatre Royal taking place on Monday the 18th, just two days out from first night of Canadian cirque show Nomade.
On festival eve the construction of temporary venues will also be completed. Located in the foyer of the Christchurch Art Gallery, the juxtaposition of classic Coney Island side show The Tiny Top against the chic glass façade of the gallery, typifies the cheerful way the festival changes the familiar face of the city. And at Victoria Square festival icon the TV One Pavilion will in place. Home to top international jazz acts including Micheline Van Hautem, Alec Dankworth and Jukka Perko, as well as Australia's mad cabaret Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen, the TV One Pavilion is the vibrant social hub of the festival.
Day 1 of 19 Days in the City
Prime Minister Helen Clark will declare the 6th biennial Christchurch Arts Festival officially open at the Remaking the Elements and Atea exhibitions launch in the CoCA gallery. And 19 days of top arts events will begin.
The theme of grand theatres being redressed is continued with the Repertory Theatre being made over in festival colours. Opening with a Canadian landscape for Lauchie, Liza and Rory, before transforming to become the Coromandel for The Bach and closing with Europe's World War I battlefields for King & Country, the theatre season is the boldest in the festival's 12 year history.
At the heart of Christchurch's cultural precinct is the Christchurch Art Gallery. In cargo containers on the forecourt Animation Substation is a showcase of 'cyberian' wonders, curated by Malcom Turner of the Melbourne International Animation Festival.
The world's number one gospel choir the Soweto Gospel Choir and the cool face of Cuban jazz Omar Sosa inject some equatorial warmth into the Christchurch Town Hall auditorium as part of the music programme.
The closing night gala concert Timeless Land is an orchestral-multimedia event that pays tribute to the majesty of the South Island and the island's cultural heritage; a fitting way to cap off 19 days of spirit lifting culture in the South.
For full festival details, visit the "Applaud" Christchurch Arts Festival 2005 website, www.artsfestival.co.nz, or collect a copy of the quirky purple programme from outlets around the country or by phoning 0800 ARTS 05.