With a background in marketing, events and general management, Kylie Hawker quickly applied her corporate experience to her first arts sector role as general manager of Lake Taupo Arts Festival Trust. She tells us about expanding the Erupt Events programme and evolving the trust to operate more like a business.

“Our Trustees are mainly local business people who have a passion for the arts and a desire to volunteer their time to deliver quality arts and cultural events for the people of Taupo district.”

Erupt Lake Taupo Festival is on from 10-20 May 2012.

Tell us a bit about Erupt and how it has evolved since its beginnings in 1996?

The first Taupo Arts Festival was held in 1996, and like many regional arts festivals – it was delivered by a group of volunteers who got together to ‘make it happen’.  An Arts Festival has been held biennially in Taupo since, with 2012 being our 9th offering.  In 2008, the Festival was moved from February to May, and rebranded ERUPT.  Over the years, we’ve had amazing Festival Directors (including Roger King, Philip Tremewen, Drew James and now Amanda Wright) who have all delivered unique, exciting and engaging events.

Why is it important for the region?

I think the Festival adds three vital things to the wider Taupo community.  Firstly, it brings world class arts to a (relatively) small community of 25,000 people – and exposes residents and visitors of all ages and demographics to performing and visual arts that they would not normally get to see here.  Many in our community cannot travel to the cities to see shows or concerts so it’s brilliant to bring them here. 

Secondly, we have an incredible School & Community programme, which in 2012 will see over 2000 students either attending a show, a workshop or a performance during ERUPT.  Again, our students don’t get the chance to work alongside performers or artists often, so the inspirational and aspirational opportunity that our Schools Programme provides is wonderful and widely appreciated by both the students and the schools. 

For example, we’ve had Martin Horspool spend a couple of days working alongside local students who have created mailboxes from found/recycled objects as part of our schools Junk Mail project.  Lastly, ERUPT creates an exciting and fun vibe in town… our business community embrace the Festival as it provides people and activity during the quietest month of the year.  We’ve got ERUPT themed businesses all over the Taupo CBD, and many businesses across the district offer special ERUPT deals and promotions to encourage locals and visitors to shop.  And our community love the Festival – it makes them happy and they have fun… which is probably the most important thing of all!

Tell us a bit about the Lake Taupo Arts Festival Trust.

Up until last year, the Trust had purely delivered the Festival, and was made up of volunteer trustees from our local community and a contracted Festival Director.  Our Trustees are mainly local business people who have a passion for the arts and a desire to volunteer their time to deliver quality arts and cultural events for the people of Taupo district.  After the 2010 Festival, a decision was made to expand the activities of the Trust and a new programme of ‘Erupt Events’ was created.  So we now deliver a series of regular events on a rolling 24 month basis… the ERUPT Festival is the signature event; Graffiato is our annual street and urban art event held in October; we have Great Lake Tales – a Readers & Writers series every winter; and Big Day Art which is our community art expo that showcases local creative talent every March.  We’re also working on plans to launch a new national event to be held on the alternate year to the main ERUPT Festival – watch this space!

What does your role as General Manager involve?

My role was created after the 2010 Festival when the decision was made to extend the programme of events and I started in early 2011.  My first task to was develop a strategic plan for the Trust, and then a business plan for the new events… which was done collaboratively through a series of hui with local artists, creative groups, business and community representatives and the Trust.  It’s my job to now make that plan a reality, with varying levels of involvement in the different events. 

For the ERUPT Festival, I have an amazing team led by Amanda Wright (of SPLORE) as Festival Director; Alistair Cameron as Production Manager;  and Lianne Fraser (Plateau PR) delivering our communications and PR programme… and I fill the gaps undertaking the marketing, admin, finance and sponsorship duties.  With Great Lake Tales, I am the Event Director and do everything from selecting the guest authors to pouring the wine at the events!  We’re lucky enough to have Ross Liew (Cut Collective) as our Curator for Graffiato, and I work alongside Taupo District Council’s Community Engagement Team to deliver Big Day Art.  So it’s a bit of a ‘jack of all trades’ role which is probably why I love it so much!

Tell us a bit about your background.

I’ve come from a Marketing/Communications background with a fair dollop of Event Management experience… but never directly in the Arts Sector so it’s been a huge learning curve.  However, I’ve found that having sound corporate experience has been beneficial to the role.  I’ve been in Taupo for the last four years, and was the General Manager of the local business association (Towncentre Taupo), so my contacts in and around the district have come in handy in the new job! 

I’ve worked in corporate marketing roles for the likes of ENZA, Turners & Growers, and Mission Estate Winery – where I got my first taste of large scale event delivery with working on the annual Mission Concert.  I’ve also done a lot of work (mainly voluntarily) in the not-for-profit social services sector, which was recognised in 2011 when I was appointed by the Minister of Finance as a Trustee on the Bay of Plenty Community Trust.  I love the event industry – and with Taupo being the Events Capital of NZ, I am thrilled to be in the thick of it.

What's your number one business tip for surviving (and thriving) in the creative industries?

Coffee!! But seriously, one of things I found the most interesting when I started in this role is that many people in the creative industries (by nature!) are not business minded… and what I’ve tried to do is evolve the Trust into thinking and operating more like a business.  For example, I always treat our sponsors as ‘customers’ and do everything I can to exceed their expectations.  We have over 40 different sponsors for the ERUPT Festival, and every single one has a different arrangement which we’ve tailored to suit THEIR business needs – not ours.  In the current financial times, you have to deliver tangible business benefits, and it’s therefore essential that you have the tools and systems in place to monitor and report back to all stakeholders. 

What are some of the highlights of Erupt?

I think Amanda has created an exceptional programme for ERUPT 2012, and we truly have something for everyone.  I can’t wait to see the Taupo Mapped projection that Mike Hodgson has created, and I’m really looking forward to taking my kids through the Unison Erupt to Light Trail that will see our park transformed into a world of lights for 11 nights.  Naked Samoans Go Home will be brilliant, and I’m looking forward to seeing The Second Test as it’s a poignant tale with much relevance to this region.  I think another highlight is the Face Value exhibition (Serena Stevenson) with live Ta Moko alongside the exhibition at Taupo Museum, with the tattooing being done by local Tuwharetoa artist Haki Williams. 

In what ways is the Festival unique?

ERUPT is uniquely Taupo, with some quirky and exciting activities happening around our district which make it special.  We’ve got Tom Rodwell performing Mississippi Blues on the Otunui Paddleboat on Lake Maraetai (Mangakino), The Yoots singing waiata in Turangi, and Haki Williams tattooing in a museum!  The Junk Mail assemblage art challenge has encouraged our local children to create and exhibit artworks at ERUPT and then we have free afternoon concerts in our local hot pools – so you can soak in warm geothermally heated water and listen to great live music. 

Do you compare or collaborate with other festivals in NZ and internationally?

Absolutely.  It’s vital in a small country to collaborate with other festivals and venues, which we’ve successfully done with a few shows at ERUPT… for example Alvin Sputnik performs in Invercargill before heading up to Taupo, and Indian Ink Theatre Company are touring Guru of Chai to fit in with the ERUPT dates.  We attend regular meetings of Festival Directors and Managers from around the country, and spend time working on ways that we can further collaborate to the betterment of everyone involved. 

What’s involved in the preparation? What combination of people and resources are required?

A lot!  The anal-retentive-list-freak in me LOVES the complex planning involved in delivering over 60 shows & events in 10 days.  We have to organise venues, pack in and production schedules, artist travel arrangements, marketing campaigns, ticketing, sponsors and corporate hosting, exhibitions, budgets and so on… Thankfully, I am blessed with an amazing crew, many of whom have 15+ years of experience, who get stuck in and make it happen.  We’ve worked in a pretty simple structure with the core team of four being supported by additional administration and production staff coming on stream a few weeks out from the start of the Festival.  The exciting bit for me is seeing all the work and planning becoming reality – venues being constructed, exhibitions being installed, tickets selling…  and soon, Opening Night!

How does the Festival generate opportunities for New Zealand artists?

The vast majority of our programme is kiwi artists and performers as we wanted ERUPT to showcase the very best New Zealand talent.  We have created opportunities for emerging singers like Josephine Costain who is launching her first album at ERUPT as part of NZ Music Month, and our Art of Assemblage exhibition includes works from numerous NZ artists. 

What are some of the challenges and how do you approach them?

One of the great things about ERUPT is that everyone involved, from crew to performers and sponsors to audience, wants the Festival to be a success…. So when operational challenges arise they seem to be quickly and painlessly rectified.  One of our biggest high-level challenges is securing necessary funds to deliver the Festival – ticket sales only generate about 20% of our Festival income and the balance has to come from grants, donations and sponsorship, so securing and retaining funding is a big part of my job. 

How do you measure success of the Festival?

We are part of the national Ministry of Culture & Heritage Festival Survey programme, so a wide sample of our audience is surveyed to garner their thoughts and feelings about ERUPT.  We also gather feedback from all our stakeholders, crew and performers/artists.  We have a number of success areas including financial, social, cultural, educational and environmental and we’ll be looking at all of these as we debrief and review in June.  As ERUPT is a festival primarily for the people of Taupo, we’ll be able to gauge from the public attitude whether they believe the Festival was successful or not.

What are your hopes and dreams for the future of the Festival and Trust?

For a small provincial town to deliver a Festival of this scale consistently for so many years is superb, and I hope that I’m able to attend shows at the 20th Erupt Lake Taupo Festival.  The model of delivering multiple events seems to be working well, and I hope that we can build on our base to create strong, vibrant, creative and sustainable events for the people of Taupo for many years to come.  

What are some of your upcoming plans and projects – your next big idea?

I’m working on plans for new and exciting event for next May which is unlike anything else currently delivered in New Zealand…. It’s big in a good way and all going to plan we’ll be revealing all in August.

* * * The Big Idea 10th Birthday Questions * * *

What does The Big Idea mean to you?

As someone new to the arts sector, I have found The Big Idea a hugely valuable resource for information, ideas and contacts. 

What changes have you noticed in (event management) in the past 10 years?

The move to online promotion and registration for events has escalated during the last ten years… we used to print and post everything whereas now days we do so much online.  Event participants can learn all about the event online, register online, and provide their feedback online.

I think people are also more enthusiastic about directly participating in events than they have previously been – by that I mean actively participating through volunteering or undertaking events.  In Taupo we have literally thousands of people who volunteer each year to support our major events and the wider community has a great sense of ownership.

What are some of the opportunities and challenges for the next decade?

I’m loving the surge of interest and support in crowd-funding and I think it’s got great potential for boosting events in the next decade.  So many great event ideas never get off the ground due to lack of financing – crowd-funding is a great opportunity to get some cool new projects off the ground!