Renee Liang talks to theatre director Anna Marbrook about the third annual Auckland Performing Arts Forum - Big.Fat.Auckland - held last Friday at the Aotea Centre.

"True to its name, the forum permeated itself through the entire third floor of the behemoth venue."

* * *

Imagine this: a large room filled with people moaning and howling.  Doesn’t sound like your scene?  It’s what happens when “people skilled in improv, music and other performance” are asked to make the soundtrack for a horror film.  It sounded awful (I was one of them). Luckily, it was only the warmup for what turned out to be a busy day packed with ideas and aspirations.

Big.Fat.Auckland., the third of the now-annual Auckland Performing Arts Forums, was held last Friday at the Aotea Centre.  True to its name, the forum permeated itself through the entire third floor of the behemoth venue.  But what were the biggest and fattest ideas?

This was an event where we (hundreds of us – writers, theatre makers, actors, producers, musicians, poets) proposed our own ideas for discussion, moved from cluster to cluster to negotiate shared dreams, and then committed to make them happen.  As a first time participant, I found myself captured by the process, which was very ably facilitated by Briar Munro and a team of organisers, who roved the rooms festooned in bright leis.

Two things stood out for me.  Firstly, there was a real atmosphere of optimism, which I think is finally being let out now that we have safely negotiated the transition to Supercity.  And secondly, I felt that bridges were being built – many people crossing the room to talk to others they didn’t know, and an atmosphere of wanting /needing to cooperate to get things done.

At the end of the day, someone stood up and pointed out that there had been few repeats of the topics discussed last year – which meant, she thought, that last year’s issues were well on the way to being resolved.  Although I’m not sure that things change quite that quickly, it’s a good sign that the Forum is working as a way to progress performing arts in this Big, Fat, Beloved city of ours.

Since I seem to be running out of superlatives, I’m going to defer to the much more reasoned verbal dexterity of Anna Marbrook, who I met on the day and who is a long established theatre practitioner.

Renee: Do you think holding these forums is a good way to further the performing arts in NZ?

Anna: I think what is starting to happen is that the performing arts sector is starting to look outwards. We are starting to think more seriously about what we can contribute to Auckland, New Zealand and the world. Because of this we are beginning to think about lobbying as a group rather than pushing our own individual barrows. This is exciting and in that sense it is definitely furthering us. Each time we meet up it is a kind of litmus test with regards to how we are maturing. It is very heartening to see the growth over the last 20 years. What I found particularly fantastic about this last gathering was the youth. Strong, articulate, and thoughtful voices. This is one of the great benefits of gathering like this. It is bringing together the ages. This gives us simultaneously a sense of history and future. Personally I look forward to the day when we come together and have passionate discussions about what we are making and why. What new movements in work  are emerging and heated debates turn into fruitful collaborations. I think we are still learning to talk about our work.  

Renee: What do you like (and dislike) about the way it was run?

Anna: I thought the team behind the scenes did an extraordinary job. It was very generous of them to volunteer their time and energy to make the day run seamlessly. It was a very generous welcome and Briar did a great job of setting the day. I particularly liked the stress placed on us making the agenda based on what we felt passionate about. This warmed me up to actually put forward a discussion point. I thought we started off with a hiss and a roar but post lunch it kind of fizzled off a bit. This may have been because the numbers dropped or maybe post lunch we needed something to bring us back into that contributive state.

Renee: Can you mention an initiative discussed that excited you?

Anna: The highlight for me was the discussion that began in the “what are we making and why are we making it” group. Out of this came a commitment to talk in a more structured and direct way to each other about our work...Criticism and dialogue about what we are putting on stage. I often find when I get out of New Zealand and see work in other countries there is a natural discussion with the practitioners that happens. Artists are more ready to discuss their work and have it critiqued in a way that can build what they are doing. Often this feedback system is part of the experience of seeing the work e.g panel discussions/ debates/ other experts brought in such as historians or sociologists or academics to discuss. The work is often contextualised and understood as broader than just a show. As an audience this treats us as intelligent informed viewers which I like. I look forward to this in the future here in NZ.

Renee: Do you think a forum like this could have taken place ten years ago?  (Or did it happen, and we've forgotten?)

Anna: I’m trying to remember forums in the past. Two spring to mind in the 90’s. One was in Auckland and from memory the main activity was shouting at CNZ which was awful. The other was a forum for the devising sector run in Christchurch by the Clinic. That was extraordinary. We all ran workshops sharing our practise with each other. It was fantastic to experience the way other people worked and sparked great discussion amongst us regarding our similarities and differences.

We have always got together but I think we have always struggled to be together and an even bigger struggle is to be together when it comes to celebrating our successes and achievements. The greatest struggle is looking beyond what we are doing and think about what we are contributing to this nation as a sector.  This is where our real influence lies.

Auckland Performing Arts Forum