Half Million-plus for Art and Music TV Shows

Half Million-plus for Art and Music TV Shows

NZ On Air has announced the investment of more than half a million dollars in arts, culture and performance television programmes for broadcast on TVNZ’s two networks.

“Frontseat is a half hour arts programme that will screen on TV One on Sunday nights,” said NZ On Air Chief Executive Jo Tyndall. “It’s a blatant and unashamed celebration of New Zealand art and culture, but you will also find it asking the hard questions about the arts in this country – questions about funding, relevance, value and promotion.

“The show is designed to remind us that arts and culture are not just something that occur overseas. They are part of our day-to-day lives, and Frontseat will demonstrate just how talented and creative New Zealanders are.

“As a population, our consumption of arts and performance is vast. We love entertainment, we read and we flock to theatres for films and for plays. Frontseat will show us the best of what’s on offer for us,” Ms Tyndall said.

Funding from NZ On Air will also see the return of two popular music shows to TVNZ.

“The TV2 music show Space is back for a 2004 season,” said Ms Tyndall, “and there are one or two changes to the format that we think viewers will enjoy. The show this year will feature guest hosts, have a wider entertainment focus, and more ‘out and about’ components giving us a look at New Zealand nightlife – in addition to playing great music and some cartoons especially for grown ups.

“We have also been able to support a return series of the music video show Hum with Francesca Rudkin. We see Hum as being complementary to other music video programmes because it tends to have a more adult contemporary focus in terms of repertoire,” Ms Tyndall said.

“And this second series will feature some ‘live’ studio performances as well as the usual video clips. That’s something we are really looking forward to,” she said.

Hum will screen on TV One.

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