Icon Creative Summit

Icon Creative Summit

Every fortnight talented Aucklanders, many of them young, gather to pool their creativity at Icon forums.

Icon is an initiative designed to help creative people find the purpose of their talent in dance, music, acting, fashion, visual arts, film, makeup, hair, tattoo art, photography and more. "The biggest benefit is you get to meet other people doing the same thing as you,” 20-year-old Paula W Hopoi says.

"I love the Icon workshops because they've got a very Kiwi feel. We don't have to look to the US for creative inspiration, its here that’s why people love movies like Boy and Whale Rider because it's Kiwis being Kiwis."

The contemporary dancer teaches a group called Tellers in south Auckland and has toured the world with Black Grace.

"The sad thing in New Zealand is there's no big reason to do it besides passion and the chance to travel, the pay's not big in reflection of the time and demands it puts on you." Icon creative director and Avondale resident Lynette Leota says the platform hopes to change the current climate within New Zealand to allow creative people, many of them amateurs, to soar with their talent and get confidence while learning skills necessary for their craft. "There is a tall poppy syndrome in New Zealand where creative people are told they can't be all they dream to be. Icon says that they can do it. We don't want the next Michael Jackson or Beyonce, we want people to attain to new heights and forge new paths. "There are not many places for new artists to break out and show what they've got, we've invited industry scouts to see raw, fresh talent at its best.” At the Icon workshops dancers split into groups and the Wesley Community Centre becomes a hub of creativity with dancers, slam poets, singers and multimedia buffs joining heads to pool ideas and create a network of support.

"Icon has been established to unlock a new level of creativity in all the artists that take part in the project, our aim is to allow for the artists to understand the purpose of their creativity and realise that with it they can literally change their world, we are all about out of the box creativity that is previously unseen and unheard and goes against the status quo of what the creative industry requires of our artists today, we are building a network of artists that will fully support each other and also be supported by the project financially, resourcefully and emotionally thus breaking the current mainstream mentality that every man is for himself," Mrs Leota says. Blockhouse Bay resident Penny Jarman, who has a degree in music and has released a solo album, runs the singing workshop and says the talent that lies dormant within many Kiwis has blown her away. "We had a night where people were given the chance to show us what they've got. We had Latino rappers, beat boxers, acapella groups, and singers all of them performed brilliantly and I was inspired by their talent.” The Icon workshops are free, run by people within the industry, and open to anyone. The project ends with an on stage showcase held at Life Convention Centre in Mangere on November 13. It is Proudly presented by Breakthrough Creative Industries and in association with Breakthrough Nation New Zealand.

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