Community Arts Celebrations Planned For Queenstown And Wanaka

The Three Lakes Cultural Trust today announces plans to help renew and reinvigorate the local arts and cultural sector with two new community events in Queenstown and Wanaka this spring.

The Trust – which supports and advocates for arts and culture in the Queenstown Lakes – invites all local artists to apply to showcase their work at the free RenewArt community events to be held in Queenstown on October 9-10 and Wanaka October 15-16, 2020.

Three Lakes Cultural Trust general manager Jo Brown says the idea behind RenewArt was to create uplifting events to be enjoyed by the entire district post-Covid-19, while also enabling a paid work opportunity for local artists.

“Like many people and organisations in our community, the arts and cultural sector has been deeply impacted by Covid,” she says. “A lot of our events have been cancelled and this has been heart-breaking for many of our visual and performing artists, who had invested a lot of their time, energy and creativity into preparing for these events. We hope that RenewArt will be a light at the end of the tunnel, something our artists can work towards and hopefully receive a little financial relief from, too.”

The Trust has secured commitments in excess of $150,000 to deliver the project and reward selected artists for their work.

Artists can apply to exhibit at RenewArt via the Trust’s website at www.threelakesculturaltrust.co.nz/renewart from July 11 and applications close on July 23. A selection panel comprised of highly respected arts and cultural practitioners will then select a cohort of artists to showcase their work at the RenewArt events in October.

The RenewArt community events will be supported by funding from the Hugo Charitable Trust, Three Lakes Cultural Trust, Central Lakes Trust, Community Trust South, and Creative New Zealand and artists will have approximately eight weeks to produce their works. Applications are open to residents across the Wakatipu basin and Upper Clutha, including Luggate, Lake Hawea, Albert Town, Wanaka, Cardrona, Makarora, Arrowtown, Queenstown, Gibbston, Glenorchy and Kingston.

Trust chair Julian Knights says the fundamental goal of the RenewArt initiative is to reunite and inspire artists and help them reconnect with the wider community through the power and beauty of their work.

“The Trustees of the Three Lakes Cultural Trust are really excited to launch RenewArt after this challenging time. It’s going to be a fantastic event, where our communities can come together and appreciate the amazing talent that we are so lucky to have here,” he says.

“We’re proud to be providing this opportunity for our artists, who will be able to channel their passion and their experiences of the last few months into something spectacular, while simultaneously celebrating the renewal of the Queenstown Lakes arts and cultural sector.”

RenewArt event details

The RenewArt exhibitions will showcase the best of local visual arts alongside a variety of staged performances. Both events are free to the public.

Queenstown
Date: October 9-10, 2020
Location: Queenstown Events Centre, Joe O'Connell Drive, Frankton

Wanaka
Date: October 15-16, 2020
Location: Lake Wanaka Centre, 89 Ardmore Street, Wanaka
 

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