September 22, 2011

New sponsorship brings buskers back to city

Christchurch’s World Buskers Festival will be back for its 19th year in 2012 with a new naming rights sponsor – the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) – and a new name, the Stronger Christchurch World Buskers Festival.

For almost two decades the World Buskers Festival has brought fun, laughter and a great vibe to Christchurch and continuing this great event has never been more important than now, says SCIRT Alliance Manager Duncan Gibb.

“The World Buskers Festival not only brings life to the city but it makes people feel great. Looking after people’s emotional well-being is a big part of helping our community to recover following the destruction caused by the earthquakes.”

He says SCIRT is excited about taking on the naming rights sponsorship and helping to bring the festival alive at its new location in Hagley Park from 19 to 29 January 2012.

“There is great synergy between the two brands. SCIRT is a large organisation with the task of creating resilient infrastructure that gives our community security and confidence in the future of Christchurch.

“The sponsorship is a great opportunity for the community to understand who we are and what we are doing and also for the non-government partners of SCIRT, City Care, Downer Construction, Fletcher Construction, Fulton Hogan, and McConnell Dowell New Zealand to reinvest back in the community and Christchurch where a significant number of our staff live.”

SCIRT is contracted to undertake the five-year, $2 billion rebuild of Christchurch’s infrastructure – water mains, sewer pipes, stormwater drainage and roads.

World Buskers Festival Trust Chair Linda Penno says SCIRT is the perfect naming rights partner for the World Buskers Festival.

“While SCIRT is about to embark on one of the largest infrastructure rebuild projects ever undertaken in New Zealand, the World Buskers Festival feels strongly that its recovery task is to bring laughter, colour and a little bit of normality back into the lives of Christchurch residents for 10 days next January.

Ms Penno says residents’ surveys have shown that during the past five years the World Buskers Festival has been Christchurch’s largest, most well attended and loved events.

“Next year the majority of the festival will take place at our new venue in North Hagley Park, however the Trust will also continue with night shows at the Christchurch Casino, thanks to their ongoing sponsorship and there will be shows at New Brighton as in previous years.

“We also hope to have some shows back in the Central City to help regenerate the spaces which are open again,” she says.

The Trust will announce other sponsors in coming weeks.

ENDS

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