Haiti Fundraising Concert, Thursday 4th February
Haiti Fundraising Concert, Thursday 4th February
A fundraising concert providing direct aid for victims of the Haiti earthquake will take place at Wellington’s San Francisco Bathhouse on Thursday the 4th of February starting at 6pm.
The concert has been organised by local musician Lucien Johnson who spent three months last year in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince working on music for a theatre production. Johnson was brought over by the French Cultural Institute of Haiti along with a director and a marionettist from France to produce the show in the Festival des Quatre Chemins, Haiti’s only theatre festival. The play – a musical version of Orwell’s Animal Farm – was performed by 17 Haitian actors and musicians who formed part of the Pye Poudre Cultural Centre.
Sadly the centre has been destroyed in the quake and many of the people involved in this communtiy have taken refuge in the Fokal Theatre, one of the few solid buildings left standing in downtown Port-au-Prince. Johnson has received news that one of the actors in the play, a mother of two. has lost her life. Many others have had their homes destroyed and family members gravely wounded or killed.
Johnson has been in touch with the director of Pye Poudre, Paula Clermont Paen, who has launched an appeal for immediate aid.
Johnson says that this fundraising appeal allows Wellingtonians a unique chance of contributing directly to a Haitian community in distress and will provide urgent relief and a chance to begin to rebuild their shattered lives.
Local musicians have come out in force in support of the initiative. Performing bands include Harbour City Electric, The Yoots, The Orchestra of Spheres, Sheba, Big Boxman and Johnson’s own quintet. Tickets are $20/$10 and can be purchased on the door.
ENDS