MEDIA RELEASE
SchoolFest offers students access to international and local artists
The New Zealand International Arts Festival continues its outstanding SchoolFest education programme during this year’s
Festival.
“We have a strong commitment to make the New Zealand International Arts Festival an educational environment for New
Zealand’s artists and technicians of the future, and we invite schools throughout New Zealand to consider SchoolFest for
their 2010 assessments and curriculum,” says Education and Community Co-ordinator, Craig Ireson.
The SchoolFest educational programme offers students unparalleled access to the outstanding line-up of national and
international artists in the Festival through discounted tickets, educational resources and packages.
In 2010, SchoolFest features an extensive variety of workshops including sessions with three-time Grammy Award winner
jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis, renowned conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy and monks from the Shaolin Buddhist Temple.
The SchoolFest workshop series gives students an opportunity to go behind the scenes and meet with artists, including
New Zealand director Anna Marbrook and members of the cast and technical team of Mark Twain & Me in Māoriland; the Druid Theatre Company from Ireland, Circus Cirkör from Sweden, the crew behind the UK hit show
Dancing on Your Grave, as well as singer-songwriter Don McGlashan, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and conductor René
Jacobs, and American Jazz funksters Yellowjackets.
Students will have the opportunity to attend a rehearsal with conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Wellington Youth
Orchestra, and an open master class with Award-winning Australian choreographer Shaun Parker.
Students can learn about the design and technology of APOLLO 13: Mission Control and find out about the inspiration
behind the 1970s NASA mission control room replica.
New Zealand Post Writers and Readers Week is back in 2010, and SchoolFest includes four thought-provoking sessions
designed to get students excited about writing and reading, and the popular Festival review competition.
SchoolFest is supported by the Lion Foundation and the Major Events Development Fund.
ends