Live and Local - Arts On Tour NZ Menu for 2012

Arts On Tour New Zealand

Live and Local - Arts On Tour NZ Menu for 2012

If you drive through the highways and back roads of rural New Zealand between February and November, chances are you might view the Arts On Tour NZ (AOTNZ) van parked outside a café or a provincial theatre. AOTNZ, with its cheerful motto, ‘Top Acts to Top Towns’ has been unobtrusively touring musicians and actors to out of the way places since 1984.

Acts* as varied as Hot Club Sandwich, Don McGlashan and Whirimako Black have all toured at times under the AOTNZ banner, performing in theatres, art galleries, cafes and community halls to appreciative audiences of 35 (full house) in Okarito and to over 100 in Kerikeri or Hokitika.

Next year’s line-up features 10 acts, including virtuoso violinist and composer, Fiona Pears; virtuoso pianist and composer, Jonathan Besser with his new musical group Gimel; and celebrated Celtic musicians, Helen Webby (harp) and Davy Stuart (guitar and bouzouki).

Theatrical performances include Jane Keller in Boomers Performing Badly; two young men’s spiritual journey in The Intricate Art of Actually Caring; and Home, a story of early 20th century nation building through the eyes of Scottish immigrants (with Douglas Mews on piano).

*Artists who have toured with AOTNZ in previous years include: From Scratch, Six Volts, Paul Ubana Jones, Mahinarangi Tocker, Mike Nock, Nairobi Trio, The Jews Brothers Band, , Charlotte Yates, Mervyn Thompson, Margaret Mahy, NZTrio, Beyondsemble, Lauris Edmond, The Wizard, Hen’s Teeth, Margaret Mahy, Front Lawn, Pacific Curls, Stalker Stilt Theatre, David Eggleton, Sylvia Rands, Mamaku Project, Antiques Rogue Show, Adams and Gavin, Matthew Marshall, Jade String Quartet, Big Belly Woman, Naomi Ferguson, Graham Wardrop.

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