Art Beat Returning to Re:start For a Second Year

MEDIA RELEASE

Monday 18th November 2013

Art Beat Returning to Re:start For a Second Year

Free local live music, street art exhibitions, installations, performances and a night market will transform Re:START, Cashel Mall into a stage and art gallery for Art Beat again this summer.

Now in its second year, Art Beat, the three month programme of local art and music is returning to the central city from 22 November 2013 – 23 February 2014 and will feature work by Christchurch--based musicians and artists.

The programme is a collaborative venture between Re:START and Arts Voice Christchurch with support from Creative New Zealand, Christchurch City Council and Canterbury Community Trust.

The Art Beat art programme offers the opportunity for young emerging artists to establish a presence for their work beyond the art gallery infrastructure.

Each artist has been given the challenge to make their work for Art Beat site specific and relevant to the context of Re:START.

In the month of December Audrey Baldwin will be inviting the public to ‘give up’ their cell phones for two hours and live in the real world.

Ever wondered how graffiti is made?

Watch a graffiti art ‘battle’ between young up--and--coming artists and the creation of a mural by local graffiti artist Wongi ‘Freak’ Wilson to experience the process of graffiti art production.

The Art Beat music programme presents live music every Friday through to Sunday, with an emphasis on supporting local original acoustic music and emerging Christchurch songwriters.

The programme is designed to support the musicians who remain in Christchurch and provide an incentive for musicians and music to be a part of the city’s rebuild.

Supported by the Canterbury Community Trust, Chair Tracey Chambers commented; “Many Cantabrians have been lamenting the loss of cultural activities in their communities… Funding the arts, across numerous disciplines, and in this case, Art Beat, brings us one step further to our vision in the restoration of cultural vitality in our City.

In doing this we hope to bring some light and joy back into people’s lives.” Art Beat Project Coordinator, Warren Feeney says, “Art Beat is committed to an engagement with the arts that is meaningful, entertaining and challenging.

What better place for this to happen than on the streets of the central city of Christchurch.

Treating Re:START as a gallery and performance space, Art Beat aims to connect with the wider community in a way which is relevant and enjoyable.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media