Archive for the ‘Your stories’ Category

By David Luoni

Cuba Crisis No.1. Image courtesy of Tauranga Art Gallery, from a private collection.

Gore’s Eastern Southland Gallery is hosting a compelling retrospective of Edward (Ted) Bullmore’s art entitled ‘A Surrealist Odyssey’. Ted Bullmore was a southern lad who grew up on the family’s farm at Balfour but his talent lent itself to acquiring cultural rather than rural capital. Gore has now caught up with Bullmore’s genius and is proudly celebrating it. If only we’d had the foresight to do this 40 years ago when Bullmore needed it, having returned home from a productive nine year stint in Europe only to find himself working in relative obscurity in Rotorua. Sadly, Ted Bullmore died young, aged only 45, after having a heart attack in 1978.

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Vanguard Films have waved the flag for the dispossessed and the underdog, for social and peace activists, for women and working people, teachers and unionists, anyone essentially, not of the ruling class, over the past thirty long years, as well as tackling environmental issues.

Vanguard is a small, socialist collective of Wellington-based filmmakers who’ve remained dedicated and active over the last three decades. To celebrate this 30th anniversary, the Film Archive presents Vanguard Films: 30 years – A better world is possible – two weeks of screenings spanning the collective’s output from 1981 to 2008.

The Film Archive have set us this challenge – “From The Hollow Men, to the Waihopai spy base, if you’re not familiar with these documentaries and you call yourself a New Zealander, you need to get watching”.

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By Marianne Taylor, Executive Director, Arts Access Aotearoa

Many of us take the arts for granted. We go to the theatre or a concert; take painting, dance or creative writing classes; and book our tickets to the New Zealand International Film Festival every year.

But what if you have a disability that makes it difficult for you to participate? After all, an estimated 660,300 people (17% of the population) reported a disability in the 2006 Statistics New Zealand survey. Perhaps you use a wheelchair or are sight-impaired. Maybe your disability is less obvious: you experience epilepsy, asthma or migraines.

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On Monday night Arts Access Aotearoa held their annual Big ‘A’ Awards, celebrating the outstanding achievements of individuals and organisations working to enhance the artistic lives of people who have been marginalised by the mainstream.

The 2009 winners included a talented young writer who has overcome the odds, a mixed-ability dance company, a theatre project inspiring teenagers and the elderly, and a prison arts advocate.

Marianne Taylor, Executive Director of Arts Access Aotearoa, said the Awards pay tribute to the artistic work happening in New Zealand communities. “Everyone has the right to participate in the arts and express themselves creatively,” she said. “These awards are a way of acknowledging the people and organisations that help make this possible.”

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It’s September and it’s New Zealand Book Month!

The aim of NZ Book Month is to support and encourage Kiwi writers to keep creating and to show off their talents to New Zealand readers. The organisers of NZ Book Month say, “Quite simply, the idea is to get more of us reading New Zealand books”.

www.NZHistory.net.nz is celebrating Book Month with ‘30 reasons to love New Zealand books and writing’. The site has a bookcase full of stories and inspiration for each day of the month, from stories of ‘Ponga and Puhihuia’ and ‘Hutu and Kawa’ the Pohutukawa Fairies to a history of The Listener and kids’ favourite Hairy Maclary – all brought to life with great images.

And don’t forget to check out your literary literacy by doing the New Zealand Book Month quiz.