Spark festival to ignite the arts in Hamilton

More than 20 artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, writers and media commentators will be in Hamilton next month to share their talent and knowledge at the 16th annual Spark International Festival of Media, Arts and Design.

Now a major event on the national arts calendar, this week long festival is organised by Wintec's School of Media Arts. Spark is designed to engage and educate those with an interest in the creative industries bringing inspiring creative practice to Wintec students and the wider arts community.

The festival will run from 11-15 August showcasing 35 presentations, exhibitions, panel discussions and associated events from local and international presenters. This year's guests hail from South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. They include internationally renowned artists Gabriella and Silvana Mangano (Melbourne), photographer Derek Henderson (Sydney), and film director Tapiwa Chipfupa (South Africa).

Musician Rob Thorne will open this year's festival with a taonga puoro live performance at 9am on Monday 11 August at the Gallagher Hub on Wintec's city campus.

"The programme of events for 2014 is diverse and dynamic and we're excited to be welcoming presenters at the cutting edge of their fields to the Waikato. This year we also welcome a contingent of 40 students from the Eastern Institute of Technology in Hawke's Bay and we're really pleased to see the Spark audience grow," says Festival Director Megan Lyon.

This year Spark was awarded $7,000 from Creative New Zealand's 2014 Arts Grant which will support presentations by artists, Darryn George and Gabriella and Silvana Mangano along with accompanying workshops designed especially for those in the creative industries to actively partake in the festival.

George exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2013. Prior to that he has been a finalist in the Wallace Art Award, received a Te Waka Toi Arts Grant and undertook a major commission for the Deustche Bank Head Office NZ. Gabriella and Silvana Mangano are Melbourne based artists who collaborate to create videos based on the documentation of their performances.

"The Arts Grant reflects the desire from within the Waikato community for those in the creative industries to utilise Spark for their own professional development," says Sarah Nathan, CEO of Creative Waikato.

The festival is free and open to all. To view the full programme of events visit www.spark.net.nz