Arts symposium culminates with show and auction
A unique art event called The Connection Show will take place at the Brigand Cafe next Saturday 26 November.
The show will be the culmination of a week-long symposium to be held at the events park at Tui Community. It will raise funds for Tracks and Tides, the not-for-profit trusts that run rites-of-passage programmes for young New Zealanders.
Spokesperson Jim Horton said that arts symposia first took place at Tui 10 to 12 years ago, but they had not happened for a while.
“Then we had the idea to redevelop the artists’ symposium into a fundraiser for Tracks and Tides. It’s a hard time for not-for-profit groups like us; the funders are turning down two out of every three applicants.”
Jim explained that the concept this year was to invite a range of artists from different disciplines and genres to work in the environment at Tui. They will begin arriving on 18 November and will work in the shared space to produce or complete works. Some will be completing major pieces while others will start and finish smaller works. Each artist is invited to donate a piece of work for the art auction or the raffles that will take place at The Connection Show.
“We’ve found that if you bring artists from different genres together they get inspired. They’re very generous too. Even some of the artists who can’t come to the symposium have offered items for the auction or raffle.”
Jim said that half of the symposium process will be about performance art, such as dance, so the auction evening will also include a lot of performance. The process will also be filmed by Jay Horton of Jaypheye Films and the resulting work will be shown on the wall in the Brigand during The Connection Show.
The format for the evening will consist of segments of performance four to five minutes long, then a piece of art will be auctioned and a raffle prize drawn.
“Charlie Cunningham at the Brigand has been really helpful,” said Jim. “The Brigand will be turned into a performance and gallery space for the night, which is quite different from its usual feel. Charlie is adapting the menu, too, to include platters. People who come to The Connection Show will be able to stay on for dinner and make a night of it.”
Tracks and Tides will use the funds raised to run more programmes for young men and women. These aim to “respond to a need in society to help young people and their families recognise and celebrate a young person’s transition into adulthood,” said Jim.
A Tracks (for young men) and Tides (for young women) programme takes a full week and involves young men or women and a group of elders, mentors and parents.
“Tracks is a two-stage process,” said Jim. “A boy comes to an event and, as part of that process, gets recognised as becoming an adult, and then he gets invited back as a leader for a later Tracks event. That’s the most exciting part because it’s extraordinary how they want to help and how good they are at it. There three parts to the work: a calling in of spirit, which is a recognition of the qualities of the young person, helping them to find their identity; the telling of story, whereby men and young men confidently tell the deeper, truer stories of their lives, recognise difficulties and celebrate showing emotion; and finally a challenge, which can be physical, mental or psychological.” Family members are explicitly involved in the process, explained Jim.
Susan Jessie, one of the directors of the Tides programme, is “passionate in the belief that our up-and-coming young people need to recognise and acknowledge the transition from childhood into adulthood.”
“They also need to feel the support and the guidance of the community as they step into those leadership roles and responsibilities.”
Susan said that some of the joy of the process for her is watching young people turn up “looking quite anxious and unsure and then later watching them leave looking sparkly and sure of themselves.
“We are planting a seed. When the young leaders come back, that’s when we see the changes.”
The Connection Show is at The Brigand from 6.30 till late on Saturday 26 November. Entry is by gold coin koha and there are free nibbles till 7pm.
Neil Wilson
