This year’s Mayoral Benefit Concert in Whangarei features a strong creative line-up of performers on Friday 6 May at the Capitaine Bougainville Theatre in Forum North.
Updated:
8/04/2011 5:27 p.m.
The central feature performance will be a colourful devised drama piece by students of Ngunguru School who are the beneficiaries of the funds raised by the concert. Shenae Heswall, Maddy Parker, Teina Reihari, Frankie Mulcare and Ebony Fairclough have won a place at the Future Problem Solving Programme International (FPSPI) at La Crosse University, Wisconsin USA in June. They won their place for a project where they carried on the efforts of previous years’ students and worked out how best to preserve the history of their school, which was in danger of being lost because of the deterioration of documents and artefacts and the loss of photographs.
The students exhaustively researched the history of the school and the Ngunguru area, and the results of their research and interviews with long-standing residents who shared their memories have already enriched the school and the community.
For the concert, the students will move to a new level and articulate their work in music, drama and dance, calling upon the rich environmental context of the Ngunguru Sandspit and the way it makes their school’s history special. They will be supported by Opera North with another memorable programme, and the Hatea Kapa Haka Group. Last year’s Mayoral Benefit Concert recipient, designer Duncan Lamont Brown, will make a presentation about his study trip last year, his work since then, and what the impetus provided by the Mayoral Benefit Concert has meant to him.
Concert organiser Councillor Sharon Morgan says this is the third Mayoral Benefit Concert to be held, following concerts in 2009 and 2010 for Kawiti Waetford and Duncan Lamont Brown respectively. “Anyone who has been to one of these before will know that the entertainment for this black tie event is always absolutely top drawer,” she says.
The ticket price of $60 includes a complimentary drink and canapés on arrival at 7pm. The programme starts at 7.30pm.
Cr. Morgan says that ticket numbers are strictly limited and they are available from Ticketek at Forum North.