Nelson's edgy new art festival
28 Sep 2010
WASA! Wild and Sneaky Art Festival
2 - 10 October 2010
Nelson, the arty New Zealand city that brought WOW to the world, is staging a new edgy, creative event called WASA! - Wild and Sneaky Art Festival.
The fringe festival is introducing a new art genre which "celebrates the wild, sneaky, surprising, fun and remarkable talent in all of us".
Organisers say it is the opposite to other festivals where the emphasis is on watching and listening.
WASA! is designed to let people learn and create, through creative workshops, adventures, social events, competitions and a variety of artistic experiences.
Get creative
The nine-day event will be held throughout the Nelson area with "random acts of creativity" happening in the central city.
Organisers say they think of Nelson’s CBD as a live gallery. "The festival is about putting the city on the map as New Zealand’s creative epicentre," says Festival Director Nickola Blunt.
WASA! aims to get members of the public to "roll up their sleeves and get wildly creative with a bunch of family and friends" without worrying about whether they are artistic or expert enough.
"It’s a festival where everyone becomes the artist - and it gives you permission to try new creative experiences you’ve always wanted to try.
Let your inner artist sneak out with wild and surprising results," says Blunt.
Creative workshops
‘Wild and sneaky" workshops will introduce a number of creative activities - including the chance to transform old appliances like fridges, toasters, CD players etc into something "wild and funky".
"For example - it WASA! rusty old beer fridge but now it’s a hip garden sculpture," says Blunt.
Workshop facilitators, most of whom are based in the Nelson Tasman region, say people often arrive thinking they’re uncreative or too afraid to try something new, but leave with a wonderful piece of work, a remarkable experience, a big smile and new friends.
Wild and Sneaky social events throughout the festival will include an unofficial WASA! Opening, a Wild Hair Ball, Sneaky Art of Wine Tasting and Wild ARTs of Tying Ties and Mixing Cocktails.
All about Nelson
Nickola Blunt says WASA! is all about Nelson which is the perfect region for the festival.
"There is an enormous wealth of creative talent here and we feel our region has potential to make a big original new art genre creativity statement that further strengthens our image as a creative region people love to visit and benefits a broad cross section of the community", she said.
The hope was to involve the whole community and create an event that stayed in Nelson, said Blunt.
"We envisage people attending events and taking a finished work of art home to hang on their wall ...or better still, people designing something to liven-up their own wall, fence or even mailbox.
"It’s not just about visual art, it’s about all arts, mixing your media, getting outside the square creatively and not being afraid to try something new, like put down a track/record music with friends."
Nelson is the birthplace of the now world-renowned World of WearableArts (WOW) and has a thriving arts community. The region is also New Zealand’s sunniest region.
More information
Nelson region
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