17 Apr 2017
The Southern Lakes Festival of Colour came to an end last night (Monday) with organisers already touting it as a huge success.
The seventh biennial festival featured 52 shows including comedy, theatre, dance, music and the Aspiring Conversations series with performances centred in Wanaka, but reaching out to Glenorchy, Luggate and Bannockburn.
Festival general manager Lindsey Schofield says 31 shows were sold out and ticket sales exceeded budget.
“We’re absolutely delighted with the way this year’s festival has been received,” she says.
Festival director Philip Tremewan says Festival highlights included the well-received six performances of UK solo show Every Brilliant Thing.
“Ticket sales for this show were strong right from the start and we ended up adding an extra two performances. The show really touched people in a deep way,” he says.
This year’s Aspiring Conversations series had been exceptional and “challenged people’s thinking”, Tremewan adds.
Schoolfest saw a programme of performances in Southern Lakes schools and included the world premiere of Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge. “It was wonderful to premiere this new work from Little Dog Barking Theatre Company in schools here in Wanaka,” he says.
Audience members came from as far away as Australia and Tahiti and the Wanaka community had fully embraced the Festival.
“The local community is so proud to have these international performers come to Wanaka,” Tremewan says.
The Festival of Colour presents an Aspiring Conversations series in April 2018, with the next Festival to be held in April 2019.
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