Return of Mask Carnivale completes exciting arts festival

Along with the fun, colour and thought-provoking performances about to hit the region for this month's Nelson Arts Festival, is the return of the much-loved Mask Carnivale. As Judene Edgar discovers, the carnivale will add to an already stellar line up for this year's festival.

After a three-year hiatus, the return of the Mask Carnivale, a spectacular celebration of creativity, community and colour, is sure to be a highlight of the Nelson Arts Festival. This year the Carnivale will ring in the final weekend of the festival season with schools, groups and individuals from across the community joining in the bright, highly-visual parade donned in hand-crafted masks and costumes. The nights’ celebrations include pop up performers, world class dancers, music, and of course, some fabulous kai.

For Karl Wulff from Community Art Works (CAW), the mask parade has been a key part of his life, having first entered over two decades ago. Under the tutelage of mask-master and Mask Parade founder Kim Merry, Karl has gone on to win the best individual mask award more times than he can count, but his proudest moment was winning the inaugural Kim Merry Supreme Award.

“Kim was really good and encouraged people to try different things, but it was always more about just getting people involved in the arts,” says Karl. “Wearing a mask you can take on a different persona, be anyone you like, or just be anonymous.”

CAW is a treasure trove of masks from mask parades gone by, Christmas parades, theatre shows and workshops. From group activities to exhibitions and public performances, CAW provides a pathway for people with less advantages through the language and inspiration of art. “Mask making takes a lot of different skills and working with kids and seeing them bring their skills to life is so much fun,” says Karl.

Spoken word poets Talia Stanley and Sheldon Rua also use the arts to inspire rangatahi. The talented duo both started spoken word poetry while at high school. Spoken word is a powerful, high-energy form of expression that takes poetry from the page to the stage to make it more accessible, more powerful and more inspiring.

A big reader growing up, Talia says that her journey started with lyrics and short stories. “A teacher at Westlake Girls High School introduced me to spoken word poetry,” she says. “It was amazing the way people could share their thoughts, their truth and themselves through metaphors and similes. I’d always been passionate about speaking up, but spoken word poetry provided a filter and a safe space for me to express myself.”

Talia and Sheldon are running a poetry slam workshop on the morning of 23 October followed by an afternoon of rhythmic pummelling in the Victory Boxing ring. “We like to say that it’s like being in a boxing ring, but I never thought we’d get to perform in one, so it’s very cool,” says Talia.

Also bringing the page to the stage is internationally renowned author and literary icon Witi Ihimaera. His most well-known book The Whale Rider was adapted into the eponymous critically acclaimed film in 2002 starring Keisha Castle-Hughes.

This time the stage is the Theatre Royal, and Witi is being joined by six fellow Māori writers to commemorate the 50^thanniversary of his first novel Tangi. Published in 1973, it was the first book ever published by a Māori writer. “50 years ago, New Zealand was a different place. It had been written into existence by some great Pākehā writers, but I’d read that no Māori had published a book and I’d always been a bit of an opportunist, so a year later I published my collection of short stories Pounamu, Pounamu, and another year later my first novel, Tangi,” he says. “50 years later, I look at the huge number of wonderful Māori and Pasifika writers appearing on literary prize lists. New Zealand has been on an amazing bicultural journey.” Witi has also appeared on a number of literary prize lists himself including winning the James Wattie Book of the Year Award for Tangi.

Part of the Pukapuka Talks programme, Witi and Friends Gala Night is a celebration of Witi and of Māori writers. “It’s going to be a fun night of music and reading. I’m tremendously humbled that people want to help me celebrate,” says Witi.

“I’m using this year to close off the first 50 years and to prepare for the second 50,” he laughs. Despite an already prolific career he’s not slowing down anytime soon. He has two anthologies being released this year followed by two more novels, a picture book, a sequel to The Whale Rider, plus a feature film planned. “My career seems to be revving up rather than slowing down,” he says. “I’m profoundly proud to be a New Zealand writer and to add to the stories we tell about ourselves.”

Photographer Melissa Banks is telling the story of her three daughters through photography at the Nelson Museum. Te Ara o Hine Rēhia – A journey into the world of kapa haka pays homage to the kapa haka journey from preparation to performance. The powerful exhibition takes us behind-the-scenes to share the pride, the tears, the laughter and the community, that brings kapa haka to the stage. From the beauty of the poi to the power of the haka, the stunning exhibition is as much about whānau as it is about performance. “It’s a celebration of kapa haka in Te Tauihu, and of the whānau who support them,” says Melissa. “I like capturing interactions and feelings and documenting those moments.”

Fusing visual and audio, the exhibition follows the journey over the past six years of four kapa haka groups – Te Tauihu rōpū kapa haka Tamariki Toa (Nelson Central School), Te Pītau Whakarei (Nelson Intermediate School), Pūaha Te Tai (Nayland College) as well as the adult group Te Kura Tai Waka – framed around the metaphor of the seven different items that make up a kapa haka performance. “I really wanted people in kapa haka to feel seen, and for people to see the hard work and dedication required,” she says. “Kapa haka is so important for Māori to stand strong in their identity.”

Tight-knit family trio Laser Kiwi are bringing their irreverent, funny, world-class circus skills to the Theatre Royal with their latest show Rise of the Olive. Starting with a street show in 2014, their bizarre brand of comedy circus was an instant hit. In fact, Nelson audiences got a sneak peek of some of their antics when they were in Nelson in 2018 as part of the Buskers Festival.

“When we started, our show didn’t really fit within any one genre,” says acrobat Imogen Stone. Despite this, they’ve been touring together all over the world for the last 10 years, and Rise of the Olive has won the FringeWorld 2023 overall circus award and was a finalist in the best comedy show award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 (out of thousands of shows).

The olive-fuelled surreal sketch circus troupe promises to deliver audiences a unique theatre experience. Expect upside-down juggling, Jenga stunts, sketch comedy, aerial ropes, and, of course, olives! “We’re really looking forward to coming back to Nelson. We really loved it when we were last here.”

The Deville Music Hub is back again this year with some awesome late-night sounds. This years’ line-up includes KITA as part of their Love lives here EP-release tour, featuring Nikita 雅涵 Tu-Bryant, Ed Zuccollo (ZUKE) and Rick Cranson (Little Bushman). Lead singer Nikita says that the six-track EP is about what we’ve all been through over the past few years. “We’re in a storm, but despite everything we’re still here, we still live and love here.”

A must-see live band featuring folk, soul, pop and psychedelia, KITA has wowed crowds on the main stages of Splore and WOMAD and now it’s Nelson’s turn. “We’re all very eclectic artists in our own right, but together we’re a band with a massive sound,” says Nikita. “We’re really looking forward to sharing our sound.”

Festival executive and artistic director Lydia Zanetti says that working on the programme is a mammoth undertaking, but “getting to launch the programme is always such a moment of joy”. As well as providing a range of free events across the city, they have brought back the popular ‘Pay What You Can’ ticketing. “Pay What You Can enabled younger people and people who hadn’t engaged with the festival previously to be able to go to shows,” says Lydia. “So, with thanks to the support from Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage and NBS, we’re really stoked to be able to bring that back.”

With more than 50 events over 11 fun-filled, inspiring and captivating days, the Nelson Arts Festival is rewilding Whakatū from 19 to 29 October. For more information go to nelsonartsfestival.nz.