This year’s Auckland Arts Festival asks a bunch of messy, knotty questions – about the stories we tell, the impact they have, and whether there are voices too dangerous to be heard. Online arts and culture journal The Pantograph Punch is joining the Festival programme with a series of curated talks.
Part One: The War Room | Friday 8 March 8-9am, $30 (breakfast included)
Hosted by Johanna Cosgrove, you’re invited to an intimate breakfast where you’ll be seated with one of 20 guests to discuss a question they’re grappling with: in their fields, their lives, and their city.
Speakers include Miriama Kamo, Tracey McIntosh, Amber Curreen, Jackie Clark, Aych McArdle, Chelsie Preston Crayford, Cypris Afakasi, Sarah Longbottom, Barbara Ala’alatoa, Grace Stratton, Illana James, Leah Pao and Alison Mau.
Part Two: Bad Refugee | Wednesday 13 March 6-7pm, $20
In Christchurch in early 2018, a school asked their students to “dress as refugees in old ragged clothes” as part of a fundraiser for World Vision. Good intentions? Maybe. Helpful? Not so much.
Join our panel – featuring Golriz Ghahraman, Leonard Bell and Guled Mire, chaired by John Campbell – a candid conversation about the myths that have shaped their experiences and the stories we aren’t hearing.
Part Three: No Offence | Wednesday 20 March 6-7pm, $20
Great art tests boundaries: it asks difficult and uncomfortable questions about who we are and what we find acceptable – in our private lives, in the community around us, and in the world at large. But is there a line that shouldn’t be crossed?
Chair Alice Snedden joins Jessica ‘Coco’ Hansell, Lana Lopesi and Victor Rodger in an unflinching debate about whether there is anything that should be off-limits to artists – and, by implication, their audiences.
$2 per hour to a max of $12 on weekends and a $12 flat rate for weekday evenings at The Civic car park. Find out more.