Circa Theatre and TACT Welcome New Board Member

Circa Theatre and TACT Welcome New Board Member

Circa Theatre and the Theatre Artists Charitable Trust (TACT) are pleased to welcome new TACT Board Member James Johnston.
“We are delighted to announce that James Johnston has been appointed to the Theatre Artists Charitable Trust,” said TACT Chair Ian Fraser. “James is a valuable addition to our board and we are excited at the opportunity to work closely with him.”

Of Ngati Porou descent, James is a lawyer and is Chairman of Partners at Wellington-based law firm Rainey Collins. James has a strong interest in the arts and is the Chairman of Toi Whakaari, NZ’s pre-eminent Drama School.

As a lawyer, he practices in the commercial and business fields and advises a number of organisations on governance and management issues, business development and property matters. He also advises and has extensive experience in Treaty of Waitangi Settlement Negotiations and was Lead Legal Counsel for the recently concluded Ngati Porou Settlement Negotiations with the Crown. He is also an external specialist advisor to the Ministry of Justice, a NZ Law Society Standards Committee member and is a former Chairman of the New Zealand Law Foundation.

In 1987, TACT was set up to assist the financial feasibility of keeping a full-time, six day a week theatre in operation. Through the incredible generosity of its sponsors, TACT has distributed over $5 million over its 25+ years existence to single venture partnerships at Circa. TACT is overseen by a board of trustees, who distribute grants to at least 12 productions a year for approximately 120 Theatre Artists, who will work for 9 weeks at a time. The current sponsors of TACT are Founding Sponsor Chapman Tripp, Deloitte and Vodafone.

In 1976, Circa Theatre opened on Harris Street, a small theatre space managed and run by a group of theatre practitioners who decided a new way of producing theatre was required for New Zealand. In 1994, after 18 years of presenting some of the liveliest and most innovative theatre in New Zealand, Circa moved into the much larger, purpose-built building on Wellington’s Waterfront. Since then, Circa Theatre has continued its tradition of producing the highest quality professional theatre in Wellington.

ENDS

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