15 November 2006

Kapiti Coast Arts Trail Triumph

The Kapiti Coast Arts Trail last weekend has been hailed as a Trail Triumph by Arts Coordinator, Ginny6 Haynes and by participating artists, studios and galleries.

“We had thousands of enthusiasts trekking the length and breadth of the District , hot on the Kapiti Coast Arts Trail,” Ginny Haynes said.

While some locals cycled to favoured arts destinations, the Trail attracted visitors from as far a field as Auckland and Taranaki, to discover the mystery and magic within the world of the artists workshop.

“With more than 70 studios, galleries and special arts events open to the public the Arts Trail in its 5th year can again be considered a Trail Triumph” Ginny Haynes said.

Mayor Alan Milne who visited 20 of the sites, said he noted an increase in visitor numbers from the previous year.

“The Arts Trail is a significant event that showcases the creativity of Kapiti and I was impressed with the range of different art forms in this year’s Arts Trail,” Alan Milne said.

“Artists reported record numbers of visitors,” Ms Haynes said, “with some individual studios having more than 800 visitors each day. The larger sites such as Whitireia Polytechnic and Coastlands experienced even higher numbers”

A new addition to the Arts Trail this year was Whitireia Polytechnic Campus where over 40 artists were exhibiting. The site featured jewellery, paintings, carvings, masks, textiles, mosaics, sculpture and pottery in eight classrooms, in the courtyard and under the verandas.

The large carpark was constantly full and the success of the site was a combination of the high number of artists on one site, the central location of the campus and ease of parking for visitors. Ms Haynes said the partnership with Whitireia had worked extremely well.

There were a number of major events in Kapiti over the weekend; the Arts Trail, the Classic Festival and the Maori Business Expo.

“Rather than competing for visitors the three events complemented each other well,” Ms Haynes said.

“The Arts Trail and Classic Festival had shared signage while the Maori Business Expo was included in the Arts Trail as there were a significant number of artists exhibiting at the Expo.”

The Kapiti Coast Arts Trail is held in the 2nd weekend of November every year. This is the 6th year it has been running.

ENDS

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