Mid-Summer Lights Success Bodes Well for Midwinter Carnival

Large turnouts to the new Mid-Summer Lights event held over the last five nights has prompted questions about it becoming an annual event. Organisers say that the funds raised will help with the further development of the annual Midwinter Carnival in June.

“The numbers attending have been beyond expectation for a first time event and the audience response has been overwhelmingly positive,” artistic director, Juliet Novena Sorrel said.

“We are very excited about the future of this event and how it has the potential to feed into the Midwinter Carnival.”

Ms Sorrel said all funds raised from the Mid-Summer Lights event will go towards the hire of a warehouse for the Carnival Art Team.

“Each year we look for a free space or we end up using two or three different spaces, none of which are really adequate. We can now look at hiring a warehouse for a few months and having the whole art team working together. This makes our job easier and allows greater collaboration which is something we are really looking forward to.”
Storage of the lanterns is still an issue according to Ms Sorrel who said that their current storage facility is too small.

“We have been incredibly lucky that we have had somewhere to store the lanterns thanks to Lund Construction, however we have run out of room and the space is quite dirty. Our dream is to have a permanent storage warehouse that also includes space for our costumes, which are currently in three different places around town, and a workspace for the Art Team. Imagine what we could do if we had a facility like that?”

The organising trust behind the Mid-Summer and Mid-Winter events has launched a crowd funding campaign on Boosted.org.nz to raise funds for hiring a permanent warehouse.

“We hope people will support this campaign as it will help secure the future of both events. The current situation is unsustainable and unworkable so we have to do something and soon.”

To find out about the campaign search “Mid-Winter” at www.boosted.org.nz

ENDS

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