February 11, 2025 • 10 mins
One of the highlights on Wellington’s events calendar returns this week.
NZ Fringe is the largest arts festival in the country, encompassing more than 170 events with artists from across New Zealand and the globe.
The festival has called Wellington home since it began in 1990 - and this year marks the 35th annual event.
To talk about what audiences can expect, festival director Vanessa Stacey joined Nick Mills.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks at B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
One of the highlights on Wellington's events calendar returns this week.
It's called the New Zealand Fringe Festival and it's back
beginning on this Friday. It's the thirty fifth year in
Wellington and joining us now is festival director Vanessa Stacy.
Good morning, Vanessa, got to Nick.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you for coming in and telling us about it.
Tell us a little bit about the fringe, give us
the background, tell us what sort of entertainment people can expect.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Absolutely, fringe is a really successful model internationally, Like there
are approximately about three hundred fringes around the world. So
it grew in the mother of all fringes at Edinburgh Fringe,
which is extraordinarily large. It grew out of the need
(00:58):
for fringe artists or emerging and upcoming artists to not
be curated, so to be able to put on their
own work without fear of editing and everything.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So it was taking to be themselves creatively in themselves.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
That's right, and they can be innovative and not worry
about making it at a price point where it was
more accessible, so the audience were a little bit more
adventurous as opposed to curated arts festivals.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So they get paid.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yes, yes, that's our plan. Yeah, So it's like any
other events. It's they're all ticketed, so we're at sort
of an umbrella organization. Artists register their events with us
and we give them a lot of support in finding
placement and venues around Wellington, which we have forty plus
off this year.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
And how much how many of them? Sorry, I'm just
going to keep asking you questions because i know our
listeners will be thinking the same thing. How many of
them are paid events? And how many of them can
they go along for free?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
We have quite a few free or core hor events
which are sort of focused on family or children's entertainment,
so there are those within the program as well, but
probably i'd say eighty five percent of the events are
ticketed at venues.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And how do people find out who's where and why?
Speaker 4 (02:09):
We've got a beautiful thirty fifth anniversary talent program that's
all around the city at the moment. In fact, there've
been such hotcakes this year that we're running out of them.
So but you can also see the entire program at
Fringe dot co dot nz and you can buy.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
All your ticketing from there. It's sort of like a
one stop.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
How big is the French Festival Wellington?
Speaker 4 (02:31):
It's the biggest starts festival in New Zealand, so it's
we have over one hundred and seventy events this year
and at venues from the Carpety Coast all the way
down to Island Bay and Mirramar.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
So it's absolutely the biggest starts festival in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
This is the thirty fifth years. How big is that
for you?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
It's pretty huge.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Like it's been really exciting to see in the last
few years I've been directing. This is my fourth festival
as the director and it's been really lovely. After the
first festival we had to deliver under red conditions, which
of course had a massive impact on the artists because
all of their houses were sort of cut in half.
Since then, we've had record seasons for the Fringe, which
(03:15):
is amazing. So I think after post COVID people have
got excited to see what's in their backyard and to
support artists, which has been amazing. And because as I say,
the price points pretty accessible. The tickets are fairly reasonable.
So for example us.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Tell us what we can get to see. Yeah, give
us some examples of some the crazy ones.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Amazing.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
We've got a really exciting act coming over from Australia
called Messy Friends. They're going to be at the Hannah
Playhouse from Thursday next week. They've won their multi award
winners from all around the world, so they won Best
in Cabaret Adelaide World Fringe, which is the second largest
fringe in the world, and then we couldn't get to
(03:58):
see them at Edinburgh Fringe in August because they've sold out.
So I'm really hoping they have a stellar season at
had a Playhouse.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
We've got We've actually got approximately twenty eight international artists coming.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Over this year.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
The weirdest or should I say, fringiest piece is probably
cat GBT, which is an artist who has, for lack
of a better description, reanimated their dead cat.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And it talks. It's Welsh, the cat's Welsh.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
It only speaks Welsh, but he's here to interpret for
Everyone's a comedy show obviously.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And I was wondering what sort of show it was.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
No, it's very funny.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
I've seen that I've seen footage of the cat too,
which is simmy mccarr but also very funny.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Tell me about this description of open access, which means
anyone can register. How important is this for the success
of the event.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
I think it's it's it's really our basis, So it's
our foundation for the festival. As I say, it's not curated,
we we.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I mean by not create curated, curated, So that means
there's no control on it whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Well, I mean, obviously we have to.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
We do have caveats that if we have any complaints
or if anyone.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Racial or religious or.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Sexual, anything inappropriate, we will And that's the artist's sign
a contract with the festival that they're going to adhere
to to those sort of things. But as far as
the actual development of the art, that's up to the artists,
which is why it's so exciting.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Right, How big is this festival compared to previous years.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
They just think they're just getting larger and larger. I mean,
when the first festival first opened in Bats in nineteen
ninety there were I think thirteen shows in.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Total over the course of a long weekend.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Just at Bats.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
That's right, And so now as I say, we're at
forty plus venues all around the Wellington region.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Who pays for it, who's subsidized it? The council will
look after you.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
And it's because it's such a tongue for the city
and because it's such a draw card for international artists.
We're really lucky to be supported by Wellington City Council
and we have a lot of extraordinary festival partners as
you can imagine arts fundationals. Yes, that's right, so they
come on board and help support the artists, help us.
Rezinare amazing with the incredible picnic Active picnic table activision
(06:27):
for visual artists. We've got six beautiful picnic tables all
around the city. Is a public activation. People can vote
on their favorite. So Razine sponsors that and they pay
for the artists and they pay for all the mahi
they're doing.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
What is the show If I said to you, come on, Vanessa,
tell me one show that people really need to get
off their backsides and support. What would it be?
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Oh, it's never my favorite question because you can imagine
it's like it's like favorite exactly the shows that I'm
most I'm a multi disciplinary artist, so the shows that
really excite me, are generally multi disciplinary, so.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Tell me explain that to me.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
So that's using multiple crafts like visual like sometimes film,
spoken word, or theater, music, lighting effects, you know, So
it's multidisciplinary art forms or dance or physical theater. There's
an amazing show called Master of None Brown Fellow from
(07:26):
l J criton.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Who's going it's going to be absolutely extraordinary. I've heard
some of the music.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
We've got Iris Little's Natural Project, which is also going
to be amazing, as I say, they're so.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And also, how many is it total? Can do you
know how many total events?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yes, we do. There's over one hundred and seventy so
we wow. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
One hundred and seventy events.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Over one hundred and seventy Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
It's extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
And it runs from this Friday, which is the fourteenth
of February to March the eighth, while.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
She's a marathon. Yeah, yeah, no, it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
So there's plenty of opportune Every week is different, like
most of the artist season's last three five days so
and tickets are selling like hotcakes at the moment, which
is wonderful to see because all of the revenue from
our ticket and goes to our artists, so where it's
really awesome to have the community jumping and getting excited
about buying tickets as well, because you know, I think
(08:22):
post COVID people are a late ticket purchase, so it
can be stressful for artists.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Wellington's well known for that. Are you finding that? I mean,
I mean I talk to promoters all the time on
the show and they say, you know, one thing about
Wellington is they leave everything till last minute and they
decide on the night whether they're going to go. Yeah,
why are we like that?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
We definitely like I've been working in events for a
very long time and it's yeah, it is a bit
of a pattern in Wellington. But I think since COVID
a little bit worse, people there's more health. They want
to see that they're.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, you know.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
But as I say that, we've had two record seasons
for the last two years for Fringe, which is amazing
for our artists. And we've also in my conversations with
Melbourne Fringe and Adelaide Fringe and Sydney Fringe, which we
have to already we send artists back and forth.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
With how do you pack him? That's My next question,
how do you great what you had? One hundred and
seventy ax on? How do you actually decide and pick?
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I have a very hard working crew of festival judges,
so as you can imagine, to get across over one
hundred and seventy shows. We have approximately twenty judges participating
in the festival and they're all professional arts practitioners or
previous award winners, so obviously they're incognito because we don't
want any and just to make their life a little
(09:37):
bit easier while they're running between because it's a commitment,
you know, they have to see so many shows. I
mean I get to three to four shows a night,
but I'm always seeing the judges at places.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Then we get together and.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I let them fight it out right, It's always exciting,
and I adjudicate it May and my wonderful arts and
venue manager and we sort of just it's becomes very
clear which we're right now.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Let's let's get people along to it. That's called the
New Zealand Frings Festival and it runs from this Friday,
which is February fourth, to March the eighth. For events
and tickets, check out ww dot Fringe dot co dot
Z Vanessa Stacey, who is the festival director. Thank you
so much for joining us this morning and break a leg,
as they say in showbiz, have ay good one.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
So much Dick.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks There'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks at B.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
One of the highlights on Wellington's events calendar returns this week.
It's called the New Zealand Fringe Festival and it's back
beginning on this Friday. It's the thirty fifth year in
Wellington and joining us now is festival director Vanessa Stacy.
Good morning, Vanessa, got to Nick.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thank you for coming in and telling us about it.
Tell us a little bit about the fringe, give us
the background, tell us what sort of entertainment people can expect.
Speaker 4 (00:37):
Absolutely, fringe is a really successful model internationally, Like there
are approximately about three hundred fringes around the world. So
it grew in the mother of all fringes at Edinburgh Fringe,
which is extraordinarily large. It grew out of the need
(00:58):
for fringe artists or emerging and upcoming artists to not
be curated, so to be able to put on their
own work without fear of editing and everything.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
So it was taking to be themselves creatively in themselves.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
That's right, and they can be innovative and not worry
about making it at a price point where it was
more accessible, so the audience were a little bit more
adventurous as opposed to curated arts festivals.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So they get paid.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Yes, yes, that's our plan. Yeah, So it's like any
other events. It's they're all ticketed, so we're at sort
of an umbrella organization. Artists register their events with us
and we give them a lot of support in finding
placement and venues around Wellington, which we have forty plus
off this year.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
And how much how many of them? Sorry, I'm just
going to keep asking you questions because i know our
listeners will be thinking the same thing. How many of
them are paid events? And how many of them can
they go along for free?
Speaker 4 (01:51):
We have quite a few free or core hor events
which are sort of focused on family or children's entertainment,
so there are those within the program as well, but
probably i'd say eighty five percent of the events are
ticketed at venues.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And how do people find out who's where and why?
Speaker 4 (02:09):
We've got a beautiful thirty fifth anniversary talent program that's
all around the city at the moment. In fact, there've
been such hotcakes this year that we're running out of them.
So but you can also see the entire program at
Fringe dot co dot nz and you can buy.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
All your ticketing from there. It's sort of like a
one stop.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
How big is the French Festival Wellington?
Speaker 4 (02:31):
It's the biggest starts festival in New Zealand, so it's
we have over one hundred and seventy events this year
and at venues from the Carpety Coast all the way
down to Island Bay and Mirramar.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
So it's absolutely the biggest starts festival in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
This is the thirty fifth years. How big is that
for you?
Speaker 3 (02:53):
It's pretty huge.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Like it's been really exciting to see in the last
few years I've been directing. This is my fourth festival
as the director and it's been really lovely. After the
first festival we had to deliver under red conditions, which
of course had a massive impact on the artists because
all of their houses were sort of cut in half.
Since then, we've had record seasons for the Fringe, which
(03:15):
is amazing. So I think after post COVID people have
got excited to see what's in their backyard and to
support artists, which has been amazing. And because as I say,
the price points pretty accessible. The tickets are fairly reasonable.
So for example us.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Tell us what we can get to see. Yeah, give
us some examples of some the crazy ones.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Amazing.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
We've got a really exciting act coming over from Australia
called Messy Friends. They're going to be at the Hannah
Playhouse from Thursday next week. They've won their multi award
winners from all around the world, so they won Best
in Cabaret Adelaide World Fringe, which is the second largest
fringe in the world, and then we couldn't get to
(03:58):
see them at Edinburgh Fringe in August because they've sold out.
So I'm really hoping they have a stellar season at
had a Playhouse.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
We've got We've actually got approximately twenty eight international artists coming.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Over this year.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
The weirdest or should I say, fringiest piece is probably
cat GBT, which is an artist who has, for lack
of a better description, reanimated their dead cat.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
And it talks. It's Welsh, the cat's Welsh.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
It only speaks Welsh, but he's here to interpret for
Everyone's a comedy show obviously.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And I was wondering what sort of show it was.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
No, it's very funny.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
I've seen that I've seen footage of the cat too,
which is simmy mccarr but also very funny.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Tell me about this description of open access, which means
anyone can register. How important is this for the success
of the event.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
I think it's it's it's really our basis, So it's
our foundation for the festival. As I say, it's not curated,
we we.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
I mean by not create curated, curated, So that means
there's no control on it whatsoever.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Well, I mean, obviously we have to.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
We do have caveats that if we have any complaints
or if anyone.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Racial or religious or.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Sexual, anything inappropriate, we will And that's the artist's sign
a contract with the festival that they're going to adhere
to to those sort of things. But as far as
the actual development of the art, that's up to the artists,
which is why it's so exciting.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Right, How big is this festival compared to previous years.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
They just think they're just getting larger and larger. I mean,
when the first festival first opened in Bats in nineteen
ninety there were I think thirteen shows in.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Total over the course of a long weekend.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Just at Bats.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
That's right, And so now as I say, we're at
forty plus venues all around the Wellington region.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Who pays for it, who's subsidized it? The council will
look after you.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
And it's because it's such a tongue for the city
and because it's such a draw card for international artists.
We're really lucky to be supported by Wellington City Council
and we have a lot of extraordinary festival partners as
you can imagine arts fundationals. Yes, that's right, so they
come on board and help support the artists, help us.
Rezinare amazing with the incredible picnic Active picnic table activision
(06:27):
for visual artists. We've got six beautiful picnic tables all
around the city. Is a public activation. People can vote
on their favorite. So Razine sponsors that and they pay
for the artists and they pay for all the mahi
they're doing.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
What is the show If I said to you, come on, Vanessa,
tell me one show that people really need to get
off their backsides and support. What would it be?
Speaker 4 (06:46):
Oh, it's never my favorite question because you can imagine
it's like it's like favorite exactly the shows that I'm
most I'm a multi disciplinary artist, so the shows that
really excite me, are generally multi disciplinary, so.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Tell me explain that to me.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
So that's using multiple crafts like visual like sometimes film,
spoken word, or theater, music, lighting effects, you know, So
it's multidisciplinary art forms or dance or physical theater. There's
an amazing show called Master of None Brown Fellow from
(07:26):
l J criton.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Who's going it's going to be absolutely extraordinary. I've heard
some of the music.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
We've got Iris Little's Natural Project, which is also going
to be amazing, as I say, they're so.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
And also, how many is it total? Can do you
know how many total events?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yes, we do. There's over one hundred and seventy so
we wow. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
One hundred and seventy events.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Over one hundred and seventy Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
It's extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
And it runs from this Friday, which is the fourteenth
of February to March the eighth, while.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
She's a marathon. Yeah, yeah, no, it's amazing.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
So there's plenty of opportune Every week is different, like
most of the artist season's last three five days so
and tickets are selling like hotcakes at the moment, which
is wonderful to see because all of the revenue from
our ticket and goes to our artists, so where it's
really awesome to have the community jumping and getting excited
about buying tickets as well, because you know, I think
(08:22):
post COVID people are a late ticket purchase, so it
can be stressful for artists.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Wellington's well known for that. Are you finding that? I mean,
I mean I talk to promoters all the time on
the show and they say, you know, one thing about
Wellington is they leave everything till last minute and they
decide on the night whether they're going to go. Yeah,
why are we like that?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
We definitely like I've been working in events for a
very long time and it's yeah, it is a bit
of a pattern in Wellington. But I think since COVID
a little bit worse, people there's more health. They want
to see that they're.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
Well, you know.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
But as I say that, we've had two record seasons
for the last two years for Fringe, which is amazing
for our artists. And we've also in my conversations with
Melbourne Fringe and Adelaide Fringe and Sydney Fringe, which we
have to already we send artists back and forth.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
With how do you pack him? That's My next question,
how do you great what you had? One hundred and
seventy ax on? How do you actually decide and pick?
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I have a very hard working crew of festival judges,
so as you can imagine, to get across over one
hundred and seventy shows. We have approximately twenty judges participating
in the festival and they're all professional arts practitioners or
previous award winners, so obviously they're incognito because we don't
want any and just to make their life a little
(09:37):
bit easier while they're running between because it's a commitment,
you know, they have to see so many shows. I
mean I get to three to four shows a night,
but I'm always seeing the judges at places.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Then we get together and.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I let them fight it out right, It's always exciting,
and I adjudicate it May and my wonderful arts and
venue manager and we sort of just it's becomes very
clear which we're right now.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Let's let's get people along to it. That's called the
New Zealand Frings Festival and it runs from this Friday,
which is February fourth, to March the eighth. For events
and tickets, check out ww dot Fringe dot co dot
Z Vanessa Stacey, who is the festival director. Thank you
so much for joining us this morning and break a leg,
as they say in showbiz, have ay good one.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
So much Dick.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks There'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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