Auckland Arts Festival Chair, Victoria Carter, has announced the appointment of Carla van Zon as the Festival’s next Artistic Director.  Ms van Zon will take up her new role in late March 2011, and will develop the programme for the 2013 Festival and beyond.

Auckland Arts Festival Chair, Victoria Carter, has announced the appointment of Carla van Zon as the Festival’s next Artistic Director.  Ms van Zon will take up her new role in late March 2011, and will develop the programme for the 2013 Festival and beyond.

“Carla brings a wealth of experience and skill, and strong connections with arts practitioners and performers, to Auckland Arts Festival,” said Victoria Carter.

“Her experience includes three years leading Creative New Zealand’s International team, which has strengthened her connections with arts groups in Asia and the Pacific Rim, and six years as Artistic Director of the NZ International Arts Festival.”

“The calibre of the candidates for the Artistic Director position was extremely high, including several very good overseas applicants, and reflects the excellent international reputation that Auckland Arts Festival enjoys.

“Outgoing Artistic Director David Malacari will leave the Festival in a strong place after putting together three fantastic Festival programmes for Auckland, and leading the organization as both Artistic Director and Chief Executive for four years.”

Carla van Zon, who grew up in West Auckland, said she was looking forward to building on the successes of Auckland Arts Festival and to working with Aucklanders to further develop a festival that reflected the newly amalgamated Auckland, and the city’s place in the Asia Pacific region.

“I’m really looking forward to returning to Auckland – my home town – and am excited to be taking this terrific festival into the future.  David Malacari has done great things for Auckland Art Festival, not least his exceptional 2011 programme,” she said.

Carla van Zon - Biography
 
Carla van Zon joined Creative New Zealand, the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa, in January 2008 to manage and lead the newly formed international team.  In her role as Manager International, she oversaw the development of an international strategy, and from this has developed an international programme, the goal of which is to assist New Zealand artists gain international success.  She and her team manage projects as diverse as New Zealand’s presence at the Venice Biennale to welcoming international presenters to see work and meet artists in their home context.
 
Previously Carla was the Artistic Director of the New Zealand International Arts Festival. Involved in the Festival since 1989, Carla took on the role of Artistic Director, in April 2000 having successfully led the Festival as Executive Director since 1996.

The 1996, 1998 and 2000 Festivals thrived with Carla in the role of Executive Director when she led it into the black for the first time, earning the Festival the Dominion Gold Award 2001 for outstanding contribution to the Wellington economy.

An Aucklander born and bred, Carla has an MA in Dance and Arts Administration from George Washington University in the USA and a broad range of professional experience in the arts, including working with a variety of theatre and dance companies such as Taiao and Douglas Wright Dance Company, the Aotea Centre, the New Zealand Film Commission, producing new New Zealand work and Co-Directing the New Caledonia New Zealand Season in 2007 for the Governments of New Caledonia and France.

She has travelled widely throughout the world and is passionate about arts and cultural exchange as a way of gaining greater understanding between people.  

She was made an Officer of the Order of New Zealand for services to the arts in 2001.  

About Auckland Arts Festival

Auckland Arts Festival is the region’s biggest celebration of arts and culture.  The biennial Festival, which began in 2003, will celebrate its fifth birthday in 2011 with a dazzling line-up of more than 75 separate events involving over 500 artists – concerts, productions, arts exhibitions, and programmes of seminars, workshops and family activities.

The Festival’s hallmark blend of serious, innovative work and broad appeal events, plus an accessible ticketing policy, ensure that it is a celebration for the whole region.  Major Festival events take place all across the city – in West Auckland, The North Shore, and South Auckland and in the central city – as well as site-specific sculptural works that respond to our unique geography.  

Since its inception, Auckland Arts Festival has built a reputation for presenting top quality work from around the world, including a spectacular fireworks display by pyrotechnic artists Groupe F, theatrical masterworks by Japanese company Ishinha, and the legendary Robert Lepage’s company Ex Machina, and sell-out cabaret sensation La Clique.  The Festival prides itself on developing and presenting the very best in New Zealand work, including the magical 2009 theatre piece, The Arrival, which has become an international success story, The Songmaker’s Chair, by Albert Wendt, and the Michael Parmenter retrospective, Commotion.

Auckland Arts Festival is governed by the Auckland Festival Trust, a board chaired by Victoria Carter.  Trustees are Rick Carlyon, Roger MacDonnell, Toni Millar, Jim Moser, Ilona Rodgers, Heather Shotter, Fred Ward, and Richard Waddel.  The Festival’s 2011 executive team is Artistic Director David Malacari and CEO David Inns.

Sponsorship is crucial to presenting an event of this size.  Major Sponsors and Funders for 2011 include Core Funder: Auckland Council; Gold Sponsors: New Zealand Post Group, TV3 and Colenso BBDO; Key Funding Partners: Creative New Zealand, ASB Community Trust, The Lion Foundation, Pub Charity, THE EDGE and Heart of the City; Silver Sponsors: Westpac, Auckland Airport, The Radio Network and Stoneleigh; Bronze Sponsors: PricewaterhouseCoopers, Formica, Wilson Parking, Russell McVeagh and OGGI.