The month of August was brimming with highlights across the whole spectrum of our Arts Department. Celebrations of students in Art, Dance, Drama and Music were plentiful and hearty.

This is the second consecutive year of our Arts Festival and it certainly ‘upped the ante’. Hosting our Art Exhibition at Pūtangitanti Greenmeadows Centre gave a fitting sense of occasion, and a strong platform to celebrate student success in the visual arts. Students were excited to share their work with their whānau, friends and the community. The opening was well supported, and it was wonderful to see a great turnout. Our young artists are a humble bunch, and it was a delight to bring their success into the foreground.

The Boathouse was our next stop, with Nayland (Un)Plugged, a contemporary evening of our award winning Rockquest bands, NayCol Jazz Band, and original solo artists. What a perfect setting and atmosphere this was; sunset with an incredible seafront backdrop, mood lighting, table dinner service, toe-tapping charts and even space for a dance floor.

Vast Dance Festival was once again held at the Theatre Royal and the opportunity to share the stage with like-minded students from Motueka High School, Garin and Waimea Colleges, created a buzz with students celebrating their work across the region. Students revelled in workshops throughout the day with guest tutors, then took to the stage in front of a sold-out crowd for the performance in the evening. A true celebration of dance in Te Tau Ihi with dazzling costumes and oodles of talent.

In Drama, we had the production of 'Revenge of the Amazons,' featuring the talents of an ensemble cast of Level 2 NCEA students. There was much to enjoy in this colourful, modernist take on 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream,' set through a highly comedic and ingenious feminist lens. The typical fairies and love potion antics featured amongst a motley crew fashioned in style reminiscent of the 70s and the ‘mystery gang’ from Scooby Doo.

The crème de la crème of solo recital musicians, actors performing their best soliloquys and prima dancers, came head-to-head in our annual Solo Performing Arts Competition. Our top finalists were whittled down through auditions, leaving our external judges, Pete Rainey and Daniel Christoffersen, the tough job of choosing our top three place-getters. 

3rd place went to Peter Gray, who had a classy performance of the early 20th Century work 'Morceau Symphonique' by Guilmant. 

2nd place went to vocalist Sara de Campos, who prepared a selection of songs from shows and performed with captivating stage presence. 

The champion 1st place title was awarded to Molly Clarke for her scholarship drama. This was a powerful piece with challenging emotional content that was executed with depth of characterisation from Miss Clarke.

The 2023 Nayland Arts Festival concluded with a Gala Concert in the Theatre Royal, which was an extravaganza of performance art. The evening culminated with two mass item finales where staff, students, our very own NZ Sign Language group, and soloists pulled their talents together to raise the roof with some Kiwiana on an arrangement of 'Pepeha' by Six60 and 'Bathe in the River' by Don McGlashin. These arrangements were gifted to the College by the NZ Army Band and the composer Don McGlashin, in the hopes that other schools might follow suit and use these charts to bring their vocalists and instrumentalists all together in unity. 

The whole concert was a feat of achievement in all aspects, including the stage management team who had the huge job of moving the stage design seamlessly between diverse acts, arranging technical requirements and multiple curtain transitions, all whilst keeping their cool. We have all treasured getting in amongst the staff at the Theatre Royal to gain ‘live’ professional experience to make a memorable event to wrap-up our festival.