Primary Schools Cultural Festival

Schools prepare for Cultural Festival 2013

Students throughout the Canterbury region are preparing for the annual Christchurch Primary Schools Cultural Festival, which will be held over four days in August.
The South Island’s largest cultural festival involves 72 groups from 63 schools, representing 10 nationalities.

It is a showcase for cultural talent, diversity, pageantry and performance and will be held at CBS Canterbury Arena from 27-30 August.

This is the 31st year the festival has been staged and this year the theme is ‘Mā te huruhuru, ka rere te manu’ – Adorn the bird with feathers so it can fly.’

Hundreds of primary and intermediate students, aged from 5 to 13 years, gather for the festival every year to present an extravaganza of on-stage cultural talent, along with visual and wearable arts exhibitions. Cultural performances include kapa haka, poi and waiata, as well as groups representing the Pacific Islands, Korea, Ireland, Scotland, India and Japan.

Organisers are looking to build on the 2012 event, which was staged after a one year stand-down in 2011, when the festival was cancelled because of the 2011 earthquakes. Last year, more than 9,000 children were involved in the festival, with 4,000 students performing and an additional 5,000 making up the enthusiastic audience.

“Cultural Festival gives children the opportunity to have a go,” says event manager, Ayliss Ripley.“They can experience their own culture, as well as others, both traditional and contemporary; and they can experience a large scale production with sound, lights and staging. The festival places our children in the spotlight and showcases the cultural diversity that is alive and well in Christchurch schools.”

The festival will feature a series of matinees and evening shows daily from 27-30 August. Tickets are available from Tickitek.