How long have you been at Council and what do you do?
I’m the Creative Producer for Events and for the last eight years I’ve produced events like Waitangi Day and Pasifika Festival, plus I also offer support and advice for community events, helping people with things like licencing, funding, equipment and venue hire.
My favourite thing is programming and finding new talent. I specifically focus on Māori performers, singers and artists. It’s fantastic that Council has resources to support this.
COVID-19 really affected the industry. A lot of businesses are now out of work and our team made a huge effort to pay companies in advance for their services to help them through a tough time.
The good thing is New Zealanders are desperate to get back out there and will go to any kind of social interaction, so we are helping resurrect the events industry.
One thing you’d wish for at work…
I wish we could help artists who are great performers but know zero about invoicing or general administration. We need a service to support them so that they can ensure they get paid and promoted better.