Incorporating a series of artist talks, participatory workshops, and festival forums, The Artist Lab is a great chance to here from local and visiting artists and academics, participate in innovative forum theatre workshops, and to discuss topical issues within the arts. This unique new programme is a partnership between the Fringe Festival, University of Otago, Otago Museum and the Artist Development Agency.

ARTIST TALKS

A unique opportunity to hear local and visiting artists discuss their career path, professional experiences and recommendations for others considering a future in the arts. Each day of the talks focuses on a different art form with three artists providing a 20 minute seminar followed by 10 minutes Q & A. The talks are free to attend. * Full speaker list and bio's below

FORUM THEATRE WORKSHOPS

TransVision Arts from Australia present “Get Real”. Actors and audience work together using forum theatre techniques to devise and present scenarios that explore issues relevant to youth. Experience an innovative, interactive and empowering way to use the arts to gain a better understanding of contemporary issues. Following a series of workshops for schools and the community, the project will culminate in a performance (Saturday 12 April) particularly beneficial for parents, youth and the range of professionals who work with youth. Otago Museum will take bookings for secondary schools to attend on weekdays. Limited public seating is available. * More info on Get Real Forum Theatre in the theatre section on this site.

FESTIVAL FORUMS

Four topical and provocative Festival Forums will be held during the festival programme to highlight contemporary issues within the arts locally, nationally and internationally. Local and visiting academics and practising artists will discuss the topics listed below. Audience participation is encouraged! Entry is free. Full speaker list available at www.dunedinfringe.org.nz.

FESTIVAL FORUM – TOPICS & SPEAKERS

“The Role of the State in the Arts: Fostering or Controlling”

Speakers:
Arthur Meek – comic playright, musician and performer from Wellington
Stuart Griffiths – sculptor, stone mason and academic from Dunedin
Clare Curran – public relations manager Labour Candidate for Sth Dunedin

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“Arts and Business: Real Artists do it for Love and Passion not Money”

Speakers
Nicholas McBryde – director, Otago Festival of the Arts
Lynn Lawton – manager/artist mentoring for the Depot Artspace in Auckland
Adrian Hall – sculptor and performance artist from Dunedin
Kim Pieters – visual artist, musician and film maker from Dunedin

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“What’s Creative about the Creative Process?”

Speaker:
Dr Larry Lavendar - William Evans Fellow at University of Otago and Professor at the University of North Carolina. World renown critic and writer on dance and choreography.

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“Cultural Development and Intellectual Property: Referencing, Cut and Paste or Plagiarism”

Speakers: David McLaughlin – arts lawyer from Auckland Maggie Gresson – manager of the Artist Alliance - Auckland Peter Entwistle – curator, art historian and commentator from Dunedin

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ARTIST TALKS – SPEAKER LIST

WEEK ONE, 2-9 APRIL

Wednesday 2nd April - Comedy and Circus

Speaker 1: Dan Hendra – Dunedin. Performing at the Fringe in Spirals of Man.
A performer, event organiser and manager of the Highly Flammable group of fire, juggling and stilt performers. Dan has studied theatre and management papers to support his development of a professional entertainment troupe for private, corporate and community events.
Speaker 2: Arthur Meek – Wellington. Performing at the Fringe in The Lonesome Buckwhips and solo comedy show On the Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark taking me as her Young Lover. The Lonesome Buckwhips are a comedic country band that evolved out of Corstophine, Dunedin, and have gone on to perform throughout New Zealand to critical acclaim.
Speaker 3: Jeremy Elwood – Auckland. Performing 12 Steps in the Comedy Club at the Fringe. Stand up Comedian / Musician / Actor / Director Jeremy Elwood was born in Canada, raised in the UK and has been resident in New Zealand for over ten years. He is a multi-award winning comedian. He also works extensively as a musician, actor and director.

Thursday 3rd April – Visual and Performance Art

Speaker 1: Olav Nielsen – Dunedin. Printmaker / Lecturer Olav Nielsen was born in Denmark and immigrated to New Zealand at the age of twelve. He completed his formal art training at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art in 2000. Olav has been working from Dunedin for the past two years and is also lecturing part-time in printmaking at the Otago Polytechnic School of Art.
Speaker 2: Juliet Novena Sorrel. Dunedin. Artist / Sculptor / Performance Artist / Events Producer / Teacher Juliet has an extensive career spanning work as a visual artist through galleries; a performance artist in festivals, public events, theatres and galleries; a sculptor in galleries and outdoor art events; and as a director and producer of community based theatre and performance events.
Speaker 3: Brent Harris – Auckland. Appearing in the Fringe at the Blue Oyster Gallery’s, Performance Art Series 2008. Performance artist / Lecturer Brent is a performance artist. He has a Master of Philosophy from AUT in Auckland where he now also teaches. His thesis was developed through a series of performances and examines the notion of art and performance in every day life.

Friday 4th April - Dance

Speaker 1: Daniel Belton – Dunedin. Choreographer / Dancer / Film maker Daniel Belton has performed with many leading contemporary dance companies around the world. He founded Daniel Belton and Good Company in 1997 they have established a reputation for unique multi-disciplinary approach to production. Daniel's dance film works have been selected for over 69 international dance and multi-media festivals.
Speaker 2: Kilda Northcott Dunedin. Dance / Choreographer Kilda has trained and performed in ballet, modern jazz and contemporary dance with leading schools of dance, dance companies and choreographers in New Zealand, Europe, Australia and USA over the last 30 years. She continues tutoring dance and yoga in Dunedin.
Speaker 3: Katie Burton – Auckland. Performing in Festival show 3 Kiwis and a Spic. Katie Burton (BPSA, Unitec) is a freelance dancer, choreographer and teacher as well as co-founder of Auckland's Vacuum PACT Dance Company. Katie is the Assistant Choreographer for the prestigious WOW World of Wearableart Awards as well as choreographing and dancing on projects with various companies and choreographers around NZ. Katie recently received the 'Best Dance' award for her show 'Mothtick' in the 2007 Wellington Fringe Festival.

Saturday 5th April - Literature

Speaker 1: Sarah McDougall – Dunedin. Performing at the Fringe in When the Cows Been Away by Those Jammy Cows. Playright / Writer / Actor / Producer Sarah has been involved in theatre and comedy shows for over 20 years in Dunedin and the UK. She is a published writer and playwright and produces most of her own work. Sarah is a stalwart performer for Dunedin’s Wow Productions and her work has been toured internationally.
Speakers: Shane Hollands & Miriam Barr – Auckland. Performing at the Fringe in Word of Mouth. Poets / Writers / Performers Shane Hollands is a prolific performance poet appearing in many arts and literature festivals around NZ in the last 10 years. Miriam Barr has a background in psychology as well as being a poet. She edits and produces a small, monthly poetry publication called Side Stream and is a driving force behind the Guerilla Poetry movement.
Speaker 3: Penelope Todd – Dunedin. Young adults fiction writer Penelope’s first novel Three’s A Crowd was published in 1999. Since then she has had a further six novels for teens published. In 2008 Digging for Spain, a memoir written on a residency near Barcelona, will be published. She is currently working on a new novel and editing two days a week at Longacre Press.

WEEK TWO, 9-12 APRIL

Wednesday 9th April – Theatre

Speaker 1: Tee O’Niell – Dublin, London, New York, Melbourne, Dunedin. Playwright / Dramaturg / Lecturer Tee O’Neill is currently the William Evans Playwright in Residence at Otago University. She has worked as a playwright in Australia, US, Britain and Ireland. Tee O’Neill's writing has received many awards and scholarships around the world. Her stage plays have also been produced and performed around the world to critical acclaim. Her play The Last Antigone appears in the Fringe Festival.
Speaker 2: George Parker – Christchurch. Appearing in the Fringe in Faust Chroma. Director / Actor / Collaborator. George is a collaborator in Christchurch’s Free Theatre company. They are a collaborative performance group with as much emphasis on process as final product. George has been involved in a range of theatre projects over the last ten years.
Speaker 3: Shiree Pilkington – Melbourne. Working at the Fringe in Forum Theatre Project ‘Get Real with Transvision Arts’. Director / Actor / Producer. Shiree has worked as a Creative Producer, Director, Promoter and Publicist, teacher, traveller and performer in many theatre projects. She is often called upon to speak at forums and conferences regarding bringing communities together through the arts, and has written articles for various arts publications and websites.

Thursday 10th April – Music

Speaker 1: Chris Keogh – Dunedin. Rock Musician / Venue Manager / Music Teacher. Chris is a graduate of the Otago University Rock Degree. He plays guitar in Dunedin band The Tweeks who have recently released an album and continue to tour extensively. Chris also runs his own business teaching after-school guitar classes providing venue management and promotion services to musicians.
Speaker 2: Jim Curran – Dunedin. Appearing in the Sound in the Cracks programme at the Fringe Festival. Experimental and improv musician. Jim has been involved in many bands and musical collaborations in Dunedin and Australia all with an experimental focus. He plays cello and other string-based instruments and is a fan of improvised music, free-noise music. He has also worked as a venue manager for Arc Café.
Speaker 3: Ollie Crawford – Dunedin. Digital Composer / DJ / Producer / Venue Manager Ollie performs as DJ Undertow with his original drum’n bass compositions. He composes and produces music for soundtracks for Natural History New Zealand. He also organises and promotes events through his business Blambox Audio, which is also a recording studio.

Friday 11th April – Film

Speaker 1: Dell McLeod – Dunedin. Appears in the Fringe in multimedia show Trapt. Film Maker / Artist Dell has studied theatre, worked as an actor, musician, DJ, VJ, playwright, camera operator and runs her own business as a film maker. She has worked for Channel 9 and on a range of film and television projects.
Speaker 2: Glen Standring – Dunedin. Scriptwriter / Movie director He studied film at Ilam and has a degree in archaeology from Otago. He has directed comedy for television produces films in the horror and fantasy genres. His first feature film as writer/director was the low-budget success The Irrefutable Truth about Demons (2000). His second film Perfect Creature was released last year after being bought by US Studio 20th Century Fox.
Speaker 3: Sina Walker – Dunedin. Television Producer / Documentary Filmmaker / Short Filmmaker. Sina has a Bachelor of Commerce Degree and is a graduate of the South Seas Film and TV School in directing and editing. She has worked for TVNZ in Auckland for several years before deciding to undertake Otago University's Post Graduate Natural History Filmmaking and Communications course. She graduated with distinction and received an internship position at Natural History New Zealand. She has since worked in a variety of roles and projects.

Saturday 12th April – Fashion and Design

Speaker 1: Juliet Fay – Dunedin. Aduki - Designer / Label Owner Born, raised and trained in Dunedin, Juliet truly loves the city that has nurtured her development as a designer. A passionate love of people, art, design and architecture are all compelling influences on Fay’s celebrated Aduki label.
Speaker 2: Mike Wilson – Dunedin. Design Lecturer and product designer Mikes areas of expertise are design of softgoods / equipment for use in the outdoors. Design of technical clothing for use in the outdoors. Design of retail merchandising systems. Furniture design. Integrated sustainable practice by product designers. Design of human powered vehicles and accessories.
Speaker 3: Virginia Fay. Dunedin Architect / Interior Designer Virginia runs her own design business offering Architecture and Interior Design consultancy for domestic and commercial clients. She has also worked with sister Juliet in the development of the Aduki Design Store.