Latest news with #IlluminateLightandSoundExperience
Otago Daily Times
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Illuminate light, sound installation success ‘makes it all worthwhile'
A mushroom installation and water feature installation at Illuminate Light and Sound Experience at Queens Park in Invercargill. The show will not be coming to Dunedin as a suitable location could not be decided on. PHOTO: NINA TAPU One of Illuminate Light and Sound Experience's most successful shows finished its Southland run this month. But it will not be heading to Dunedin after a site in the city could not be agreed on. The event's Invercargill tour ran from June 6-15, attracting 20,000 visitors through the Queens Park gates. Illuminate Light and Sound Experience creative director Phil Anderson said he was humbled by how many locals supported the 10-day show. "People really appreciated that [we've] brought something that they often don't get, and they've really showed that appreciation by actually turning up and enjoying the event," Mr Anderson said. "It just makes it all worthwhile, which is really cool." Illuminate is an interactive light and sound installation show. There are 20 key light features included in the show, created out of thousands of lights. Mr Anderson said he initially approached the Dunedin City Council to put the Illuminate event on in that city but was declined. PHOTO: NINA TAPU "Someone from their events [team] said [they] wouldn't allow that kind of activity on their grounds. "They said the council had different priorities." Council events team leader Dan Hendra confirmed the council was approached by a promoter late last year about a proposal to host the event at the Dunedin Botanic Garden this winter. "We reviewed the proposal but concluded the event wasn't a suitable fit for the location," he said. "This was due to a range of factors, including concerns the large increase in foot traffic during winter conditions would damage the garden. "We also had concerns about traffic congestion in the area, and the commercial nature of the event, and wanted to avoid any negative impact on other established Dunedin seasonal events, including the Midwinter Carnival and Matariki celebrations." The council team did offer to suggest other potential locations for the event, but this was not taken up by event organisers, he said. Mr Anderson said he believed everything "happened for a reason" and Illuminate "was always destined to come to Invercargill". Illuminate will return to Invercargill next year.
Otago Daily Times
06-06-2025
- Climate
- Otago Daily Times
Sensory delights offer wintry highlight
Photo: Nina Tapu The Illuminate Light and Sound Experience show lit up Queens Park in Invercargill despite the cold and rain last night. Photo: Nina Tapu Hundreds of Southlanders braved the wintry conditions to experience the popular light show, which included flamingoes, a spaceman and a dragon. Photo: Nina Tapu Illuminate will run its Invercargill show until June 15.
Otago Daily Times
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Matariki event cancelled; trust cites competition from light show
An installation at the Illuminate Light and Sound Experience show in Christchurch last year. PHOTOS: MARCUS STENTON A large community Matariki event at Stadium Southland has been cancelled, its backers saying it is too much of a risk to go ahead as a competing show is taking place a few days beforehand. The Tūturu Charitable Trust announced yesterday it had reluctantly decided its Matariki festival would not take place next month. It had been scheduled to be on June 20 and 21. The trust said in a social media post a newly scheduled light show in Invercargill was set to run across the two weekends before the trust's Matariki event. "Sadly, the scale, timing and ticketed nature of that event makes it too challenging for us to continue without confidence in strong community turnout." The trust said it was an incredibly difficult decision to make and one it had not taken lightly. About 8000 people attended the first day of the inaugural festival last year and the trust had been looking forward to the event this year. But it would not now happen. A bullfrog was part of the Illuminate Light and Sound Experience. Illuminate Light and Sound Experience has chosen Invercargill to begin its South Island tour and will showcase hundreds of light and sound installations at Queens Park from early June. Failing to get approval from the Dunedin City Council led to the decision to choose Invercargill instead, Illuminate Light and Sound Experience creative director and co-owner Philip Anderson said. The Illuminate show would be at Queens Park, starting on June 6 and going through to June 15. The company said the decision to go to Invercargill was also motivated by a desire to stage the show in centres often left off shows' tour itineraries. The show is also going to Nelson, Timaru and Christchurch. The trust said it was sorry to let down all the schools, vendors, artists and groups who had already started preparing for the cancelled event. — APL
