Wellington Museums Trust newsletter June 2004

More documents

Recommendations

Info

NEW FACES, CHANGING ROLESKathryn Love has joined City GalleryWellington as Marketing CommunicationsCoordinator. Kathryn comes to the Galleryfrom Otago University, where shecompleted a Bachelor of Commerce inMarketing and Economics and a Bachelorof Arts in Film and Media Studies.Sarah Farrar joined City GalleryWellington as Assistant Curator inJanuary. Sarah also coordinates TheHirschfeld Gallery, the space at CityGallery dedicated to showing the workof Wellington-based artists and designers.Julie Congreve has also joined thegallery to work as Events Coordinator,taking over from Amy MacKinnon.Julie has come from Westpac, where shehad a wealth of experience as a BusinessProject Manager and Project Analyst.Julie is currently studying towards aBachelor of Business Studies, majoringin management.(from left to right): Robyn Walker, Julie Congreve, Sarah Farrar, Janina Dell andKathryn Love. The appointment of Janina as Gallery Education, Maori, was announcedin the last issue.Robyn Walker has been appointed PublicProgrammes Coordinator for the gallery.With a Masters in Geography and aGraduate Diploma in Journalism,Robyn is better known as Rockgirl -Radio Active 89FM’s Monday Drive host,C4’s Wellington correspondent for theNew Zealand music show Homegrown,and reporter for UnCharted.Laura Huang is now full-time, Frontof House at the Wellington Cable CarMuseum after long-standing employeeJasmine Robins moved to Tauranga.Laura began working at the museum inJanuary 2003 as a weekend supervisorwhile studying for her InformationSystems BA at Victoria University (whichshe has now completed). Originally fromTaiwan, she has lived in New Zealandfor ten years.Dot Hari, who started work at theMuseum of Wellington City & Sea twoyears ago as a volunteer guide, hasnow been appointed to a permanentposition on the front-of-house staff.Her previous positions include tourguide/liaison for international studentsat Sytec and Public Affairs Director forher church.Laura HuangDot Hari6
MAKING MAGICAL MUSICAn irresistible combination of music-making and computer technologyis behind the success of the Capital E SoundHouse New Zealand facility.In a darkened room off Civic Square,countless schoolchildren have nowcrafted classical, jazz and modernmasterpieces using top music and videosoftware, as well as recorded their ownCDs and music videos.“Anything you’ve seen on film, musicvideo or DVD or heard on a CD, tape oron radio, you can do here,” Manager CarlRayner tells a group of schoolchildren.“Tonyhawk, Dr Dre, Tomb Raider…it’s allmusic that could be created with thesoftware and it’s all here for you to use.”And with acoustic instruments, their ownvoices and more than 20,000 professionalsounds at their fingertips, even with nomusical knowledge the students makeshort work of composing, arranging andproducing their own unique track for theclass CD.Simply put, the SoundHouse is a worldclass,music multi-media production suite.It contains a heady mix of computers,midi technology and music software,as well as a range of instruments.The Capital E facility offers four differentschool programmes, which are pitchedat seven-year-olds right up to collegestudents. Holiday programmes are alsopopular and the facility has been usedfor teachers’ professional developmentand even for corporate workshops –the technology is such that adults,too, are keen to get a look-in.Carl, who spent six years as Head of Musicat a Hamilton middle school, has beenrunning the facility since it wasestablished three years ago and ispassionate about what it has to offer.“When I was teaching, I became verykeen on the use of technology in music,”he says. “My interest coincided with theintroduction of SoundHouse to NewZealand, which came about after PitschLeiser (then Director of Capital E) andStuart Grant (the current Director) wentto a SoundHouse conference in Australiaand decided that Capital E would be agreat place to have one.”The facility was developed in partnershipwith the SoundHouse Music AllianceAustralia. It is still the only SoundHousein New Zealand, which is now one of fivecountries to have such facilities (theothers are Ireland, South Africa, Chinaand Australia).Such is the attraction that a visiting USstudent ambassador programme has justbooked its group into Capital E’s facilityfor a third year running, as part of theirAustralasian tour. “They seem to get asexcited about this new technology asKiwi schoolchildren,” Carl says.Carl has taken the SoundHouse conceptone step further by developing ascholarship programme offered to around25 students at a time. Capital ESoundHouse New Zealand provides thementoring and the facilities so that thesestudents can develop their own originalmusic and performance material.Carl Rayner inspires a class in the Capital E SoundHouse New Zealand studio | Photos by Mark Coote“I tell all the schools that visit about thescholarship programme, and anyone that’sinterested can contact us about beingpart of it,” Carl says. “However, to besuccessful, they need to have the skillsas well as the passion to want to do it!”Scholarship students are generally collegeage, although Carl says there have beentwo very talented 13-year-olds so far.Courtney Durham and Greer Samuel haveboth written, recorded and released theirown songs on CD and music video, andare also star acts in Capital E’s upcomingJuly holiday event Massive DMV, a slickmusic/ dance/video showcase of youngCapital E SoundHouse New Zealand talent.7
Page 1 and 2: NEWSLETTERIssue Three | June 2004Tr
Page 3: A FEAST OF PHOTOGRAPHYON THE WATERF
Page 8: PROFILE | Simon MarshWellington Mus

Wellington Museums Trust newsletter June 2004

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?