The Star: July 16, 2020
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Thursday <strong>July</strong> <strong>16</strong> <strong>2020</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong><br />
NEWS 19<br />
performing arts<br />
Have you performed with<br />
anyone famous or noteworthy?<br />
In terms of comedy, I’ve<br />
opened for or been on the same<br />
lineup as the likes of Ben Hurley,<br />
Nick Rado and Cori Gonzales-<br />
Macuer, who was in What We<br />
Do in the Shadows. I opened for<br />
Cori independently at a show<br />
in Dunedin some years ago and<br />
then with Nick Rado and Tarun<br />
Mohanbhai and Ben Hurley, we<br />
were involved in a pilot for a silly,<br />
little TV series, web series thing<br />
called Flat Gigs Dunedin and we<br />
filmed a comedy show just in a<br />
grungy student flat in Dunedin.<br />
Have you had any<br />
embarrassing moments on<br />
stage?<br />
I think I’ve been pretty lucky<br />
generally speaking, but working<br />
backstage at Court <strong>The</strong>atre as<br />
an assistant stage manager on<br />
the summer musical, Chicago,<br />
there were some moments of just<br />
absolute chaos when something<br />
would go wrong and I’d be<br />
hidden on the side of the stage<br />
with a roll of duct tape taping<br />
back a set piece together or<br />
whatever while trying to hide<br />
from the audience view.<br />
How supportive has your<br />
family been of your creative<br />
endeavours?<br />
I grew up pretty normal. I<br />
grew up in a pretty bogan family<br />
and we grew up pretty poor and<br />
we grew up pretty bogan but<br />
my parents were always really<br />
relaxed, like, there was never<br />
any pressure to have to succeed<br />
academically or have to want<br />
to have children and buy the<br />
house and have the mortgage<br />
and be a doctor or an astronaut<br />
or whatever. As, a kid, I really<br />
wanted to be a rubbish truck<br />
runner.<br />
I think what has helped me<br />
a lot is that my parents never<br />
really forced me into things.<br />
My dad has passed away now<br />
but he was my absolute biggest<br />
fan with comedy and cabaret, he<br />
would come to all my shows. My<br />
mum lives down in Invercargill<br />
and she loves what I’m doing<br />
and is really supportive of it all<br />
as well. My family has absolutely<br />
backed me.<br />
TALENTED:<br />
Feather Shaw<br />
is a performing<br />
arts all-rounder<br />
and has done<br />
stand-up comedy,<br />
burlesque and<br />
cabaret.<br />
Tell me why you decided to<br />
leave your previous job to start<br />
co-managing Darkroom fulltime?<br />
I was working 20 hours a<br />
week, just a part-time job which<br />
was enough for me to live off, at<br />
Bromley Community Centre.<br />
I was the programme support<br />
worker there, so I largely helped<br />
facilitate all the community<br />
groups like low impact exercise<br />
for elderly people, toddlers<br />
playgroups for parents and, like,<br />
pre-schoolers and then, all the<br />
community events – the big fair,<br />
the big Matariki celebrations,<br />
market days [and] all sorts of bits<br />
and pieces. I really liked that line<br />
of work.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n, my business partner<br />
Nick and I bought Darkroom<br />
and because it was a pretty scary<br />
venture going fully into selfemployment<br />
in the beginning,<br />
I decided that I could keep both<br />
jobs, so still do my 20 hours a<br />
week at Bromley and then do<br />
another 20 [or] 30 hours a week<br />
running Darkroom. I did that<br />
for a year, kept both jobs, and,<br />
after a year, Darkroom was in a<br />
financially stable enough position<br />
that I kind of weighed things<br />
up and thought I can take my<br />
skillset from Bromley, which is<br />
kind of community development,<br />
and apply that to my job running<br />
a venue.<br />
What impact of the Covid-19<br />
pandemic on Darkroom and<br />
tell me about the fundraiser<br />
that happened to support the<br />
venue?<br />
It was a really uncertain time<br />
not knowing how long it would<br />
take to contain and work towards<br />
eliminating the virus, not<br />
knowing is this going to be four<br />
weeks we’re out of action, three<br />
months, six months?<br />
I don’t think Darkroom was<br />
ever at risk of closing, that wasn’t<br />
an option for us. We started<br />
thinking are their grants? We<br />
started to think is there some<br />
funding or grant money that<br />
we can apply for and we had a<br />
look around and then we saw<br />
that some other venues had had<br />
success with crowdfunding. We’d<br />
never done it for anything before<br />
and we were like, okay, let’s do<br />
one.<br />
For ours, we made $<strong>16</strong>,000, our<br />
goal was only $10,000.<br />
Pou to be<br />
unveiled at<br />
timeball site<br />
LAYERS OF Maori history,<br />
heritage and rich culture<br />
encapsulated in a new pou<br />
whenua will be unveiled at<br />
Lyttelton’s Timeball Station<br />
today.<br />
<strong>The</strong> landmark, carved<br />
by Caine Tauwhare of<br />
Ngati Wheke, celebrates the<br />
navigational achievements of<br />
Maori and commemorates<br />
ancestral connections of iwi to<br />
Whakaraupō/Lyttelton Harbour.<br />
It represents traditional<br />
knowledge and navigational<br />
tools which Maori have held for<br />
centuries, and will be formally<br />
revealed at a special ceremony<br />
coinciding with Matariki, or<br />
Maori New Year.<br />
Heritage New Zealand<br />
Pouhere Taonga cares for the<br />
timeball site, and chief executive<br />
Andrew Coleman said it is “very<br />
proud” to have the wonderful<br />
taonga, or treasure, and delighted<br />
to host the historic event.<br />
“Today is the culmination of<br />
four years hard work, dedication<br />
and carving craftsmanship. <strong>The</strong><br />
pou references and acknowledges<br />
traditional narratives<br />
from the centuries of navigation<br />
by Maori prior to the arrival of<br />
Pakeha and the creation of the<br />
Timeball Station.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> Whakaraupo Carving<br />
Centre and Ngati Wheke<br />
proposed having a pou situated<br />
at the timeball as part of the<br />
on-site interpretation after being<br />
approached by Heritage New<br />
Zealand Pouhere Taonga in<br />
2017.<br />
Ngai Tahu Funds subsequently<br />
approved a considerable<br />
grant for Ngati Wheke to carve<br />
the pou.<br />
<strong>The</strong> pou replaces a temporary<br />
pou – a tryptic panel – that was<br />
installed at the reopening of the<br />
Timeball Station timeball and<br />
SIGNIFICANT: A new pou<br />
whenua carved by Caine<br />
Tauwhare will replace a<br />
temporary pou (foreground)<br />
at Lyttelton’s Timeball<br />
Station today.<br />
flagpole in November 2018.<br />
<strong>The</strong> tower was rebuilt with the<br />
support of the community and<br />
key donors and supporters after<br />
the earthquakes of 2010 and<br />
2011 significantly damaged the<br />
much-loved iconic structure.<br />
”Heritage New Zealand<br />
Pouhere Taonga will always remain<br />
grateful for the support of<br />
the community which enabled<br />
the organisation to return what<br />
we see today to the Lyttelton<br />
streetscape. <strong>The</strong> building and<br />
daily dropping of the timeball at<br />
1pm is part of Lyttelton’s history<br />
and heritage that needed to be<br />
returned and maintained,” Mr<br />
Coleman said.<br />
“I’m delighted to be part of an<br />
added chapter to the Timeball<br />
Station’s history with the unveiling<br />
and dedication of this pou. It<br />
is a truly representative story of<br />
Aotearoa New Zealand.<br />
“It’s also very appropriate that<br />
we unveil and dedicate the pou<br />
at a time when we celebrate and<br />
commemorate Matariki.”<br />
What are the<br />
referendum<br />
questions?<br />
Know before you vote<br />
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