Bangkok--Jan 13--Tourism New Zealand
Laugh and gasp at total strangers in the streets? And the better part is: You don’t get a punch back in your face! It is a perfectly common response to the pavement antics of the WORLD BUSKERS FESTIVAL to be held in Christchurch, New Zealand’s South Island, between January 20 and 30, 2005.
Billed as the largest buskers festival in Asia, Australia and New Zealand, the 12th annual event promises the most dynamic line-up of international and national street artists to ever perform in one New Zealand city at the same time. There will be nearly 300 street and stage shows, from master magicians to trapeze artists, throughout the day at The City Mall, Victoria Square, Cathedral Square and The Community Trust Sculpture Garden.
The festival was founded in 1994 by Festival City Trust — a charitable trust established to foster the arts by producing high profile and accessible arts-based events.
Busking — originally coined as early as 1852 — includes any street entertainment performed for public. Buskers can be stationary, roving or stage and come in myriad forms, including acrobats, comedians, contortionists, dancers, escapologists, fire eaters, jugglers, living statues, magicians, mimes, musicians, sword swallowers and pavement artists. Buskers have proved that all the world is a stage, and audiences delight in the impromptu entertainment.
No wonder, these buskers never lose their charms, but gain more popularity among the youngsters and the young-at-heart. They are the strumming songsmiths on the sidewalk, the showmen with an air of danger about them. They are buskers, who bring entertainment and energy to the streets of Christchurch. Buskers bring play to the people, and WORLD BUSKERS FESTIVAL brings the whole lot of them together at once for a celebration of easy-access art.
Beyond mere WORLD BUSKERS FESTIVAL, Christchurch itself, a green oceanside city of 350,000 that many travelers consider the most English of all the overseas cities in the British Commonwealth. It is not hard to see why. The city is noted for its pleasant climate (summer temperatures average 22C; winter temperatures 12C), and is much like Seattle but with far less rain. That moderate range has inspired a city of botanists and gardeners, and the establishment of a municipal botanical garden that’s considered the best in New Zealand. The peak travel time in New Zealand is the summer, from late December to late January — this is also the best time for beach weather.
For more information, visit www.newzealand.com or www.worldbuskersfestival.com
For inquiries, please contact:
Voranan Chakamanon
Suwarat Sajamark
PR Consultant for Tourism New Zealand
TRU Public Relations
Tel: 0 2978 6660, 0 2978 6719
Fax: 0 2978 6661
Email: [email protected]
trupr@asianet.co.th
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