After a successful start in 2017, Beyond the Page is back for the July School Holidays.
Last year over 4,000 people attended events in our region’s libraries and galleries. This year tamariki can once again go on an amazing literary and creative journey during the school holidays at hundreds of events around the region at New Zealand’s largest literary festival for children.
Sir Jon Trimmer will be back with Tales from the Ballet, Wellington’s Kings and Queens will be reading hand-picked stories at Rainbow Storytimes, award-winning Kiwi authors and creators (such as Sasha Cotter and Josh Morgan) will share their enthusiasm and knowledge with the next generation of storytellers, the BARK NZ brigade will be bringing their furry friends along, robots will be unleashed, and so much more – there’s something on for all members of the whānau!
Stay tuned for further information releases over the coming weeks. Follow Beyond the Page on Facebook, and check out the beyondthepage.nz website, for up to date information on events near you.
Tēnā koutou katoa! Join us in celebrating Matariki at Wellington City Libraries this winter! It’s a time of celebration and reflection, of whānau and of kōrerorero — and a time to cook and eat delicious kai! Whether you want to celebrate with others or just learn more about this wonderful festival, your library has you covered with books, resources and events for the whole family.
Many of our usual preschool storytime and Kōhunga Kōrero sessions this month will be Matariki-themed, but we’re also running special Matariki events with stories, songs and crafts for tamariki and their families at selected libraries:
Cummings Park (Ngaio) Library: Monday 18th June, 6:30pm
Ruth Gotlieb (Kilbirnie) Library: Wednesday 20th June, 4:00pm
Island Bay Community Centre: Thursday 21st June, 10:30am
Karori Library: Thursday 21st June, 6:30pm
Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) Library: Thursday 28th June, 3:30pm
Khandallah Library: Thursday 28th June, 6:30pm
Johnsonville Library: Friday 29th June, 3:30pm
These events are free, suitable for preschool and school-aged children and their families, and bookings are not required.
Ni Hao Children’s Community Stories & Rhymes provides a time for parents and children to play and learn Mandarin as a Second/Foreign Language together through stories, fun rhymes and action songs. It’s also a great opportunity to hear and use Mandarin in a welcoming and social environment.
Starting from Thursday 9 July 2015, these free sessions are held weekly at the Wellington Central Library children’s area (near the big window by the waterfall), Thursdays, 10 to 10:30am.
Stories & Rhymes! sessions are led by teachers from the Ni Hao Children’s Community Charitable Trust, and designed for Mandarin for Speakers of Other Languages (MSOL) families who are wanting to learn the language as a second/foreign language. Fluent Mandarin speakers would also enjoy these sessions! These Stories & Rhymes! sessions are a great introduction to the Mandarin language and a very small taster of our fun class programmes.
Parents and children are most welcome to hang around and mingle in the library’s children’s area after the session has finished.
See you at Stories & Rhymes!
(bookings not required)
Attention young animal lovers – the SPCA will be visiting our Preschool Storytimes over the next few weeks, and bringing along their furry friends for your preschoolers to interact with.
Along with our usual stories, songs and rhymes, the SPCA will talk to the children about ethical pet ownership, how to appraoch and greet animals, and about the SPCA. In the past these storytimes have been very popular as the children love the chance to meet and pet the animals.
Here’s the when and where:
- Wednesday 2nd April, Newtown Library at 10.30am
- Thursday 3rd April, Miramar Library at 10.15am
- Monday 7th April, Karori Library at 10.30am
- Monday 14h April, Mervyn Kemp (Tawa) Library at 10.30am
- Tuesday 15th April, Johnsonville Library at 10.30am
- Wednesday 16th April, Cummings Park (Ngaio) Library at 10.30am
Preschool storytimes are our free weekly sessions for 3-4 year olds, that feature stories, songs and rhymes. They are perfect for helping emerging literacy and getting children ready for school. Younger and older children are welcome too. Check out our Kids Events Page for details.
(Note: Wellington City Libraries takes no responsibility for your children demanding to take the animals home, or to get a pet)
This weekend is the Wellington edition of the Festival of Education, which coincides with the International Summit on the Teaching Profession. The festival is spread across the TSB Arena, Shed 6 and Frank Kitts park, Saturday 29th March from 8.30am.
The Festival is a day of courses, workshops, stalls and seminars that focus on education in all its forms, at all levels. There will be lots to do and explore, and new technology to try out. Find out about what’s happening in the future of education and schools, and listen to world-class speakers. There is family fun too with read aloud sessions, dance workshops, performances and more. Wellington City Libraries will be on the feature stage at 10am with our librarians performing one of our popular Baby Rock & Rhyme sessions, and again at 12pm with a children’s storytime -bring the kids!
Check out the programme of events for information.
A dedicated crowd turned out to quiz Lee Prebble and Age Pryor on all things music…
…and now you’ll get another chance with Samuel Flynn Scott and Luke Buda of The Phoenix Foundation in the Wellington Central Library TONIGHT at 4.30pm.
Reminder… Reminder… Reminder…
Music producer Lee Prebble from The Surgery and his musician buddy Age Pryor from the Wellington Ukulele Orchestra and The Woolshed Sessions, will be at the Wellington Central Library TOMORROW 26th May at 4.30pm
They will be talking about how you can make it as a musician. All the inside tips and tricks.
It’s FREE! Brave the weather and we’ll see you there!
How much of your income is derived from record sales & how much comes from touring/live gigs?
I would say record sales probably account for about %5 or less of my total income. Live gigs maybe more like %20. Most of my income as a musician comes through licenses for film and TV.
What advice would you give young musicians just starting out?
Work on your songwriting and take that side of things very seriously. Songs are what all music is based on and without good songs a great singer or guitarist will never make any impact.
How does being on a major label differ from being on an independent? In today’s musical climate is one better than the other?
I don’t think it makes much difference anymore. But I could be wrong. Certainly majors have a lot more sway with radio and they have more money to spend on advertising but there are advantages to small labels too. You usually get better deals from small labels and you get a team of people working on your product who are very passionate about what you do. Ultimately the choice between the two comes down to who is making offers and who has the best vibe. Working relationships are paramount.
Who would you cite as your biggest musical influence/influences?
That is almost impossible to answer. For me it might be the Velvet Underground who are a great 60’s underground rock band. The Beatles are pretty hard to beat when it comes to stealing great ideas off a great band!
Do you have any future projects/new recordings in the works?
Yes we are working on a new Phoenix Foundation album at the moment.
Check out Samuel Flynn Scott and Luke Buda from the Phoenix Foundation at the Wellington Central Library on Thursday 28th May 4.30-5.30pm
We put a few key questions to our lovely (and knowledgeable) Wellington Library staff about New Zealand Music.
The most under-rated NZ band or musician: The Rabble are a great up-and-coming NZ punk band.
Your favourite NZ band or musician: Goodnight Nurse rank highly. their songs are catchy and their gigs are consistently fun and entertaining.
Your favourite live NZ music act: Streetwise Scarlet are wonderful live with high energy and great interaction with the crowd. Also, Wellington-based covers band, The Business are guaranteed to get everyone dancing.
It was a cold wintery night, but a small group of music groupies braved the cold to see Brad Dring from Rapture Ruckus talk about is career path to becoming a famous musician at the Central Library on the 8th of May.
Don’t miss the next New Zealand Music Month session- Music Producer Lee Prebble, from The Surgery, and musician Age Pryor, from the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra and The Woolshed Sessions, will be at the Central Library on Tuesday 26th May at 4.30pm.