Te Ruru Light Festival made it’s debut in Hamilton’s Garden Place over the weekend, illuminating the city with an array of artistic light installations created by local and international artists. The brainchild of Wintec media arts tutors Luke McConnel, Jeremy Mayall and Jason Long, the event aimed at bringing people outdoors during Winter to experience something completely new for the city. Run over three nights from 6 till 9pm, the event showcased engaging and interactive light and sound installations fun for the whole family. With the help of design and communications students from WINTEC, Te Ruru Light Festival undoubtedly made a strong debut.
Having previously created immersive light and sound work through other events, Jeremy Mayall explained how he wanted to create an event during the winter when the night gets darker sooner. With the generous help of sponsors such as WINTEC and ACLX Lighting, the event was completely free of charge. Free entry, central location and a dedicated ‘kid’s zone’, the event’s accessibility was vital to it’s success.
“It’s open, its free and it’s public. You can't ignore it and I think that's what’s so beautiful about it.”
Jeremy discussed how important the easy accessibility was when creating this event, especially one which celebrates the arts. Events like Te Ruru Light Festival are helping to grow the creative arts throughout the city.
“It’s been so good to see so many people here, happy and experiencing art.”
Second year design and communication students from WINTEC were given the exciting opportunity to create the digital marketing surrounding the event. This included creating all the social media platforms and designing the posters which can be seen throughout Hamiilton’s CBD. Design student Kiran Kuruvilla’s work was chosen amongst her class peers for Te Ruru Light Festival’s poster and online promotions.
“It was really cool to see my poster and brand elements being brought to life.”
Held during the same time as Fieldays, the town undoubtedly saw an influx of visitors. Creator behind the kid’s interactive projection design Karu, and WINTEC design tutor Jordan Foster explained he had an excess of over 500 children come through his exhibition alone. With the weather relatively playing ball right up until Sunday night, Garden Place was buzzing with atmosphere all weekend. Organisers hope Te Ruru Light Festival will be the beginning of an annual event, aiming to be back again next year bigger and better.
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