Posted on 25 August 2022
- Community
- 1 Minute to read
NMIT was buzzing earlier this month as it hosted Nelson’s first Youth Music Colab Weekend called COMMOTION.
The event created for budding musicians aged 13 – 20, brought together 50 youth, passionate about making music with some of Aotearoa’s top artists, for a series of workshops, panel discussions and performances.
Volunteer organisers Emily Sanson and Scott Burnett said that they couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome from the weekend of music collaboration.
Students attended from across the region, including Lucy Summerfield and Ruby Botica from Motueka High School and Malaika Hollis from Golden Bay High School. We wanted to create an inclusive, collaborative, and creative space for the students and their mentors to work together in and I feel we achieved that.”
Sanson and Burnett say that they had incredible support and encouragement in getting the event off the ground – particularly from NCMA and NMIT. The pair successfully received funding from the NZ Music Commission, Recorded Music NZ and NBS (Nelson Building Society) and the support from many national and local organisations and businesses who contributed financially or in kind to make the event a success.
“The level of support we have received, really speaks volumes to the value people place on the importance of nurturing creativity in our youth and we thank everyone involved so much” says Emily.
Nic Foster, NBS’ Community Engagement Manager said
NBS were so pleased to be able support this new initiative for the next generation of musical talent in the Nelson-Tasman region. Hopefully these workshops will become a strong feature of our musical landscape and we see the participants thrive and become our next superstar performers.”
The organisers plan to run COMMOTION again next year and then every 2 years after that. For more information about the weekend visit commotion.nz.