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Arts festival opening a disaster, admits organizer
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Posted on Nov 08 2000
Noumea (PINA Nius Online) – The opening ceremony of the 8th South Pacific Festival of Arts in New Caledonia was a disaster, organizing committee chairman Octave Togna admitted at a South Pacific Festival of Arts Council meeting here.
He admitted that there were problems with the overall organization of the festival “but it certainly wasn’t a festival of problems and difficulties, because the increased attendance at the various venues, particularly at the Festival Village, indicated an overwhelming success”.
“If we felt that it was going to be a festival of problems we would not have planned and staged it in the first place,” Mr. Togna told the meeting.
“I am sorry about these problems, but these surfaced during the first two days of the festival but they improved thereafter.
“Many of these problems involved logistics, and a number of participating countries must also share the blame because they were late in furnishing us with relevant data about their delegation and travel plans in order for us to properly plan.
“Some arrived days early, while others arrived days after the festival began,” Mr. Togna said.
The opening ceremony, however, was a total disaster, he said.
Submitting a preliminary report on the festival, Mr. Togna said rain forced the scheduled official opening to be postponed from Oct. 23 to Oct. 26; then other commitments cropped up and forced the delay further.
“We had secured the services of famed Australian choreographer Raymond Blanco for the opening production, but he left on Wednesday (the day before the rescheduled opening) for another commitment, along with the electrician responsible for the event,” he said.
“Those delays and the departure of Mr. Blanco destabilized the entire program and marred the smooth rhythm of the festival,” Mr. Togna said.
Money was another problem, which attributed to the shortcomings experienced during the last 10 days but he said his committee had been able to get most problem areas under control.
