For just one night, Garin College will channel the energy of New York, the city that never sleeps, for the school’s creative highlight of the year, Mahi Toi.
Arts leaders and Year 13 students Ben Gray and Chloe Burnett have both been involved with the annual Mahi Toi arts festival for five years and are encouraging the wider community to come along and experience the school’s creative talent.
Ben says that before Covid the evening showcase was a highly-anticipated event for both the Garin and wider Nelson-Tasman communities, but attendance has dropped away in recent years.
This year, the pair are determined to revive that strong community connection and re-establish Mahi Toi as one of the major cultural events on the Garin calendar.
“Since Year 9, this is the event everyone looks forward to each year – it’s the biggest event of the year,” Ben says.
Nearly 200 students are involved in the festival on 18 June, which includes a daytime school performance titled A Day in the Big Apple, and an evening showcase, A Night in New York.
The festival celebrates creativity across a wide range of artistic disciplines, from music and drama performances to visual arts and short films. A highlight for students will be the house dance performances, covering themes ranging from jazz and soul to hip hop and Broadway musicals.
“It’s an opportunity for students to really put themselves out there and show their talents,” Chloe says. “It’s really important growing up to express what we are passionate about.”
The pair will also MC the evening, with Ben saying the goal is to make the audience feel as though they are in New York City – whether it’s an intimate jazz club or watching street performers in the Bronx.
Tickets are $5 and on sale now, with organisers hoping for a full house.
