Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival '22

Help the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival go ahead in 2022!

A global pandemic won’t stop us from delivering a world class festival BUT we need your help to make it happen…

Just a few weeks ago, we were tantalizingly close to locking in an exciting and bold program for the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival ‘22, but Covid-19 had other plans... 

As a charitable trust, the festival relies on the generous support of local businesses and funders to go ahead each year. But with traditional funding bodies recently diverting their financial support to assist those hardest hit by Covid, we’ve had to contend with an unexpected shortfall in funding. 

With the sudden loss of numerous funding sources, as well as the logistical challenges of lockdowns and border closures, we’ve found ourselves facing a shortfall of funding to the tune of $150,000.

The support is out there...

Over the past few weeks we’ve been knocking on doors and shaking trees to secure enough funds for the festival to go ahead next year. The good news is, thanks to the generous support of friends of the festival, funding partners and Hamilton City Council, we’ve managed to close the gap significantly, but we’re not quite over the line! 

With your help we’ll be able to present the 2022 festival program of our dreams - a line-up we’ve been working on for months - without having to start from scratch, or worse yet, losing the festival entirely. 

Who are we?

For over 20 years, the Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival has been the Waikato’s premier arts event. Our vibrant outdoor festival showcases an exciting collection of the region’s creative community and a curated selection of national and international touring shows, predominantly staged within the magical setting of the Hamilton Gardens.

In the last two years particularly, the festival has grown into one of national significance and a major contributor to sustaining many artists, arts organisations and local businesses. With many other festivals and venues falling by the wayside, it’s now more important than ever to keep Kirikiriroa’s annual arts festival alive and kicking! 

The funding needed

We’re determined to deliver a festival that celebrates and reflects Aotearoa’s fastest growing city and the incredible artistic mahi it produces. With the help of your donations we’ll be able to:

• Lock in the 2022 festival program of our dreams.

• Retain and build on our free and live programme - The Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival is committed to being accessible to everyone. We’ve traditionally presented one of the largest free and live event programmes within regional Aotearoa. This campaign will ensure that we can continue to do so while supporting Waikato’s own musicians and entertainers. 

• Cover infrastructure costs: Most arts festivals utilize existing venues to deliver their events. We’re proud to have as our main point of difference the iconic Hamilton Gardens - the primary venue and heart of the festival. However this means the cost of staging HGAF is a significant expense. 

• Pay artist fees: Every year, the festival employs around 500 artists to present their mahi. Rather than scale down or skimp on fees, we feel strongly that artists should be paid fairly! 

Our project

Putting on a festival is not easy or cheap. It truly does take a village!

Every year our festival relies on the generosity and time of local businesses, sponsors, venues and volunteers to go ahead. Here’s some fun facts about what makes us tick. 

• Each year it costs in excess of 1.1 million to present the festival. 

• Our commitment to making ticketed shows affordable to as many people as possible means that for every $1 you spend on a ticket, we subsidise a further $2. Thanks to our amazing sponsors, the cost to the public for each ticketed show is subsidised by 70%.

Thank you so much for your support.

We must acknowledge the incredible support already received from the following organisations which without, our festival could not survive: 

Hamilton City Council - Wel Energy Trust - Grassroots Trust - Brian Perry Trust - Trust Waikato - Ministry Culture & Heritage - Hamilton Gardens - King St Advertising - ACLX - The University of Waikato - Harkness Henry - Stuff - NZME - Go Media