Editorial: Fringe festival Wasa a wow of an idea

OPINION: "Off the wall" is generally taken to mean unpredictable, wacky or wild. The phrase's origin is said to have started with sports like squash and racquetball, in which belting the ball against the wall so that it flies off on an awkward trajectory can befuddle the opponent. It also resonates particularly well with Nelson.

Despite being grounded by a solid streak of conservatism, the region is commonly touted as a hotbed of creativity and alternative thinking. Last weekend, while some people were A Way with the Faeries at Milnthorpe Park during the Golden Bay Heart Art Festival, others were chuckling away merrily at a Laughing Yoga workshop at Founders Park. This weekend, some – who might best be described, not unkindly, as throwbacks to the Woodstock generation, 40 years on – are attending a five-day "Earth-friendly festival of music, art, dance, creativity and sustainability". The Luminate festival's good vibes are expected to draw 1500 or more people across Nelson Anniversary Weekend to the rarefied setting of Takaka Hill's Canaan Downs. Peace, brother.

In October, another focal point of Nelson creativity is to be given its head. The Wild And Sneaky Art festival, Wasa for short, is touted as a platform to coax out the artist in us all. Drawing, as it will, on the same sort of energy that brought the World of WearableArt Awards to the world, the people power of the annual masked parade and the expertise and contacts of the existing bevy of event organisers, Wasa will – at the very least – enliven things around the edges of the annual Nelson Arts Festival.

The organisers, however, anticipate much more than that – and good on them. Why aim low, even if it might guarantee meeting expectations? If Wasa takes off, it will help plug the gaping hole in the region's creative calender left by the departure of the WOW awards show to Wellington five years ago. The nine-day event might even become to Nelson what the Edinburgh fringe is to the Scottish capital – bearing in mind the difference in scale.

The potential for a tourism spring flush is significant and welcome. So, too, is the undoubted boost Wasa, well-run, will bring to the region's "centre of creativity" aspirations and reputation. Equally striking about the project, unveiled yesterday with enthusiastic backing from the Nelson Regional Economic Development Agency, is the way that it hopes to tap into and foster public creativity.

As last year's spat involving Grey Power and the question of "what is art?" illustrated, one person's vision of loveliness can be a neighbour's eyesore, and plans to encourage people to tart up their fences and letterboxes carry the potential for some risk. However, a week and-a-half of free and ticketed events, workshops and competitions woven around the traditional and well established arts festival proper sounds an ideal fit.

Much will depend on the calibre of the acts, the capabilities, contacts and staying power of the organisers and the willingness of Nelson people and outsiders to participate – whether with paintbrushes or their wallets. The arts festival already offers a full and busy programme. Adding to it, rather than merely competing for ticket-sales, might be a big ask, but get it right, and the sky's the limit.

- © Fairfax NZ News