A whole range of exciting stuff is happening this week…
Rating very highly on the ‘things I am excited about right now’ list is the International Documentary Film Festival. It starts Monday 8th in Wellington and Wednesday 10th in Auckland. I’ll post my picks tomorrow, in the mean time, check out the line up. You will probably end up putting little stars next to almost everything.
If you feel like you were born in the wrong decade, then head along to the Very Vintage Day Out on Saturday. There will be entertainment (expect burlesque, jazz, rockabilly), shopping (over 30 stalls stocking vintage goodies), high tea and workshops covering all things vintage (think makeovers and swing).
Love Doc Day is on Thursday! this is your opportunity to show those hard-working, dedicated conservation-loving, environment-protecting heros that we love and value them even if the government doesn’t. Send cakes, postcards, emails, tweets, facebook statuses, flowers, drawings, singing telegrams or whatever else you may think will let them know there are still people in this country standing by them.
The Titirangi Festival is happening this weekend and there is a very funky line-up over the two days. Fingers crossed the fine weather continues and you can groove your Saturday afternoon away in the sun. There are a range of events on: a couple of concerts (Nathan Haines Quartet and Fabulous Arabia amongst others) which cost $35, workshops for those of you who are musically inclined and a whole bunch of free events outdoor in the village in in the surrounding cafes.
There is a really cool thing happening in Mt Eden which I have just discovered. Transition Towns is a grassroots movement happening internationally which is all about local solutions to environmental, social and economic challenges. This weekend you can find out all about it with a walking tour and a bit of a show and tell about what’s going on (fruit trees, community gardens, recycling…all the good stuff). Places are limited and you do need to book, a donation of $20 will go to funding more projects. If the transition town thing interests you, also check out Grey Lynn 2030 and Point Chevalier Transititon Town.
There is a Public Meeting about the Tamaki Housing Crisis on Wednesday at 7.00pm and the Glenn Innes Primary School. Also to do with housing, is a Public Meeting in Wellington tonight called Making Housing Affordable featuring Charles Waldengrave from the Family Centre and Joel Pringle from Australians for Affordable Housing. Highly topical, my only request is they do one in Auckland soon.
Also in Wellington this week is a forum hosted by JustSpeak on Wednesday called ‘Unlocking Prisons:What is the cost of our reliance on imprisonment’. The forum features Andrew Little MP, Professor John Pratt, and Grant Burston who will be looking at whether prisons are really doing what they’re meant to be doing, what the broader costs of prisons are and what some alternatives might be. Don’t worry Auckland- we get this next week.
Sunday afternoon is also the launch of the Greens ‘Re-connect Auckland’ Transport Campaign so head to the Greens office to hear about what they’re doing and how you can get involved.
If that’s not enough, this week also marks the very exciting return of Back Benches to our screens!!! YUS!!! Wednesday, 10.30pm, Prime. Do it.
Finally, please remember to join and invite people to the Asset Sales protest on April 27th. Details here.
