THE DEFINITE WOW, THE WOW FACTOR ,THE WORLD OF WEARABLE ARTS, born and bred in Nelson, has served notice of it's intention to perform in Wellington......
So what's the story back in Nelson, the home of voluntary WOW labour; the little culture grown around this expanding vision, which just has to go global ever since it became branded as WOW and took on lots of salaried movers and shakers.
An unprecedented amount of thinking is going on, and talking and today a rather exclusive meeting - which speaks for itself. Administrators ar not the most creative people on the planet, so when theres the need for creative thinking, onnovative proposals, our dreary council fails to open the meeting to all interested parties. Nelson has a new problem and only by casting a wide net can the voice of the interested community be engaged in reconstructing an event which will get visitors with shiny plastic cards to throng to Nelson at the festival time in September.
Nelson looks forward to the influx of spenders who keep many a household ticking over. These visitors eat, drink, shop, use taxis and sleep in motels. Many of them come on account of their fondness for creative talent. They tend to take home something made in Nelson. So there are a lot of people in this small town who get some degree of income from high visitor numbers arriving for cultural tourism.
Soon we will hear what the selected few have decided will be the next big drawcard. The thing is neither Susie Moncrieff nor the people of Nelson can truly lay claim to Wearable Arts - the show's success was due to the contributors, all those during the past 17 years who have designed and created great visual treats - and these people have come from near and far, many outside New Zealand. That has been the success of WOW and any event looking to claim it's niche in Nelson will need to draw upon a pool of talent equally expansive.
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