Latest news with #Ōtautahi
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Seed and Grain NZ celebrates its 'incredibly important' women
Women make up about 35 percent of the seed and grain sectors. File photo. Photo: 123RF The country's seed and grain sectors are hoping to empower the wāhine who make up about a third of its workforce. Industry group Seed and Grain New Zealand hosted about 130 women in Ōtautahi on Wednesday for the Women in Seed conference The group represented a range of companies involved in the production and trade of seed and grain, research and development, support services like testing and seed broking. Chief executive Sarah Clark said seed and grain were significant contributors to the economy, earning about $345 million in exports each year. She said women played a key role in these sectors that underpinned the success of multi-billion dollar primary industries. "Women in the primary industries have been at the core of it for many, many years, even if the the record books don't show that," she said. Statistics shared by Minister for Women Nicola Grigg at the event showed women made up about 35 percent of the sectors, Clark said. "[We're] still reasonably male-dominated, however I looked at the attendee list at our event today and we've got women in logistics, finance, management, agronomists and at all levels of of the particular specialty. "So definitely, women are incredibly important to our industry and we want to encourage them. We need to keep that expertise and knowledge in the industry." Seed and Grain New Zealand chief executive Sarah Clark Photo: SUPPLIED/SEED AND GRAIN NEW ZEALAND Clark said events like Women in Seed were about encouraging women in the sector to know they have "a really important part to play". "They're hopefully leaving the event feeling really refreshed and inspired to continue the work that they do and even progress their career, perhaps into some leadership roles," she said. "Actually, that was another thing that the Minister [Grigg] was encouraging was more women to get into leadership roles." Clark said the association - formerly known as the New Zealand Grain and Seed Trade Association - had hit a significant milestone itself. "This is the first time we've had a woman as a president, so Charlotte Connoley is the president of Seed and Grain New Zealand, and concurrently whilst having a woman [chief executive], so I guess this is a first for the industry. "So it's an exciting time to be in primary industries." Clark said there were "exciting trade opportunities" for seed and grain in general, even in light of global headwinds. The group will hold its annual conference in Christchurch in August. StatsNZ figures showed seed exports earned $281 million in 2023 up 27 percent on 2022. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The Spinoff
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
The Christchurch musician who made a video game about making an album
Alex Casey talks to Ōtautahi musician Lukas Mayo, aka Pickle Darling, about channelling their album anxieties into a video game. It's not long into Pickle Darling: The Game that you are confronted by a curious shapeshifting figure, one cycling through various faces at warp speed and flanked by two ominous burning torches. 'I am the New Zealand music industry,' the pixelated spectre announces. 'Do you have any burning questions?' Pickle Darling, aka you, has prepared one earlier. 'Why do you hate me?' The music industry, still flickering between sunglasses, a frown and a smile, responds. 'We don't hate you. Why does every Christchurch band ask the same thing?' This is but one of the many tongue-in-cheek obstacles encountered while playing the new video game created by the Ōtautahi bedroom pop artist also known as Lukas Mayo. 'For me, I've always used Pickle Darling as an excuse to make things I want to make and just do what I think is fun,' says Mayo. 'I'm a big fan of doing something in an accessible, achievable way and not necessarily worrying about if it's good or not. I'm not a very good game maker, but I think it's fun starting again at something as an amateur.' Mayo first became interested in making a game after working with Fnife games on the soundtrack for their demo Small Town Emo. Created entirely on GB Studio, which allows people to make Gameboy games without any coding experience, Mayo saw a lot of parallels with the lo-fi bedroom pop community in which Pickle Darling was born. 'It's mostly online and embracing amateurish-ness,' they explain. 'The GB Studio Community felt like that and very accessible to me.' While trying to get started on their next project off the back of their critically acclaimed 2023 album Laundromat, Mayo started to feel a familiar creeping sense of drudgery when it came to making music. 'As soon as something starts to do well and you have momentum, it no longer feels like a hobby, it feels like work' they say. 'There's pressures that come with other people's money being in it, and it becomes less low stakes. As it gets harder to make music, you've got to think of ways to make it fun for yourself.' So arrived the idea to make a video game about the 'mission' of making an album. 'I started it without a plan, which is the way I do music – writing without an end goal in mind,' says Mayo. 'I wanted it to be quite meta and self-referential, quite silly, but also quite honest.' That meant addressing some of the perceived 'obstacles' that get in the way of the process. 'But what are those obstacles? Who are these gatekeepers? Or who do you think are the gatekeepers? And are they actually the gatekeepers at all?' As described earlier, the first of these imagined roadblocks is encountering a character representing the New Zealand music industry, who sparks some deep philosophical questions about the north/south divide. 'I think a lot of Christchurch musicians feel like they have to scream three times louder for anyone in the New Zealand music industry to notice you or get any sort of recognition,' says Mayo. 'I don't know how actually true that is, but it is a real feeling.' The game also visits an imagined New Zealand music hall of fame, lined with pixelated album covers charmingly rendered by artist Christiane Shortal that create a thrilling guessing game within the game. More distinct album art like Marlon Williams' 'Make Way For Love' and Lorde's 'Solar Power' will be immediately recognisable, but the eyes might need time to decipher Aldous Harding's 'Party' or Vera Ellen's 'Ideal Home Noise' among more abstract offerings. 'The Hans Pucket cover was the hardest one.' In another instance, you meet a forlorn music writer lamenting the death of print journalism. 'I grew up reading music magazines like Q and NME, and remember watching them slowly disappear,' says Mayo. 'So many musicians talk about critics as if we're pitted against each other, but that's not the case at all. No music journalist is making big dollars or gatekeeping anything. The Spotify algorithm is the real gatekeeper. Anyone that is actually a human being is on the same side as us.' In externalising some of their reflections and anxieties around making music in Aotearoa, Mayo found making the game to be quite therapeutic. 'Part of the story of the game is getting to your real motivation, or the real thing that's holding you back,' Mayo says. 'I have a natural tendency to be quite cautious and I could easily move through my life in quite a fearful way and blame everything else apart from myself for why I don't do something. This was a bit about trying to recognise that in myself.' Where characters like the music industry, critics and label executives could have easily been rendered as evil boss figures, Mayo found it was much more interesting to make them more nuanced, understanding types. 'Then they are not actually your enemies any more, and I'm more ripping into myself for the frustrations I feel for being an idiot.' It's a level of vulnerability that will likely resonate with others in the industry. 'I hope other musicians play it and feel like I've tapped into something that no one talks about.' And for all these imagined hurdles and gatekeepers, frustrations and procrastinations, is there actually a new Pickle Darling album coming at the end of the tunnel? Mayo pauses for a moment, searching for the right words. 'All the answers are in the game.'
RNZ News
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Pacific Underground goes symphonic
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. Pos Mavaega (musical director) and Tanya Muagututi'a (lead creative and co-leader) from Pacific Underground. Photo: The Press At lot of household names in New Zealand entertainment have made art with Pacific Underground: Oscar Kightly, David Fane, Ladi6, Dallas Tamaira - to name a few - since the Christchurch based performing arts collective began in 1993. From Thursday 22 May, you can add the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra to the list. That's when the CSO will join the Pacific Underground Band in the Christchurch Town Hall for the Ōtautahi Pasifika Legacy Project. The project, which came out of a request from the CSO itself, features Pasifika music and poetry including the performing talents of Mark Vanilau and poet Tusiata Avia with orchestral arrangements by Seta Timo . Pacific Underground director, Pos Mavaega, and conductor Samiu Katoa Uatahausi spoke with RNZ Concert ahead of the gig. Mavaega says the opportunity to perform with a symphony orchestra was too good to turn down. Tongan-born Maestro Samiu Katoa Uatahausi. Photo: Supplied Uatahausi will be making his CSO conducting debut. Originally from Tonga, he came to classical music via the trumpet, having grown up as part of the Kingdom's thriving brass band scene, before migrating to New Zealand. He learned his conducting skills as a pupil of leading Kiwi choral conductor Dr Karen Grylls. Mavaega says the concert is part of Pacific Underground's thirtieth anniversary celebrations - and is a tribute to his parents' generation who made the choice to move to Christchurch. He's excited not just to be performing with the CSO - he's a guitarist with the Pacific Underground - but also to have three generations of Christchurch's Pasifika community up on stage, including four of his own family. CSO - how's that for a big band? Photo: Duncan Shaw-Brown
RNZ News
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
The Mixtape: Hannah Everingham
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. Hannah Everingham Photo: Loren Jalyn Kett Folk musician Hannah Everingham joined Maggie Tweedie for The Mixtape. The Ōtautahi-born singer-songwriter fuses folk sensibility with a tropical inflection. Her debut album, Between Bodies (2022) was met with positive acclaim across Aotearoa. Recorded at co-producer Thomas Isbister's home studio, Everingham's sophomore album, Siempre Tiene Flores (2024), makes for a fresh and exciting listening experience. It was celebrated with a tour of the country, including dates in Tāmaki Makaurau, Pōneke and Ōtepoti. Everingham chooses an eclectic mix of songs from Tongan gospel to Christchurch's underground club scene to UK Post Punk musician and filmmaker Gina Burch. Hannah's Selection: Eliana Glass – Good Friends Call Me E Tui Mala Ma'afu – Sisu Keke Ofi Pe Josephine Foster – Waterfall Hannah Everingham- Don't be Crass Colter Carson – Tabu Gina Birch – Big Mouth Coyotes – Bill Callahan
Scoop
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Otautahi Musician, Pickle Darling Levels Up With A New Video Game
In a playful and innovative celebration of indie music and digital creativity, Ōtautahi Christchurch-based musician Pickle Darling (Lukas Mayo) has teamed up with visual artist Christiane Shortal to release "Pickle Darling: The Game", an immersive online experience launching this May. The charming, nostalgia-driven game invites players to join Pickle Darling on a whimsical quest: tracking down their mysteriously lost album. Blending Mayo's quirky musical sensibilities with Shortal's distinctive visual artistry, "Pickle Darling: The Game" offers fans a delightful glimpse into the trials, tribulations, and sheer magic behind an indie album release. The game features exclusive 8-bit renditions of beloved Pickle Darling tracks, including fan favourites "Bicycle Weather," "King Of Joy," and "Invercargill Angel". These uniquely reimagined versions were produced specifically for the game and will soon be available on TikTok and Instagram, encouraging fans to soundtrack their own online creations. Explaining the project, Mayo shares, " This game is a little peek behind the curtain of what goes into (and what can hinder) a Pickle Darling album release." It's a playful homage to the creative journey, designed to resonate with both loyal fans and new listeners alike. "Pickle Darling: The Game" is available now to play online via perfectly timed as part of the broader celebrations marking NZ Music Month. Whether you're a dedicated indie music enthusiast, gaming aficionado, or just a lover of charming pixel art, Pickle Darling's new interactive offering is not to be missed. About Pickle Darling: Pickle Darling (Lukas Mayo) is a well-known indie pop artist from Christchurch, known for blending heartfelt lyricism with whimsical melodies and dreamy lo-fi production. Celebrated for their introspective and deeply personal songwriting, Pickle Darling has become a beloved staple in Aotearoa's indie music scene.
