Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival concert to benefit frog conservation

Four of New Zealand’s top musical acts will feature in the Waikato Times Hamilton Gardens Art Festival in February, with a percentage of the proceeds from ticket sales going towards Hamilton Zoo’s native Hochstetter’s frog colony.

Opshop, Dane Rumble, The Jordan Luck Band and Annabel Fay will perform at Hamilton Gardens on Saturday, 20 February at 6.30pm as part of The Ark Tour’s ‘Opshop Live at The Gardens’ concert.

In keeping with The Ark Tour’s focus on conservation, a percentage of ticket sales will go towards the construction of a new enclosure for Hamilton Zoo’s Hochstetter’s frogs and assist with the facility’s captive breeding and research programme for the native species.

Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival director Sarah Bettle said that while the partnership between the festival and The Ark Tour was exciting on its own, being able to use the event to benefit Hamilton Zoo’s conservation efforts stepped it up another level.

“Having The Ark Tour’s Opshop Live at The Gardens concert as our headline act for 2010 heralds a whole new standard and scope in entertainment for the festival,” she said.

“Not only will the music and venue combine to be a sensational evening of entertainment, but the knowledge that everyone will be contributing to one of the city's key conservation efforts is just the icing on the cake.

“This concert will be a unique blend of music, arts and conservation, and will definitely be a ‘not to miss’ event for Hamilton.”