Beca Heritage Week starts today

Beca Heritage Week gets underway today, with various events around the wider Christchurch area that give Cantabrians the chance to relive the lifestyles and discoveries of this city’s early settlers.

The week, which runs from Thursday 21 to Sunday 31 October, launches tonight with Ohaki, a free concert in the ChristChurch Cathedral performed by Ariana Tikao.

Carolyn Ingles, Christchurch City Council Programme Manager Liveable City, says Ariana will be performing a sensational piece where she uses music to explore the dying words of her ancestor, Tamati Tikao.  

“The performance is a collaboration with Richard Nunns, an expert in traditional Maori instruments, and video artist Louise Potiki Bryant. It will be a stunning show and a great way to celebrate the start of a week filled with discovery and adventure,” she says.

The concert follows the announcement of the prestigious Ambassador Award, which honours a community event organiser that has made a significant contribution to heritage education and advocacy during Heritage Week.

Christchurch City Council will also be providing an opportunity at its key events for attendees to donate towards the Canterbury Earthquake Heritage Building Fund.

Heritage Week is funded by the Christchurch City Council, with support from its sponsors including naming rights sponsor Beca. This year’s theme On the Horizon: rediscover the settlement of our City highlights the early encounters and discoveries that helped shape Christchurch and Canterbury.

Other key events during Beca Heritage Week include:

• The Orton Bradley Spring Fair at Diamond Harbour on Sunday 24 October, featuring market stalls and live entertainment amongst the park's historical buildings and arboretum
• A colonial experience of Grubb Cottage on Sunday 24 October, which gives Christchurch people a chance to explore the recently restored cottage, built in 1851 before the arrival of the First Four Ships
• The Bailies Bar Quiz Night on Tuesday 26 October, where participants will "board" one of the First Four Ships that carried settlers into the region and will be taken on a journey across the oceans to discover new land. The Town Crier will make the Boarding Call to get the voyage underway, under the helmsmanship of Ship Captain and Quiz Master, Dean Lester
• Escape from the Zoo – a theatrical event written by Jared Corbin of the Outwits from Thursday 28 to Saturday 30 October at the Botanic Gardens. The show is set in the 1860s when the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society used a site near the band rotunda for housing, acclimatising and breeding animals to be liberated into Canterbury, including wild animals, exotic birds and even a Canadian bear
• A street parade, display and documentary screening in Cathedral Square on Saturday October 30, to celebrate the Christchurch Fire Brigade’s 150th Anniversary.