The Cargo Shed was the venue for the annual auction of the art printed in the More FM calendar to support the work of the Breast Cancer Support Service Tauranga Trust.
On a light spring evening The Cargo Shed with its floor to ceiling views of the Tauranga Harbour and walls filled with art, art craft and creativity was the place to be. On the table at the entry, discrete piles of catalogues for the art stood alongside the 2015 More FM Calendar. Inside the faux gold cane chairs formed waiting lines in front of the auctioneer’s podium. A large chandelier of frosted pink balloons hovered above. Glasses of champagne circulated.
The high centre aisle information table of The Cargo Shed glowed with trays of small sandwiches, asparagus rolls, perfect but tiny lemon meringue and glazed fruit tarts and small and perfectly formed richly pink iced cakes. In keeping with the style of the evening the caterer, Blomquist’s Bakery of Greerton had presented all the goodies in trays with a beautiful William and Morris style gold pattern against a dark background. Everything looked just so good. Hosted by Tauranga’s More FM 93.4 this fundraising event for the Breast Cancer Support Service Tauranga Trust was excellently presented.
I saw Blair Cashmore the Bayley’s auctioneer work the crowd at the Closing the Gap auction of Tom Scott cartoons and memorabilia earlier this year: Cashmore’s a star in the pattern of that other community supporting auctioneer “Vosper”. Once again he entertained as much as he ensured funds were clinking into the Breast Cancer Trust tin. Ironically the highlight of the auction wasn’t the sale of the art; it was the double act of Mr Cashmore and the owner-chef of QB Vis that 18th Avenue cafe of delights. Up for sale – a dinner cooked in your home and the bidding was fierce and over $1,000. was paid for this privilege. Thank you to the purchaser and the chef!
You’ve all heard it before but I’m astounded by the generosity of the arts community in supporting the wider community and I’m consistently impressed by the support given by the business community in all sorts of ways to all sorts of community projects. I’ve recently started listening to Mediawork’s Radio Live when I’m working outside in “the shed” and I’ve been impressed by the number of community advertisements they play and also the number of advertisements they play for arts related events. Good on you!
So why have I put this piece in Stuff to Say? Well, I would like to have seen more people at this event. In ARTbop September’s Stuff to Say I wrote that Tauranga “bustles and bristles with events” and that this isn’t always a good thing. Last night 29th October I saw a steady stream of people walking past The Cargo Shed – perhaps a Conference at Trinity Wharf? There was the Tauranga City Council Public Arts Policy Workshop. There was the very big fundraising concert at Baycourt and there may have been other events too.
What ARTbop has been suggesting, in fact “banging on about” for a while now is that the Tauranga City Council or even The Bay of Plenty Regional Council should establish a 5 year ahead event planner (as distinct from eventfinda’s current events). This future planner would be accessible by groups and organisations with their own unique pin/code and by occasional event planners with a temporary pin/code. Event planners would be able to see who was doing what up to five years out and could then either avoid a date or leverage off it.
I’ve spoken to a variety of major, minor and humble event organisers who have all said they would have liked to have had the ability to easily check who was already planning what on any particular date. They all said it was almost impossible to quickly find out about other planned events. If I tell enough people, this might happen in ten years time?
Rosemary Balu
