Nuit Blanche lights up Napier with music, art and performances

Nuit Blanche brought music, art and light to central Napier on Saturday night, with the free street party going ahead despite the rain.

Now in its ninth year, the event featured performances across several stages, galleries open after dark, and food from local restaurants and food trucks.

New additions included an aerial display involving local and Auckland performers, a new lighting installation and buskers who had appeared at the World Buskers Festival.

At Napier’s Municipal Theatre, the Pan Pac Foyer hosted a silent disco alongside inflatable light sculptures.

Napier City Council event manager Kevin Murphy said organisers had adjusted the programme to keep the event running safely, although slippery roads meant skating could not go ahead.

“The other performance spaces have got cover and we’ve been able to get everything else up and running,” he said.

Murphy said Nuit Blanche was attracting interest from outside Hawke’s Bay. He had met a Wellington family who drove to Napier that day after seeing an advertisement on television on demand.

“It’s a big event on our calendar now,” he said.

Organisers were promoting the event beyond the region, and Murphy believed it had potential to attract more visitors.

He said last year’s attendance had been estimated at between 10,000 and 15,000, although exact numbers were difficult to establish.

For Richard Boyd-Dunlop, of Boyd Dunlop Gallery, the event was a chance to introduce art to people who might not usually visit.

“For us it’s a new audience coming to our work,” he said.

The gallery has been involved since the first Nuit Blanche. Boyd-Dunlop said the event brought new and younger visitors through its doors, giving them a chance to see work by nationally and internationally known artists.

“We enjoy being a part of it.”

Project Prima Volta’s young singers were among this year’s newcomers. Anna Pierard said the event gave them a chance to share their talent beyond their usual audiences.

“These guys have done amazing things with their voices and they get to come out and show their stuff, just like the rest of Hawke’s Bay.”

Pierard said the group’s repertoire included arias translated into te reo Māori through a multi-year project.

She said the free singing programmes paired high expectations with strong support, with opportunities such as Nuit Blanche helping the young performers develop.

“This kind of experience is really testing these guys, so it’s amazing to be involved.”