East After Dark
On Saturday evening I attended East After Dark, a free concert delivered by the Howick Youth Council. I recall the group saying they wanted to run the event to give local bands and musicians an opportunity to showcase their talent and I’m glad they did - the performances were awesome!
Almost every secondary school was represented with 17 performances from Ormiston Senior College, Sancta Maria College, Botany Downs Secondary College, Edgewater College, Howick College, Ormiston Junior College, Pakūranga College, Saint Kentigern, and Somerville Intermediate School.
Free tickets sold out and the auditorium at Ormiston Junior College looked packed. The Howick Local Board was provided reserved seats – I attended the whole concert alongside Member Luke Collings, while Deputy Kai Zeng was there at the start, and Chair Bruce Kendall and Member Mike Turinsky joined towards the end.
I was extremely impressed with how professionally it was run, with lighting and sound helping the performances shine. They even managed the crowd in a complete blackout when the power went out across Ormiston mid-performance.
The Howick Youth Council were founded by the Howick Local Board 15 years ago to provide opportunities for local rangatahi to represent and empower local youth. We fund them to deliver a self-determined range of projects and activities - for youth, by youth.