Those of you at the networking meeting will have heard Helen talk about this festival. The very first festival was in Cardiff and it is natural that a celebration of this coming of age again be hosted in Wales.

The Festival will be in two parts:

12th – 14th August 2011 in Aberystwyth University. This will be a conference and a chance to evaluate the legacy of the Magdalena.

15th-21st August 2011 will be a Festival of new work in Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff – the birthplace of the Project. There will be space given to all generations; both established and emerging women artists.

The latest issue 'Theatre - Women - Letters' is available through Magdalena Aotearoa.

‘Letters are personal and secret forms of communication, characteristics which enable us to hear the voices of some seemingly silent women on the past and present. The design of individual letters and of different alphabets, seen as paintings or graphic design, emerge in this issue as action, inspiration, sound, awareness, availability and rhythm to emphasise the individuality, age, tradition and cultural
circumstances of each author.’ Julia Varley

You're invited to a Magdalena Aotearoa Networking Party!
Monday 1 February 2010, from 7pm-10pm
Newtown Hall, Daniel St., Wellington

RSVP online here: http://www.magdalenaaotearoa.org.nz/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=8

The Networking Party is an evening of networking and information sharing - come and learn what the Magdalena Aotearoa Trust and the Magdalena Project are all about, and network with other theatre practitioners and artists. We'll provide some drinks & nibbles (contributions to the refreshments are welcome).

on monday 4th january, while most of the country was still on holiday, a group of us gathered at janet's for a database party. the purpose of this party was to learn how to use our shiny new CiviCRM online membership database. this is the system that we installed in conjunction with this new site, & already it's made a great improvement in how we manage all our contact information, and communicate with our members.

In the editorial of the December 2009 Magdalena Aotearoa newsletter, Helen Varley Jamieson reflects on what’s happened since 1999 - what the 1999 Magdalena Aotearoa International Festival of Performance inspired and the ways our lives were changed by it.

A Decade of Consequences

last week the newsletter went to the printer & a small group of dedicated stuffers gathered at madeline's on wednesday night to get it stuffed & in the post. if you're a newsletter subscriber, it should be in your letterbox by now : ) & if you're not a subscriber, you can download the pdf (1.2MB).

thanks to all our subscribers for supporting this valuable newsletter & hope you enjoy the latest issue.

The theme of this year's Transit is peripheries - of all kinds, geographic, artistic, cultural, etc. in my presentation i talked about my own peripherical work, on the edge of theatre & also on the edge of digital art. i also talked about peripherals - things you attach to your computer to expand its capabilities such as a printer, web cam, external hard-drive, etc. periphical things have important roles to play in relationship to the centre(s) as well as to each other.

packed festival days continue! after giving my own presentation yesterday, as well as helping with projection for gabi's show earlier in the day & eva's show the night before, i'm having a quiet day today to upload & offload rather than try to take more in.

another full day at Transit - trying to get an early night but already it's half past midnight. dawn (pictured resplendent at the bar, below) is now horizontal, while madeline has returned from her bar shift & we are discussing the performances from this evening. i can't discuss & write at the same time ... more later ...

The festival has been going for a few days of workshops but this evening was the formal opening for the presentations and performances. I have tried to capture the essence of Julia Varley's opening address below: