Fundraiser concert a winner

20 May 2009

It was a thrilled audience that filed out of the Centrestage Theatre in Orewa last Saturday after a fundraiser concert for the Centre.

With a line-up that included Helen Medlyn and Penny Dodd, the cast of Cats, Hinewehi Mohi, and the best of Auckland's local theatre community, the audience were treated to a night to remember.

The concert, titled Music for the Children, raised $7,000 for the Centre, and was organised by Centrestage regular Julie Herbert.

Julie has a seven-year-old grandson who receives music therapy at the Centre, and says those weekly sessions have changed his life.

"When I found out the Centre needed to raise $400,000 a year just to keep running, I came up with the idea of putting a concert together to help. Performers and technical people all gave their services for free, and it was a truly fantastic night."

Julie said one of the highlights for her was the performance of Helen Medlyn, "although everyone was on such a high level, the performances were so good, that it is hard to really single anyone out".

Julie has been involved with Centrestage for about 10 years, principally as a performer, and Music for the Children was the first concert she has organised.

Given that it was such a resounding success, would she do it again?

"Yes, I'm already thinking about the line-up for next year!"

Centre Director Anne Bailey said the $7,000 raised was an incredibly welcome addition to the Centre's finances.

"It is truly gratifying that someone would value our service so much that they would organise a huge fundraiser for us. That is really inspiring for us, and we are deeply grateful to Julie, and to everyone who worked so hard to make the concert such a success."