From auditions to applause: helping make Porirua Has Talent a standout success

By Angela Bensemann, Director Halo Communications

Porirua Has Talent is the obvious highlight of 2024 for me. Run for the first time this year the event provided a platform for Porirua tamariki and rangatahi to shine.

I put my hand up to help event manager Tania Carr (think Real Talk), to project manage the event. I was looking for an opportunity to get involved in something different. It seems my control freak tendencies can be put to good use when it comes to making sure the wheels stay on, and the things get done. By default, I was also managing the high-level comms planning and messaging with help from an amazingly talented social media guru taking the lead in that space – thanks Shai!

Tania pulled together a committee of community advocates, youth workers, health professionals and people that just gave a damn. I was lucky enough to be invited into the fold for a lesson in persistence, resilience and dogged determination – and that was all before we even got to the auditions.

For me it was a welcome break from the serious communications projects I’m normally involved in, and a chance to see how something like this can bring a community together and open doors for young people who otherwise might not get the chance. And the talent on display… mind-blowing!

But it is a challenge working in the not-for-profit space – there’s never enough money to do all the things and in this case, it was hard getting the word out and encouraging young people to be vulnerable and stand in front of an audience. Whakama (shame) was a key barrier preventing them from coming forward. The use of online auditions helped to break down this barrier – and man could those guys sing and dance!

Early on I adopted the role of devil’s advocate (very common for comms professionals). You see it’s ingrained in us to look at things from a risk management point of view – the ‘what ifs’ are always front of mind. It’s part of the brief to offer up ideas and challenge beliefs to get the debate going.

When we only had 12 registrations, I floated the idea that it wasn’t too late to cancel. Not an option as far as Tania was concerned – we extended the registration date and went on a concerted drive to drum up more entries (60+ registrations later, she wasn’t wrong).

When we were struggling to get enough sponsorship together to pull off this feat – I floated the options on the table – not too late to pull out, pare back etc – not an option for Tania! We all doubled down on working our contacts under the watchful eye of Leigh our sponsorship manager (pictured with me).

And as inevitably happens in a large event like this there’s always some sensitive behind the scenes issues to deal with – I took on the role of sounding board and made sure we got ahead of the wave.

We had initially planned on multiple audition days and multiple days of finals. With the dawning realisation of the logistics (and costs) of this approach it was time to pivot – we consolidated into one day of auditions and crammed it full of amazing dance, vocals, variety and group performances. The tingles down the spine and hairs standing on end were real. Some of the youngest performers just blowing us all away.

The talented team of judges – all professional performers in their own right – had a difficult job on their hands but managed to whittle the field down to 20 finalists who put on an amazing final show to a sold-out crowd.

So did we meet our lofty goals to increase self-esteem and confidence in young people, celebrate the diversity and multitude of skills and talents Porirua has to offer, encourage creativity and bring the community together to celebrate our young people?

Too right – we smashed it. And how do we know? Well like any great event manager, Tania made sure every participant had the chance to give feedback (either on paper or on video) at the end of their performance. The feedback was heartwarming.

Questionnaires were also sent to all participants, whanau and to those attending the performances. Afterall if you’re going to run it again you need to know how it can be improved.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the team of volunteers, to the community organisations that got behind it but most of all to the young people and their families for sharing their amazing talent with all of us.

I got to be a part of something really special, and I got to learn a lot of things along the way.

And yes my photography skills could do with a polish up – but I figure the photo of the Holy Family School captured the vibe even though it isn’t the best. Once the professional photos come through I’ll look to change it out!