Arts
Vanessa Immink is an emerging wāhine Māori/Pākēha theatre maker, producer and marketer, with experience in touring large scale international productions to independent solo shows, as well as marketed and publicised dozens of independent events over the past seven years. Originally from Whakatāne, Immink moved to Wellington in 2012 to study performing arts. Once graduating from the Whitireia Performance Centre with a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Performing Arts – Musical Theatre), she began working as a production assistant & tour manager for Lunchbox Theatrical Productions on international touring shows such as Singin In the Rain, Cats, Blue Man Group and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Immink is the founder and creative producer of The Co - Lab, a Wellington based theatre company, created in 2016 with a focus on producing emerging Māori and Pasifika artists’ new theatre work. Work of note are Kasiano Mita’s Talofa Papa (NZ Fringe & Kia Mau Festival 2018, WORLD FRINGE, Adelaide Fringe & Basement Theatre 2019, and Maia Diamond’s Fishin’ Chip (Kia Mau Festival 2019). The Co – Lab won “Most Promising Emerging Company” at the 2018 New Zealand Fringe Festival and Talofa Papa won “Most Outstanding Performer”, “Adelaide Fringe Tour Ready Award” (NZ Fringe 2018), and a Theatre Weekly Award at FRINGE WORLD (Perth Fringe 2019). Vanessa is of Nga Wairiki o Ngati Apa and Tuwharetoa descent. In this episode: We talk about the difference between producing in New Zealand vs Australia. Why we need to diversify as independent producers and take on other work. Why there are so many hats in the job of producing, and how producers are able to do so much with so little money.