A first for New Zealand’s creative industries, and a community that kept rising.

New Zealand’s music, media and entertainment industries had no single event that brought them all together. Rhythm and Vines co-founder Hamish Pinkham set out to change that with The Phoenix Summit, and I came on board as event director and creative producer.

Phoenix Summit 001 brought about 150 people to Q Theatre in Auckland on 14 September 2019. A full day of interviews, presentations and conversations, with international guests including Lady Gaga’s creative director, John Legend’s manager and MTV’s Brent Hansen, alongside local heroes from across the industry. I shaped the programme, ran the logistics, hosted the speakers and built the community, marketing and comms around it.

Then COVID hit, so we kept the community together in other ways. Phoenix Rising, in July 2020, was a smaller networking event rather than a full summit. It reconnected the creative industries after the first lockdown, with honest conversations about where the opportunities would be in a changed world. Summit 002, planned for that November, never went ahead when COVID returned to Auckland. Instead, the Phoenix Encore closed out the year with people who’d found success anyway, including the creators of the film Baby Done.

In November 2021, Summit 003 brought the community back together at Wynyard Pavilion, with guests including Grammy-nominated producer Mike Snell and LiveNDirect founder Keith Turner.

The event is only the beginning. Phoenix is the proof.

Results

• Launched New Zealand’s first summit for the whole media and entertainment industry, with about 150 attending

• An international and local line-up, from Lady Gaga’s creative director to MTV’s Brent Hansen

• Kept the community connected through COVID, with Phoenix Rising and the Encore in 2020 and Summit 003 in 2021