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Monday, 29 June 2026, 4:17 pm<\/b> Dunedin Fringe Arts Amped is a four-week music mentorship Zac works as a guitar and drums teacher Zac says, \u201cI\u2019m so excited to be on board Dunedin Fringe Arts Advertisement – scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Amped began life as the Amped Music Project Amped Previous Amped Coordinators have included To support <\/p>\n \n\u00a9 Scoop Media<\/span><\/a> Scoop is free for personal use, but you”ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro<\/i> features.<\/p>\n Join Pro Individual<\/a>
Press Release: Amped<\/a><\/b><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n
\nNicholls. Photo credit: Kieran Dodd.
\nPhoto\/Supplied.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n
\nTrust is super excited to announce that Zac Nicholls is
\ntaking up the role as Coordinator for the 2026 Amped Music
\nProject.<\/p>\n
\nprogramme for high school students during August and
\nSeptember. It began life as the Chicks Music Project in 2010
\n\u2013 and Zac was one of those very early
\nparticipants.<\/p>\n
\nat Abbotsford Primary School, as well as regularly acting as
\na recording and mixing engineer for local bands, such as
\nDale Kerrigan, Bathysphere, H\u014dh\u0101 and Koizilla, as well as
\nnational acts. Zac has also written and directed plays at
\nthe Playhouse Theatre and the Fortune Theatre and holds a
\nBachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies\/Music from the
\nUniversity of Otago. With collaborator Alex Martyn, he
\nrecently presented Ngahau Tene<\/i>, a bilingual
\nimprovised gig\/show at Dunedin Fringe Festival, which was
\nnominated for five awards, winning the Music
\nAward.<\/p>\n
\nwith this incredible project. Without being involved in
\nAmped when I was at school, I would never be where I am as a
\nmusician and I wouldn\u2019t have half of the friendships I now
\ncherish. I\u2019m looking forward to providing that for the
\nnext generation of tamariki.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nTrust Producer Vanessa Beck says, \u201cWe\u2019re so chuffed to
\nhave Zac on board. He has so many great ideas bubbling
\nalready and the fact that he was one of the earliest
\nparticipants of the programme, and has also been a workshop
\nhost, really felt good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nChicks Music Project, established by Volunteer South as a
\nholiday programme for high school music students. When they
\nno longer had capacity to run it, the Dunedin Fringe Arts
\nTrust stepped in in 2013 to ensure the opportunity for our
\nyoung people remained available.<\/p>\n
\nenables participants to explore their identity as artists,
\nto begin to develop their music careers, to know how to
\nbuild on their Amped experience if they wish to pursue music
\nas a career or hobby and to make strong connections with
\ntheir peers and with the wider \u014ctepoti music community. It
\nfocuses on building a safe and inclusive environment for
\nyoung people as they enter the music industry.<\/p>\n
\nincludes workshops and all-ages gigs (as well as other
\nopportunities such as recording sessions) over four
\nweekends. The programme connects young musicians with
\nDunedin’s music and creative scenes with experienced
\nmusicians (including Amped alumni) engaged as guest tutors
\nand mentors.<\/p>\n
\nJess Young, Simon Wallace, Dallas Synnott, Nadia Reid, and
\nmost recently Craig Monk with Natasha Griffiths. The DFAT
\nteam acknowledges the huge contribution these people have
\nmade over the years, establishing, activating and supporting
\nthe all-ages live music scene in Dunedin.<\/p>\n
\nthe programme this year, Amped is running a crowdfunding
\ncampaign to enable the wider community to contribute to the
\nprogramme. More information is at https:\/\/givealittle.co.nz\/cause\/amped-2026.<\/p>\n
\n
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