International Art Centre - Summer Collection

ICCNZ Member, Frances Davies of the International Art Centre, advises that with over 36 resident artists currently completing a multitude of exciting new works, the annual Summer Exhibition promises to be one of the best ever.

New to the gallery this year, and featured in the Summer Exhibition, are the unique neo-classical portraits of Oamaru based artist, Donna Demente. Whilst for the first time in New Zealand, clients are able to view and purchase the 'edgy' animal portraits of Melbourne artist Tracy Ellerton. On a more traditional level, Patricia Payne commemorates the festive season with a specially commissioned Nativity Scene accompanied by a new series of small scale paintings, perfect for a very special Christmas gift.

This year the every popular landscapes of leading New Zealand artist, Simon Williams, are complemented by his dramatic new series of Auckland Nightscapes.

International Art Centre

227 Parnell Road

Parnell

AUCKLAND

http://www.internationalartcentre.co.nz/

Europe Xmas Dance Party

ItaliaNZ in association with Alliance Francaise of Auckland will be holding the Europe Xmas Dance Party on Thursday, the 3rd of December, from 8pm at Khuja.

Entry is $10 which will include European nibbles.

2009 Italian Film Festival

This year’s festival selection represents the broadest offering of films to date, continuing to fulfil Tony's objective of extending the scope of the festival.

Tony Lambert says: "Whilst romantic comedies are my first choice for selection as I, like you, think the Italians make the best ‘romcoms’ in the business, I want to bring you other genres that demonstrate the rich variety of Italian cinema, including thrillers, documentaries, drama, comedy, dramatisations and historical drama. These are all represented in this year’s festival; a line-up of films that offers something for everyone."

The festival opens in Auckland on September 30 and finishes in Tauranga on 2 December.

Check out the site: www.italianfilmfestival.co.nz

Direct from Milano to Auckland - Piccolo Teatro di Milano

HARLEQUIN - Servant of Two Masters

Written by Carlo Goldoni

Directed by Giorgio Strehler

Restaged by Ferruccio Soleri in collaboration with Stefano de Luca

Featuring 20 actors and five musicians in breathtaking masks & costumes.

A miraculous fusion of brilliant directorial insight, inspired physical comedy and a peerless sense of style. LA TIMES

HARLEQUIN, a wily trickster, accepts the employment of two masters and is forced to walk a tightrope between their demands. What unfolds is a madcap masterpiece with three weddings, two duels, a dance number, a chase sequence, a love story, a food fight and much more.

...craft, vigor and sheer joie de vivre. CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Let Italy's revered Piccolo Teatro di Milano immerse you in the art of comedy – commedia dell'arte – upon which slapstick, physical comedy and the great comic characters from Shakespeare to Charlie Chaplin and Benny Hill to Homer Simpson have drawn their inspiration.

...pure buffoonery. THE NEW YORK TIMES

Ciao and see you there

Thursday 1 to Sat 3 October 7pm at the Aotea Centre, THE EDGE®

La Vita è Bella - The ONLY Italian Radio Programme in Auckland

Your Italian Sundays 9.10pm-10.10pm on Planet 104.6 FM.

Welcome to the only Italian radio programme broadcasted from Auckland!

The first little corner of Italianity available all over New Zealand, easily by turning on your radio on 104.2FM! Stay tuned on Planet 104.2 FM every Sunday night at 9.10pm for a unique Italian entertainment!

Mostly in Italian, La Vita è Bella will go though the amazing and always surprising regional traditions, the unforgettable Italian cults, food, culture and entertainment, interviews, guests, phone-out, surveys and competitions.

From Sunday 23rd August, every Sunday 9.10pm- 10.10pm

HEAR ITALIAN, THINK ITALIAN, LIVE BEAUTIFULLY ITALIAN

_____________________________________________

PROMOTIONAL VALUE FOR SUPPORTERS - Contact us

We can design with you a commercial script and record it. Once you will give us your approval on the final record, your commercial will be running on Planet FM, every day - throughout the day (24 hours!). Inclusion in a minimum of 8 x contesting elements during the first 8 Sunday’s programme. You’ll be present on the La Vita è Bella webpage in www.planetfm.co.nz

Contact us:

Emanuele: 021 1764436 emanuelekiwi@gmail.com

Cristina: 021 02202678 cristina_magni@libero.it

Luca: 021 597002 cheghevaso@hotmail.com

Italia vs France Mid-Summer Dance Party

Once again, the boys from ITALIANZ (Emanuele & Alfio) bring another event to the Auckland region!

In collaboration with Auckland Accueil, ITALIANZ presents the Mid-Summer Dance Party. The French band, Club Manouche, will fight through musical notes against Italian DJ, Luca Napolitano, aka Randal - the weapons involved will be guitars, CDs, microphones, drums and a lot of live music.

On the Italian side there will be free ciabatta and focaccia bread offered by Pukeko Bakery and, on the French side, petits fours offered by Panetton Bakery, to feed the crazy dancers during the night.

Last, but not least, the battlefield will be the legendary Khuja Lounge, 536 Queen Street, Auckland. Everyone is very welcome to join the event and remember, entry is from 8pm! Tickets on sale at the door ($10) on Thursday the 20th of August.

See you there.

Citi swings axe to restructure Italian business

Citigroup is looking to sell - or failing that, to close - its private banking business in Italy and is to reduce its presence in the country by about half.

The move, part of the US banking group's global restructuring programme, is expected to see the number of people employed in Italy fall from 1,000 to about 500 by the end of this year, with most of the job losses coming in its Italian consumer finance business. That unit, which has 65 branches round the country, is being closed.

Citigroup's scaling down in Italy represents a dramatic shift in policy for the bank, which expanded rapidly round the world in the past decade.

But it is consistent with its strategy of shrinking its balance sheet and divesting itself of non-core assets as it tries to revive its fortunes after suffering billions of dollars of losses during the global financial crisis.

Citigroup has held talks with Banco Santander of Spain, among others, about selling its Italian private business, which has assets of about €2bn ($2.8bn) under management and is considered too small to be competitive. If the bank cannot find a buyer, it is expected to close the unit.

Once the restructuring has been completed, Citigroup's business in Italy will be concentrated on corporate and investment banking and global transaction services.

Two years ago it sold its retail banking unit to Credem, an Italian bank. Citigroup has also sold its Milan headquarters, in a sale and leaseback deal.

Sergio Ascolani, Citigroup's head of banking in Italy, told the Financial Times: "It's absolutely rational, with current markets, to exit from businesses that are marginal and invest in areas where Citi is globally strong." He added: "We're not exiting Italy, just rationalising here."

Citigroup is one of the chief casualties of the global financial crisis and is under intense pressure to restructure and shrink after using hundreds of billions of US taxpayer dollars to prop itself up.

It is expected to finalise the sale of a 34% stake to the US government as part of its latest bail-out.

In January, Citigroup placed $650bn-worth of non-core assets and businesses into a separate division with a view to selling them or winding them down.

The new unit, called Citi Holdings, includes the bank's US consumer finance operations, about half of its credit card business and most of the toxic mortgage-backed securities that caused most of Citi's losses. On Friday, Citi created a special board committee to oversee Citi Holdings and monitor the disposal of its assets.