{{Short description|New Zealander artistic director (1952–2026)}} {{Family name hatnote|van Zon|Zon|lang=Dutch}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = | honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=100%}} | image = Carla Van Zon-auckland-arts-festival-reception-078 (cropped).jpg | caption = Van Zon in 2017 | birth_name = Carla Marja Olga van Zon | birth_date = {{Birth date|1952|01|20|df=y}} | birth_place = Te Atatū, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|2026|04|29|1952|01|20|df=y}} | death_place = | alma_mater = {{Ubl|University of Otago|George Washington University}} | occupation = Artistic director | employer = {{Ubl|Creative New Zealand|New Zealand Festival of the Arts|Auckland Arts Festival}} | awards = {{Ubl|Arts Wellingtonian of the Year (2005)|Lifetime Achievement Award, Auckland Theatre Awards (2016)|NEXT Woman of the Year (arts & culture) (2017)}} }}
'''Carla Marja Olga van Zon''' {{Post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM}} (20 January 1952 – 29 April 2026) was a New Zealand artistic director. She worked on international opportunities for New Zealand artists at Creative New Zealand, before becoming artistic director of the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts in Wellington in 1996. From 2013 she was the artistic director of the Auckland Arts Festival, where she was responsible for commissioning works such as the opera ''The Bone Feeder''. Van Zon was responsible for supporting the careers of many New Zealand artists. She retired from the Auckland Arts Festival in 2017, following a diagnosis of kidney disease in 2016.
== Early life and education == Van Zon was born in Te Atatū in West Auckland on 20 January 1952, one of three girls born to Dutch immigrants, Boukje and Maurice van Zon, who had arrived via Indonesia.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Carla van Zon – Trustee|url=https://nzdc.org.nz/our-team/carla-van-zon|url-status=live|access-date=6 June 2021|website=The New Zealand Dance Company|language=en-NZ|archive-date=5 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605232633/https://nzdc.org.nz/our-team/carla-van-zon}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Auckland's queen of arts: Carla van Zon's final curtain call |url=https://www.metromag.co.nz/arts/arts-art-city/aucklands-queen-of-arts-carla-van-zons-final-curtain-call |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606023126/https://www.metromag.co.nz/arts/arts-art-city/aucklands-queen-of-arts-carla-van-zons-final-curtain-call |archive-date=6 June 2021 |access-date=6 June 2021 |website=www.metromag.co.nz |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Thorburn |first=Raewyn |date=July 2010 |title=The Freedom to Dance: A tribute to Boukje Van Zon dance pioneer 1921–2010 |work=DANZ Quarterly |pages=16–18}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.legacy.com/nz/obituaries/thepost-nz/name/carla-van-zon-obituary?id=61369498 |title=Carla van Zon obituary |date=1 May 2026 |work=The Post |access-date=1 May 2026}}</ref> Her mother was a contemporary dance teacher and her father worked for Pan Am.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Wilson|first=Simon|date=16 April 2017|title=The last dance of Carla van Zon|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/auckland/16-04-2017/the-last-dance-of-carla-van-zon/|access-date=6 June 2021|website=The Spinoff |archive-date=26 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226045551/https://thespinoff.co.nz/auckland/16-04-2017/the-last-dance-of-carla-van-zon/|url-status=live}}</ref> She studied contemporary dance at the University of Otago in Dunedin,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Smaal|first=Elizabeth|last2=Van Zon|first2=Carla|date=10 November 1999|title=Interview with Carla van Zon|url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/35844056|access-date=6 June 2021|website=National Library of New Zealand|language=en|archive-date=6 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606001902/https://natlib.govt.nz/records/35844056|url-status=live}}</ref> earning a degree in physical education, and then became a physical education teacher at Green Bay High School.<ref name=":3" /> In the early 1980s, she earned a Master of Arts degree in dance and arts administration at George Washington University.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" />
== Career == Van Zon's career in arts administration began at Creative New Zealand, where she worked to improve international opportunities for New Zealand artists.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> She managed New Zealand's entry to the 2009 Venice Biennale.<ref name=":0" /> She was involved with the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts in Wellington from 1989; from 1996 she was executive director, and was appointed artistic director in 2000.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=McPhee|first=Elena|date=29 November 2019|title=Otago to confer four honorary doctorates|url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/university-of-otago/otago-confer-four-honorary-doctorates|access-date=6 June 2021|website=Otago Daily Times |language=en|archive-date=6 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606021709/https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/campus/university-of-otago/otago-confer-four-honorary-doctorates|url-status=live}}</ref> Van Zon helped the festival turn a profit for the first time, and during her time it won four national tourism awards and the Dominion Gold Award for outstanding contribution to the Wellington economy.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" />
From 2013 to 2017, she was the artistic director of the Auckland Arts Festival, managing four festivals over that period, and doubling the attendance records.<ref name=":0" /> Of her approach to the festival being in Auckland and part of the Pacific, arts festival programme manager Tama Waipara said "The first thing was she put tangata whenua front and centre{{nbsp}}... She said we have to know who we are and where we are."<ref name=":1" /> In 2011, van Zon asked Renee Liang to rewrite her play ''The Bone Feeder'' as an opera, and commissioned it for the Auckland Festival.<ref name=":1" /> She was also instrumental in the careers of writer and actor Nancy Brunning, directors Jason Te Kare and Sara Brodie, writers Mei-Lin Te Puia Hansen, Victor Rodger, and Hone Kouka, composers Gareth Farr, John Psathas and Dame Gillian Whitehead.<ref name=":0" />
Van Zon was a board member of the charity Track Zero, which aims to connect artists and scientists to create work about climate change, and she wrote about the importance of artists speaking out against climate change.<ref>{{Cite web|last=van Zon|first=Carla|date=23 September 2019|title=Making the heart leap in joy, and anger: Why art is pivotal to our climate response|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/23-09-2019/making-the-heart-leap-in-joy-and-anger-why-art-is-pivotal-to-our-climate-response/|access-date=6 June 2021|website=The Spinoff |archive-date=19 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210219183917/https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/23-09-2019/making-the-heart-leap-in-joy-and-anger-why-art-is-pivotal-to-our-climate-response/|url-status=live}}</ref>
== Personal life, illness, and death == Van Zon lived in Ōtaki, north of Wellington, with husband Gregg Fletcher.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=6 March 2015|title=Carla van Zon's Otaki art oasis|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/66870563/carla-van-zons-otaki-art-oasis|access-date=6 June 2021|website=Stuff |language=en|archive-date=6 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606023402/https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/66870563/carla-van-zons-otaki-art-oasis|url-status=live}}</ref>
In June 2016, van Zon was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease,<ref name=":0" /> and retired from the Auckland Arts Festival at the end of April 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Auckland Arts Festival Reception|url=https://gg.govt.nz/publications/auckland-arts-festival-reception|access-date=6 June 2021|website=gg.govt.nz|language=en-NZ|archive-date=6 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606003638/https://gg.govt.nz/publications/auckland-arts-festival-reception|url-status=live}}</ref> She died from the disease on 29 April 2026, at the age of 74.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thepost.co.nz/culture/360996027/carla-van-zon-forceful-visionary-new-zealand-arts |title=Carla van Zon ‒ a forceful visionary in New Zealand arts |first=Joseph |last=Seelig |date=30 April 2026 |work=The Post |access-date=30 April 2026}}</ref>
== Honours and awards == In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, van Zon was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the arts.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Queen's Birthday Honours List 2000 (including Special List for East Timor)|url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2000-including-special-list-east-timor|access-date=6 June 2021|publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet|archive-date=21 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210521025048/https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2000-including-special-list-east-timor|url-status=live}}</ref>
Van Zon was voted the Arts Wellingtonian of the Year for 2005.<ref name=":0" /> In 2016, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Auckland Theatre Awards.<ref name=":0" /> In 2017, she was named 2017 NEXT Woman of the Year, in the Arts & Culture category.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Clifton|first=Emma|title=NEXT Woman of the Year winners' stories|url=https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/lifestyle/career/next-woman-of-the-year-winners-stories-35208|access-date=6 June 2021|website=Now To Love|language=en|archive-date=6 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606024911/https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/lifestyle/career/next-woman-of-the-year-winners-stories-35208|url-status=live}}</ref>
In 2019, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Otago, and during the graduation ceremony she urged those present to "Be curious, be open to people and experiences, take slow steps and enjoy the journeys down different pathways."<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Gibb|first=John|date=12 December 2019|title=Urged to be curious and open|url=https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/urged-be-curious-and-open|access-date=6 June 2021|website=Otago Daily Times |language=en|archive-date=6 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606024207/https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/urged-be-curious-and-open|url-status=live}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/standing-room-only/audio/2018728040/burning-cultural-issues-in-2019-tayi-tibble-carla-van-zon-and-sam-brooks Van Zon's 'burning cultural issues' for 2019], Radio New Zealand interview, 22 December 2019
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{{DEFAULTSORT:van Zon, Carla}} Category:1952 births Category:2026 deaths Category:Artistic directors Category:Arts administrators Category:Deaths from kidney disease Category:George Washington University alumni Category:New Zealand people of Dutch descent Category:New Zealand theatre people Category:Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:People from Auckland Category:University of Otago alumni