The Performance Arcade was founded after looking for ways to bring live performance into the public environment.  The vision looked at combining the early fairground with the conventions of presenting contemporary performance art, focusing on the history of Wellington’s harbour as a shipping port, and its recent change of direction into a public playground. This idea arose from the need to find new spaces and new platforms for making and showing performance. There was a growing community of artists in NZ that did not always feel at home in the conventional theatre or the gallery but instead sought spaces between the two, that engaged the public in new ways. The first Performance and Events Schedule ran over three days, bringing together live music acts, short-films, performance art works, and public discussions to create a dynamic timetable of events.