Busking on Dublin's streets as a teen helped Glen Hansard gain Hollywood fame two decades later. He talks to JULE SCHERER of NZPA about how winning an Oscar changed his life and his band The Swell Season's new album.

Over 100 instruments will come together when an Argentinean orchestra combining indigenous instruments and digital technology plays in Wellington this Saturday.

New Plymouth will be bursting at the seams this week with some of New Zealand's most celebrated and exciting musicians performing at the inaugural Sounds Aotearoa.

Wellington, March 8 NZPA - The Weta Digital team from Wellington has won the Oscar best visual effects.

The team of Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew Jones were on stage to accept the Academy Award for their work for the blockbuster Avatar.

NZ celeb Kimberley Crossman (of Shortland Street fame) is heading to the U.S. Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, to host Nickelodeon New Zealand's Orange Carpet pre-show.

Wellington, March 8 NZPA - Aucklander Kim Sinclair, the art director for Avatar, has claimed an Oscar.

Sinclair was one of four members of the Avatar arts team to collect the Oscar for best arts direction at today's Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood.

Linwood Park, Saturday 20 March, 1 pm - 6 pm

www.lyfe.co.nz

THE VANISHING

You could have heard a pin drop as the lights finally went down on the opening night of The Diary of Anne Frank. The audience sat in stunned silence for what seemed an eternity before erupting in thunderous applause.

Get the family together and come to what promises to be a fantastic day out in Glendene where families and the kids can enjoy sausage sizzles, sports games, magicians, face painting and more.