Podcasts by Standing Room Only
All episodes
Actress Lucy Boynton and the remake of The Ipcress File from 2022-04-17T12:40
Playing a steely female spy in a man's world in a remake of the movie The Ipcress File was an opportunity British actress Lucy Boynton embraced. The thriller's set in 1963 when former army sergeant...
Listen
Comedy Panel from 2022-04-17T12:15
As one door closes, in the form of yet another New Zealand International comedy festival this winter, a few small trapdoors seem to be opening up for our comedians. Over the past couple of years mo...
Listen
New Zealand's Assistant Conductor-in-Residence from 2022-04-17T02:45
There's to be a changing of the guard on concert hall podiums around the country, with a new Maestro preparing to take over as New Zealand's Assistant Conductor-in-Residence. The Auckland Philharmo...
Listen
The art of seaweed from 2022-04-17T02:35
Seaweed is a talking point these days as a potential and as yet untapped source of biofuel and food - but less so as a subject for artists. The upcoming New Zealand Festival of Nature in Otepoti Du...
Listen
Fantasy writer Nikky Lee - The Rarkyn's Familiar from 2022-04-17T02:25
There are more ways than ever to get published these days - including Twitter. Fantasy writer Nikky Lee won a Twitter competition that lead to the first in her Young Adult trilogy The Rarkyn's Fami...
Listen
Through the lens of Ans Westra from 2022-04-17T01:50
Dutch-Kiwi photographer Ans Westra has captured on film some of the quintessential images of New Zealand life over her many decades behind the camera. She's remains deeply proud of her Dutch herita...
Listen
Sir Julius von Haast from 2022-04-17T01:33
19th century Geologist and explorer Sir Julius von Haast's contribution to Aotearoa's scientific history has been quietly overlooked - but a symposium timed to coincide with his 200 birth year anni...
Listen
The X factor - horror producer Jacob Jaffke from 2022-04-10T17:24
Right now the movie industry is increasingly nervous, with all the big Hollywood studios saying the only way to make a profit is huge and very expensive blockbusters. But one company is going in th...
Listen
Christine Whybrew retraces the histories of houses from 2022-04-10T14:39
Family genealogy is irresistable for many of us, researching our whakapapa. There's another history though that's overlooked but often just as fascinating - the story of our homes. Christchurch-bas...
Listen
Novelist India Holton from 2022-04-10T14:26
With characters who include a pirate of low morals but high cheekbones and a witch who's also an excellent pick pocket and a keen bibliophile, you can tell you're in for a wild ride. India Holton's...
Listen
David Groves takes us on a journey from Xanadu to Venice from 2022-04-10T13:46
Author David Groves invites us to travel the Silk Road from fabled Asian capital Xanadu to Venice, with adventurer Marco Polo and the Emperor Kublai Khan as our guides, in his novel 7 Intelligible ...
Listen
Baroque violinist Anne Loeser from 2022-04-10T13:33
In what she believes to be a first for Aotearoa, violinist Anne Loeser is about to play the entire cycle of Heinrich Biber's 17th century Rosary Sonatas for violin and continuo.. It's such a marath...
Listen
The art of Ceramics repairs with Dave Clingman from 2022-04-10T12:31
In the latest in our occasional series of interviews with repairers, we turn our attention to pottery. People are often encouraged to repair broken musical instruments, furniture or paintings. But ...
Listen
Printmaker Francoise Gilot - life after Picasso from 2022-04-10T12:16
Napier is about to host the largest collection of artwork by pioneering fine art printmaker Françoise Gilot ever exhibited in the Southern Hemisphere. Françoise is a spritely 100 years old - and fo...
Listen
Auckland Theatre Company reaches out to youth from 2022-04-03T14:47
Young aspiring actors, directors, designers, writers, and theatre artists are being invited to apply for a new Youth Theatre company in Tamakai Makarau. It's for 16-25 year olds, and it's the initi...
Listen
Michele Beevors knits skeletons of endangered animals from 2022-04-03T14:36
Stuffed animals used to be a fixture of Victorian houses and museums, though for modern eyes they elicit complicated responses. They're certainly striking - often magnificent - examples of the taxi...
Listen
Violinist Rakuto Kurano's residency at a Wanaka retirement village from 2022-04-03T14:26
Violinist Rakuto Kurano has big ambitions for his time as the first Artist in Residence at a Wanaka retirement complex. He's just completing the first of three week-long stints at The Aspiring Life...
Listen
Illustrators' contribution to children's books from 2022-04-03T13:45
An exhibition to celebrate those who put pictures to words for one of our leading children's book publishers, is about to open in Whanganui. It's two years since the Lockett Gallery, an arm of Paig...
Listen
The first NZ Scandinavian Film Festival from 2022-04-03T13:31
Every year it seems there are new regional film festivals, often hugely popular with Kiwi audiences. The big surprise about the latest one - the first Scandinavian Film Festival - is surely why has...
Listen
The Going West Festival takes some new directions from 2022-04-03T12:40
Going West, Aotearoa's oldest indy LitFest, used to be all about the bringing together of writers and readers in a room, even on a train, to chat about books. But that was then. After two disrupted...
Listen
Cath Newhook revives treasured stringed instruments from 2022-04-03T12:16
A treasured violin run over by a car is one of the most extreme repairs carried out by The Stringed Instrument Company in Auckland. Our occasional series of interviews with repairers continues with...
Listen
International Film Festival returns in 2022 from 2022-03-27T17:23
Whanau Marama: the New Zealand International Film Festival has just announced it will return this year, though it's going to have to reduce the number of films and venues. It's coming off the back ...
Listen
Chris Bryant Toi: Te Ara Kahikatea from 2022-03-27T14:45
The depth and diversity of humankind's relationship with the natural world are explored in a new exhibition Nature Culture at MTG in Hawke's Bay. Local artist Chris Bryant-Toi's work forms a corner...
Listen
Lost in the Museum from 2022-03-27T14:30
A boy's father goes missing while at Te Papa - but he's not missing in the building, he's lost in one of the museum's taonga. That's the premise for a new book called Lost in the Museum, a collabor...
Listen
Janet Charman: The Pistils from 2022-03-27T14:25
Poems based on public holidays and significant days in our history are included in Pistils, the 9th collection by Janet Charman. There are deeply personal works touching on the death of her partner...
Listen
Francis Upritchard: Paper, Creature, Stone from 2022-03-27T13:50
Creatures from the distant past or visitors from another dimension? An arresting new exhibition from internationally renowned Kiwi artist Francis Upritchard features a range of human and animal for...
Listen
Hannah Upritchard: eccentric jewellery to spark joy from 2022-03-27T13:30
A three month trip home to Christchurch from London to donate a kidney to her mother, has turned into a two year stay for expat jeweller Hannah Upritchard. But she's making the most of her time, cr...
Listen
Murray Cammick's show goes on from 2022-03-27T12:30
Photographer Murray Cammick's new exhibition The show must go on comes bristling with levels. It's the old showbiz dictum, of course - no matter what, go on and give them a show. And these days tha...
Listen
Adam NZ Play Awards announced from 2022-03-27T12:15
First today it is a privilege on Standing Room Only to be announcing the winners of the Adam NZ Play Awards. Lynn is joined by Murray Lynch, the head of Playmarket that runs the awards. We will als...
Listen
Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda from 2022-03-20T14:49
The wealth of feminist art by Pacific women Aoteaora and across Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean, is being celebrated in a new exhibition at Toi o Tamaki Auckland Art Gallery. Ane Tonga, the gal...
Listen
Stephen Johnson: Boxed from 2022-03-20T14:40
Thriller writer Stephen Johnson sends an ambitious TV news team into dangerous territory in his new book Boxed. The expat Australian tv producer and tour guide, was a finalist in the 2020 Ngaio Mar...
Listen
Chris Tse: Super Model Minority from 2022-03-20T14:25
Moments of joy to fortify the soul are promised in the latest poetry collection by Chris Tse, Super Model Minority. They're not all soft and tender poems though, as Chris once again mines tough tim...
Listen
Diana Halstead: Archetypes from 2022-03-20T13:50
In the 1990s Artist and political activist Diana Halstead spent a miserable few years living in Devonport - she found it claustrophobic after living in the wilderness of the Waitakere Ranges. Each ...
Listen
The poetry of complaint from 2022-03-20T13:33
Tomorrow is World Poetry Day and poets around Aotearoa have been busy beavering away to celebrate it. One of them is Associate Professor Sarah Ross, from Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Well...
Listen
Libraries reach out for a new generation of librarians from 2022-03-20T12:45
Well before the pandemic, many of the country's libraries were facing uncertain times. Many school and community libraries have been struggling to compete with other calls on stretched school and c...
Listen
NZ film composers take the stage from 2022-03-20T12:30
The three composers up for the 2021 APRA Best Original Music In A Film Award each faced entirely different challenges with their scores. They've also had to wait a long time to find out which of th...
Listen
Upstart Press buys New Holland publishing from 2022-03-20T12:15
There's been a major shift in New Zealand independent publishing this week. Auckland publisher Upstart Press has purchased the entirety of New Holland Publishing, including their extensive backlist...
Listen
Gone at high tide - an art installation on a beach from 2022-03-13T14:49
Gisborne's Kaiti beach beach has been the giant canvas of local artist Adel Salmanzadeh and his whanau this week, in a work created for the Auckland Art Festival. The Iranian-born refugee came to A...
Listen
Maggie Rainey-Smith is taken back in time by Formica from 2022-03-13T14:40
Many of us may remember sitting around the good old Formica kitchen table back in the 1960s and 70s. Eastbourne-based poet Maggie Rainey-Smith takes us back to those times in her new collection, Fo...
Listen
The poetry and art-work of Gregory O'Brien from 2022-03-13T14:25
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but Gregory O'Brien has made a name for himself by offering paintings as well as poems in his collections. The Wellington writer, painter and art curator ...
Listen
Flautist Bridget Douglas is inspired by the Voice of the Whale from 2022-03-13T13:47
NZSO flautist Bridget Douglas has stepped up to the challenge for a videoed online concert that's part of the revamped Aotearoa New Zealand Arts Festival programme. As she tells Lynn Freeman, it's ...
Listen
George Keenan - the wizard of wood from 2022-03-13T13:33
Breakages, borer and botched DIY repairs, he's seen it all at his studio in the Manawatu where he trades as "Good As New". In another in our occasional series of interviews with repairers and resto...
Listen
The CSO reaches out to the community from 2022-03-13T12:45
The new Chief Executive Officer of the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra has big plans for the CSO, especially when it comes to hitting the right note with the community. Dr Graham Sattler was appoin...
Listen
Turning plastic carrier bags into art from 2022-03-13T12:35
A new exhibition invites you to think more deeply about those large, woven, plastic, carry-all bags used around the world for years. The mass-produced bags come in fetching combinations of red whit...
Listen
Greenstone TV looks ahead from 2022-03-13T12:16
More than two hundred TV series and and one-offs - Greenstone TV has been producing local shows for more than 20 years. And despite the many challenges facing the screen sector at the moment, it ha...
Listen
The story of Ashburton becomes an art exhibition from 2022-03-06T14:48
It began in 1858 as a humble ferry crossing. Now the Canterbury town of Ashburton, made rich through agriculture, is in the midst of a large scale revitalisation project, with new buildings springi...
Listen
The notorious Flora McKenzie inspires a trio of crime novels from 2022-03-06T14:39
Auckland's famous madam Flora MacKenzie has now inspired a trilogy of crime novels by writer Jen Shieff. The first two in the series The Gentleman's Club and The Vanishing Act were both finalists i...
Listen
Patricia Bell and The Library of Unfinished Business from 2022-03-06T14:28
Whether or not you believe in an afterlife, chances are you've imagined what it might be like. In Auckland writer Patricia Bell's novel The Library of Unfinished Business, we join recently deceased...
Listen
Our first professional portrait artist, William Beetham from 2022-03-06T13:48
Family members descended from Aotearoa's first professional portrait artist, William Beetham, are bringing together paintings he made of himself, his wife and his ten children for an exhibition cal...
Listen
FLARE sees muralists taking it to the streets from 2022-03-06T13:30
One of the few public artforms that can happen at the moment is street art. Christchurch in particular is making the most of it, launching an entire festival devoted to it. FLARE, the organisers te...
Listen
The art of a cappella singing from 2022-03-06T12:45
For a decade Timothy Wayne-Wright travelled the world performing hundreds of concerts with Britain's Grammy award winning The King's Singers. Now he and his family have settled in Aotearoa, where T...
Listen
Scale Studios are big in miniatures from 2022-03-06T12:30
You may recall the Herald story last year: Reserve Bank pays nearly $400k for an art work, described by that well-known art critic, Act leader David Seymour, as an "over-priced monstrosity". The te...
Listen
Gareth Farr's new piece debuts in Auckland from 2022-03-06T12:15
The classic requiem form is the springboard for a new work that reflects on how Kiwis have been experiencing loneliness, distance, and uncertainty under lockdown and border restrictions. Where Will...
Listen
Reading advocate Sarah Forster from 2022-02-27T14:43
All children deserve to see themselves in a book, but in Aotearoa this isn't always happening. That's the key point made in the acceptance speech by the country's most recent winner of the Storylin...
Listen
Keith and Faith Martin's Dolls' Hospital from 2022-02-27T13:35
Why is the BBC TV series The Repair Shop - where heirlooms are repaired by experts - so popular? The skill of the craftspeople is certainly breathtaking. But often it's the story behind the objects...
Listen
Making screen comedy for your phone! from 2022-02-27T12:47
Here's a new Instagram comedy series called I got you, designed to be watched on your mobile phone. The story is simple: a young Pasifika woman starts a side hustle giving relationship advice - des...
Listen
Sculptor Denis O'Connor from 2022-02-27T12:36
Sculptor and social historian Denis O'Connor has created a love letter to his home of five decades, Waiheke Island, in the form of a bright red post office. The Last Post Office houses PO boxes for...
Listen
Libertine Pictures' Richard Fletcher making high-end drama under Covid from 2022-02-27T12:16
Two weeks ago we talked with New Zealand Film Commission CEO David Strong about the challenges - and some rewards - facing the whole industry. But what's it like at the sharp end? One of our most s...
Listen
Artist Yona Lee has a thing about steel pipes from 2022-02-20T14:48
Artist Yona Lee uses hundreds of metres of stainless-steel pipe - the sort more commonly turned into handrails - for her room-sized gallery installations. Then she adds everyday objects like umbrel...
Listen
Veteran poet Alan Roddick looks back - and forward from 2022-02-20T14:36
The past, present and even speculation about the future all find a place in the latest poetry collection Next by Otepoti Dunedin based writer Alan Roddick. It's the octogenarian's third collection,...
Listen
Murder in the Far North. Call DI Bradshaw from 2022-02-20T14:26
Aotearoa's latest literary sleuth, D.I. Nyree Bradshaw is faced by a mystifying and culturally challenging case in Catherine Lea's thriller The Water's Dead. The DI and her team are in a race again...
Listen
The Laugh Track - comedian Ryan McGhee from 2022-02-20T14:06
One of the best things about the last couple of weeks on the Laugh Track is that the guests - mostly about to star in the upcoming Fringe Festival - have generally picked other Fringe performers. I...
Listen
Bringing native birdsong into the heart of the city from 2022-02-20T13:46
From dawn 'til dusk, pedestrians walking along Otepoti Dunedin's central George Street, are about to be serenaded by Recordings of Town Belt native manu or birds. Artist Vicki Lenihan made the reco...
Listen
The art of "jewelleryness" from 2022-02-20T13:31
Cigarette filters, rusty chains, old pipes and other urban detritus have found a new life in the hands of Wellington jewellers and collaborators, Caroline Thomas and Fran Carter. It's a project tha...
Listen
In praise of Kiwi film crews from 2022-02-20T12:45
A suspense/thriller set in the States but filmed in Tamaki Makaurau last year is about to get an international audience. Australian director Damien Power hadn't originally intended to film No Exit ...
Listen
The golden age of state houses from 2022-02-20T12:29
When photographer David Cook started taking pictures of his neighbours in a characterful Hamilton East state housing suburb back in the 1990s, nobody realised that gentrification was about to strik...
Listen
Michelle goes to Berlin from 2022-02-20T12:16
New Zealand film-maker Michelle Savill has been hovering in the "Girl most likely" category for a while now, and it looks like that promise is coming true. Her debut feature is called Millie lies l...
Listen
25 years of the ground-breaking dance company Touch Compass from 2022-02-13T14:45
Aotearoa New Zealand's only disability-led professional performing arts organisation, Touch Compass, is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a live streamed show. Technically the dance company, wh...
Listen
Poet Oscar Upperton and the singular Doctor Barry from 2022-02-13T14:29
Transgender 19th-century surgeon Doctor James Barry is one of those fascinating characters from the past who you can't believe isn't better known. He was by all accounts an excellent physician, tho...
Listen
The Laugh Track - NZ Fringe's Tom Noble from 2022-02-13T14:06
With festivals and arts events dropping like flies at the moment, it's a minor miracle when any New Zealand event makes it to the finish line. But the New Zealand Fringe Festival does minor miracle...
Listen
Classical instruments meet traditional taonga puoro from 2022-02-13T13:47
In recent years many musicians have experimented with the sounds of taonga puoro - traditional Maori instruments. Art music ensemble Tamira Puoro - Ruby Solly and Michelle Velvin - are the latest t...
Listen
Two new names on Dunedin's Writers' Walk from 2022-02-13T13:32
Getting your name on a plaque on the Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature Writers' Walk is a huge deal, and also very competitive given how many writers Otepoti has produced. The latest two writers to...
Listen
Pictures of musical instruments - from the inside! from 2022-02-13T12:41
Just imagine being able to walk through the interior of an historic cello, a grand piano, or even a didgeridoo Using special probe lenses and high resolution cameras, Kiwi cellist and photographer ...
Listen
Film Commission CEO David Strong looks ahead to 2022 from 2022-02-13T12:15
New Zealand Film Commission CEO David Strong has been in the job for nearly six months now, and has presided over both triumphs and setbacks in that time. There's dealing with Covid, of course, try...
Listen
Evolutionary Thinking: On Darwinism, Doubt and Dunedin from 2022-02-06T14:45
Dunedin citizens were embroiled in a tempestuous public debate over Darwin's Theory of Evolution in the 1880s says Dr Rosi Crane. She speaks with Lynn Freeman about these fractious times.
Listen
Nikki and Kirsty are wild about Harry Styles from 2022-02-06T14:28
Sisters Nikki Perry and Kirsty Roby speak with Lynn Freeman about their joint-novel How to Marry Harry.
Listen
The Laugh Track - Jojo Bellini from 2022-02-06T14:06
This week's Laugh Track guest is cabaret and burlesque performer Jojo Bellini speaking with Lynn Freeman.
Listen
Fake steaks and guillotines - Props Master Jay Duckworth on making movie magic from 2022-02-06T13:40
For almost 40 years, Professor Jay Duckworth has fashioned realistic props - or "properties" for productions such as hit musical Hamilton. He speaks with Lynn Freeman about the creativity and chall...
Listen
The women of the New Zealand goldfields from 2022-02-06T12:45
Frustrated by the lack of information about the many women who made a living on the New Zealand goldfields in the 1800s, Canterbury Museum researcher Julia Bradshaw went in search of them and speak...
Listen
The Black Shag Cafe from 2022-02-06T12:30
Transforming a biscuit tin into an artwork is the latest challenge issued to Southland artists by Invercargill artist and cafe owner, Sylvie Boutelje-Chasteau. Lynn Freeman speaks with the cafe own...
Listen
Screen cultural fund from 2022-02-06T12:15
Screenrights' Rachel Antony speaks with Simon Morris about a new Cultural Fund encouraging would-be film-makers and story-tellers who maybe wouldn't normally be the first ones in the queue.
Listen
Artist Peter Lange - brick by brick from 2022-01-30T14:48
Since the 1970s ceramicist Peter Lange has pushed the boat out with his art form - literally in the case of a two-tonne boat that famously floated on Auckland harbour 20 years ago. But the...
Peter Lange - Brick by Brick from 2022-01-30T14:48
Since the 1970s ceramicist Peter Lange has pushed the boat out with his art form, these days he's working using individual bricks as canvasses. The images reflect his trademark sense of fun and iro...
Listen
Trisha Hanifin's The Time Lizard's Archaeologist from 2022-01-30T14:35
There are books that simply don't fit neatly into any literary genre, and the new one by Trisha Hanifin is definitely in that camp. The Time Lizard's Archaeologist is part Speculative Fiction, part...
Listen
Timberrrr...! from 2022-01-30T14:25
Two-time world champion axeman Ned Shewry hailed from Taranaki. A hard man, by all accounts, and more than half a decade on, elements of his life have now been fictionalised for a new play. Timberr...
Listen
Wheel of Experience from 2022-01-30T13:48
Teaching Benedict Cumberbatch how to play the banjo for the Netflix film The Power of the Dog has been one of the most intriguing recent gigs for banjo player David Ward. David's also one of the th...
Listen
Rijula Das: bringing new verve to the Verb from 2022-01-30T13:35
Scheduling any festival in the time of a pandemic is going to be a nightmare. Rijula Das is the new Verb Readers and Writers Festival Programmer for 2022, and it's one of the big literary events in...
Listen
Measuring the Anzacs from 2022-01-30T12:45
An ambitious project to gather information from 1000s of military personnel files - of those who served in the New Zealand military in World War I and the South African War - needs your help. The f...
Listen
The Film Artisans from 2022-01-30T12:15
Hundreds of New Zealand film crew were gutted by the sudden end to what were expected to be two big budget long term screen series. Amazon's Lord of the Rings wrapped after filming just the first s...
Listen
Sci-fi author Bryan Walpert and the matter of time from 2021-12-12T14:48
Time spent at the Centre of Time at the University of Sydney helped writer Bryan Walpert get his head around the logistics of time travel for his new novel Entanglement. Bryan is a Profess...
Christopher Parker's The Lighthouse from 2021-12-12T14:37
18-year-old Amy is mourning her mother's death when we meet her in The Lighthouse, the debut novel by Takapuna-based Christopher Parker. Her father Kevin is desperate to help her, but fear...
Susan McConachy, Palmerston North arts advocate from 2021-12-12T14:26
Since arriving in Palmerston North in the 1970s, Susan McConachy has taught hundreds of locals to play the piano, encouraged people facing all kinds of obstacles to get involved in the art...
Brother and sister team Rebecca and Daniel Nash from 2021-12-12T13:50
Sister and brother Rebecca and Daniel Nash have collaborated on a new book that celebrates the power of imagination and the beauty of our native birds. Their grandfather is respected paint...
The multi-skilled Hannah Tasker-Poland from 2021-12-12T13:32
Hannah Tasker-Poland may well be the most multi-skilled artist we've had on Standing Room Only over the past 20 years. Based in Tamaki Makaurau, Hannah's a dancer - though she prefers "mov...
Julie Graham and the Queens of Mystery from 2021-12-12T12:45
British actress Julie Graham - star of many TV shows including The Bletchley Circle, William & Mary and Shetland - was quick to produce a drama filmed on smartphones during the UK's extend...
The Birds of Ray Ching from 2021-12-12T12:30
Ex-pat Kiwi Ray Ching is regarded as one of the world's greatest living painters of birds. His latest book is filled with paintings and drawing he's made of the manu of his homeland over t...
Eye of the Taika - a new book on the films and comedy of Taika Waititi from 2021-12-12T12:16
Taika Waititi's films take three of the New Zealand Box Office Top 10 Films, including the top two Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Boy. Taika's unique style of film-making has also made him ...
Story-tellers at the end of Napoleon's Empire from 2021-12-05T14:48
Were the Brothers Grimm saving traditional stories from oblivion when they published them, or stealing the livelihoods of travelling storytellers? This is one of the questions posed in Cor...
Ian Austin's new thriller has a stamp of authority from 2021-12-05T14:35
The rarest postage stamps, the fabled Plate 77 Penny Reds, are at the heart of the latest Detective Dan Calder crime novel by Ian Austin. You can throw in a terrorist bombing plot at Auckl...
Textile artist Jenette Verster still retains all her marbles! from 2021-12-05T14:27
"Do Not Regret Growing Older, It Is A Privilege Denied to Many" is the defiant wording on one of the works by Taranaki textile artist Jeanette Verster in an exhibition called I Haven't Los...
Our best Science Fiction and Fantasy stories of 2021 from 2021-12-05T13:50
The strange made familiar and the familiar made strange find a home in the stories gathered together in Year's Best: Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction & Fantasy Volume 3. Marie Hodgkins...
Two artists talk about a residency in the great outdoors from 2021-12-05T13:30
Many residencies offer artists and writers a comfortable house for a few months to relax in and concentrate on completing a project. You need to be a bit more intrepid to apply for the Auc...
Paul Maunder's eventful life in theatre and film from 2021-12-05T12:46
In his just-released memoir Performer, theatre-maker, film director, writer and community activist Paul Maunder reflects on a life lived in both the mainstream and on the fringes.
Destination Mars - theatre meets online gaming technology from 2021-12-05T12:30
It's 2034 and you're part of the team in the control room on an international space station on the planet Mars. Suddenly there's a code red - and it's going to take a team effort to avert ...
Teresa Peters - ceramics but not as we know them from 2021-12-05T12:17
Teresa Peters is an actress, production and graphic designer and make-up artist who's collaborated for many years with her partner, filmmaker Florian Habicht. Today she can add Aotearoa's ...
Katy Soljak - words, pictures and kissing! from 2021-11-28T14:49
12 short stories accompanied by 12 original paintings... Katy Soljak combines two of her passions - she's also a musician by the way - in her new book My First Real Pash and Other Stories....
The art of building a great museum from 2021-11-28T14:38
Not many children dream of working in museums when they grow up, but Liz Cotton did and that dream's come true. She's just wrapped up her first week as the Director of Museum and Arts at W...
What do you call longer short stories? from 2021-11-28T14:25
We've done lots of stories in recent years in praise of flash fiction - the always popular short-short story. But Wellington-based writer Craig Gamble prefers his short stories on the long...
Auckland Theatre Company plans to open its doors from 2021-11-28T13:46
It's a gutsy call but Auckland Theatre Company has just released a full season of plays for 2022, off the back of a frustrating two years of disrupted and cancelled productions. Artistic D...
Podcast The Magpie House visits a hugely influential residence from 2021-11-28T13:31
It's easy to miss Lilburn House in Wellington's well-heeled suburb of Thorndon, but the former home of foremost New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn has a rich if, until now, not particula...
Nathan Joe - this is clearly his year! from 2021-11-28T12:45
It's been a tough secret to keep but we are delighted to announce the winner of this year's Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. The $10,000 prize goes to Chinese-Kiwi, Christchurch-based playwr...
The belated fame of Hilma af Klint from 2021-11-28T12:30
The largest number of visitors recorded at New York's Guggenheim Museum was for an exhibition of work by trailblazing Swedish artist and mystic, Hilma af Klint, that had been hidden away f...
Eden Hore: High Fashion/High Country from 2021-11-28T12:15
Glamorous gowns from the astonishing high fashion collection that was the pride and joy of high country farmer Eden Hore, are temporarily leaving their Central Otago home. Eden farmed in N...
Jeffrey Holman is a real Southern Man from 2021-11-21T14:50
From heading out into the wilds of the South Island to thunderous dancing in country halls, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman takes us on many an adventure with fishermen and musterers in his new poe...
Canterbury writer Joanna Preston's eclectic collection from 2021-11-21T14:39
A poem told through the eyes, or keys, of an abandoned piano... fallen angels... forgotten women... and an astronaut - all feature in Cantabrian Joanna Preston's second poetry collection, ...
Mischief Makers with a purpose from 2021-11-21T14:25
Elisabeth Pointon and Christopher Ulutupu are long-time friends, flatmates and artists known for challenging Pacific stereotypes. Now they're collaborating for the first time on a video wo...
Heather Straka talks about life in Isolation Hotel from 2021-11-21T13:45
A mysterious gathering of characters who've found themselves stranded in a once high-end, now run-down 1930's German hotel - that's the backdrop to Heather Straka's new exhibition Isolatio...
The return of the TINY Performance Festival from 2021-11-21T13:31
A dance work exploring the sometimes toxic power imbalance between choreographers and dancers is part of the line up for this year's Otautahi TINY Performance Festival. The festival starte...
Away from the front-line - doctors as artists from 2021-11-21T12:46
Medical practitioners from around the country with a side-hussle as artists are about to put their works on show. The exhibition is called Beyond the Mask. As part of the annual conference...
Award-winning poet Anne Kennedy offers to support schools from 2021-11-21T12:32
One of the first Kiwi creatives to put up their hands to help schools struggling with post-Covid-mandate staff shortages has also just won a Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievemen...
Facing up to the Eighties - an exhibition of portraits from 2021-11-21T12:16
The flashy 1980s are remembered for being wildly over the top - big hair and big shoulder pads, Dynasty, Duran Duran and Michael Jackson. But in Aotearoa it was also a decade of protests a...
Self Worth and Productivity from 2021-11-14T14:50
A new production BIGTIMECLOCKS examines how self-worth is all too often linked to productivity. The team behind it, O+P works, is certainly productive - this show runs for a challenging 4 ...
Maria Dronke: Glimpses of an Acting Life from 2021-11-14T14:35
Dr Monica Tempian has written the biography Maria Dronke: Glimpses of an Acting Life about a woman she argues changed the face of New Zealand theatre.Lynn Freeman spoeaks to her, and to Ma...
Philippa Werry on her new book The Other Sister from 2021-11-14T14:25
Wellington author Philippa Werry sets her latest novel immediately post the First World War, when communities were shattered by both the war years and a pandemic that killed tens of thousa...
NZ Sculpture OnShore goes online. from 2021-11-14T13:50
A three metre high tower made from Takaka marble removed from the Beehive and a bronze sculpture of a tui atop a giant acorn - they're among the more than 200 works in the annual NZ Sculpt...
Personal biographical portraits of remarkable New Zealanders from 2021-11-14T13:33
Lynn Freeman is joined by Elspeth Sandys and Malcolm Mulholland to talk about the two New Zealanders they've chosen to write very personal essays about for a new book called Nine Lives.
Celebrating Music Therapy Week from 2021-11-14T12:48
Saxophonist and clarinet player Ella Polczyk-Przybyla not only believes in the healing power of music, she's put that belief into practice here and overseas.
Ian Mune returns with thought-provoking drama from 2021-11-14T12:15
Ian Mune been a fixture in our drama scene for so long - on stage, big and small screen and radio - that we almost tend to take him for granted.
'Games should be engines of happiness' - The rise of NZ's video game industry from 2021-11-07T17:16
The world-wide gaming industry is big. It's really big. Just ten years ago it generated over 25 billion dollars of income a year in the US alone. Last year it took in 135 billion dollars. ...
The Eastern Sound Collective from 2021-11-07T14:49
With the world pretty much kept out of Aotearoa New Zealand thanks to a certain pandemic, we have to find the world within our shores. And the surprising thing is how often that seems to b...
Wellington crime writer Anne Harré from 2021-11-07T14:40
It's taken a while but finally Wellington joins New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Paul Cleave's Christchurch as a cool crime novel city. As Anne Harre described it: "Dig a little deep...
Jane Campion's location manager Sally Sherratt from 2021-11-07T14:25
It's no surprise that the opening movie to launch the New Zealand International Film Festival this year should be the highly-anticipated The Power of the Dog. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch...
Australian indigenous company Bangarra Dance Theatre from 2021-11-07T13:45
One of the notable elements in this year's International Film Festival is the strong representation of Indigenous films and film-makers. One of them is an Australian documentary called Fir...
Music editor Stephen Gallagher from 2021-11-07T13:31
Swedish record label Moviescore Media has just released the original score for a short documentary about endangered elephants called Kimana Tuskers. The score was composed and produced by ...
Sound artist Anonymouz is inspired by tatau art from 2021-11-07T12:42
Resample Tatau is an ambitious new work from award-winning creative producer and sound artist Faiumu Matthew Salapu, better known as Anonymouz. Inspired by his personal journey to receive ...
The changing face of New Zealand libraries from 2021-10-31T17:36
The country's librarians are about to meet to discuss how libraries have moved with the times, but why there's a lot more moving to do. Their association LIANZA has organised a three-day c...
Whiti Hereaka gives bird-woman Kurangaituku a voice from 2021-10-31T14:49
For almost a decade writer Whiti Hereaka has been fleshing out the mythical story of a monster bird woman. The novel is called Kurangaituku - a name and story Whiti's known since childhood...
Novelist Jenni Francis borrows real-life immigration stories from 2021-10-31T14:40
What happens when there are questions that only your father can answer, and you have no idea who he is? That's Tom's predicament in The Other Side of the World, a novel by Jenni Francis, w...
Kelcy Taratoa - behind the colourful pictures from 2021-10-31T14:25
Tauranga-based artist Kelcy Taratoa is one of a handful of contemporary Kiwi artists whose work's embedded in the school curriculum. It's not surprising. His comic book-inspired painting s...
Auckland's alternative, on-line Film Festival from 2021-10-31T13:50
When the New Zealand International Film Festival reluctantly cancelled the Auckland sector, due to Covid Delta restrictions, a group of Tamaki Makaurau film lovers refused to take it lying...
Ravenscar House - a new repository of riches from 2021-10-31T13:33
The country's newest museum is about to open its doors in Otautahi Christchurch, revealling an extensive, previously private art collection that's been gifted to the city. Ravenscar House ...
NZ Opera's plans for 2022 from 2021-10-31T12:41
NZ Opera's had a 'mare of a year. Covid 19 of course disrupted the planned productions. There were high-profile departures from its board, not to mention social media scorn poured on a pla...
Crime writers awards - whodunit in 2021? from 2021-10-31T12:15
The enduring appeal of crime novels that offer their readers genuine thrills and curveballs, compelling characters, just enough clues and not too many red herrings, is celebrated in the an...
Edward Hanfling - 250 Years of New Zealand Painting from 2021-10-24T14:50
In compiling the latest edition of the book 250 Years of New Zealand Painting, art critic and writer Edward Hanfling believes it has been three decades since painting's place as the pre-em...
Emma Neale - The Pink Jumpsuit from 2021-10-24T14:40
?tepoti writer Emma Neale speaks about her latest book The Pink Jumpsuit, a mix of short through to ultra short flash fiction.
Bruce Mason Centre celebrates a big birthday from 2021-10-24T14:25
Auckland's Bruce Mason Centre is celebrating its 25 years of hosting plays, shows, rehearsals and workshops on the North Shore. Arts patron Angela Antony considers building 'The Bruce' is ...
Why is CNZ crowdfunding Pacific artists? from 2021-10-24T13:50
Makerita Urale, Creative New Zealand Senior Manager, Pacific Arts speaks about the art agency's crowdfunding campaign to support Pacific artists.
Nelson Arts Festival forges ahead online from 2021-10-24T13:33
Writing Home: An Antidote to Feeling Stranded is a collection of videos the Nelson Arts Festival has commissioned from Kiwi writers living here and overseas. Paula Morris speaks about the ...
Nigel Borell - the role of a curator in 2021 from 2021-10-24T12:45
Nigel Borell is the curator behind Auckland Art Gallery's landmark exhibition of M?ori art Toi T? Toi Ora, and winner of the Arts Foundation's inaugural He Momo - A Moment In Time Award th...
Can the sound of music be silent? from 2021-10-24T12:30
Chris Tse is part of the team working on a new contemporary opera called Silence Is, about silence as part of the upcoming LitCrawl festival in Wellington
Streaming levies could be a boon from 2021-10-24T12:15
The country's Screen Production and Development Association, SPADA, wants our government to impose a levy on international streaming services. SPADA Executive member Irene Gardiner joins L...
In the footsteps of three iconic 60s artists from 2021-10-17T14:49
A painter, a sculptor and an architect collaborated in the 1960s and 70s to create unique churches, chapels, schools and private houses - all with a distinctive Kiwi character. "Big deal" ...
Bridget van der Zijpp's novel tackles courage and denial from 2021-10-17T14:40
What does it really mean to be courageous? Bridget van der Zijpp explores this in her new novel I Laugh Me Broken. Bridget's first novel, Misconduct was shortlisted for the 2009 Commonweal...
Christchurch's Heritage Festival remembers old craft work from 2021-10-17T14:25
The popularity of the British TV series The Repair Shop - where damaged personal items are repaired by talented craftspeople - is a reminder that some skills must never be allowed to die o...
Wild Creations blends three art forms from 2021-10-17T13:50
Origami as you've never seen it before... Artist Sarah Hunter has designed giant origami light-shade installations from her photographs of her much-loved childhood stomping ground on Hawke...
Yuki Kihara goes to the Venice Biennale from 2021-10-17T13:33
It'll be a year later than planned, and the artist might not be able to attend to install her work or meet the international guests. But Yuki Kihara will be the first Pasifika artist to re...
Mandy Barker's deceptive pictures of Pitcairn's sea bottom from 2021-10-17T12:48
Plastic items from more than 25 different countries, including New Zealand, wash up on the remote Pitcairn Islands, posing a threat to a habitat that's home to unique and endangered specie...
The State of live festivals under Delta from 2021-10-17T12:15
Postponing, rescheduling, cancelling, even rebranding... Organisers of the country's biggest arts, film and music festivals are having to make huge calls on the fate of their events in the...
Ataria Sharman draws on Maori culture for a fantasy novel from 2021-10-10T14:48
Ataria Sharman knows how tough it is to make a living as a writer. The essayist, poet, social entrepreneur and editor at The Pantograph Punch is constantly looking for new ways to encourag...
Chloe Weavers on her plans for Auckland's Silo Theatre from 2021-10-10T14:37
A five-million dollar Cultural Sector Emergency Relief fund has been announced, with Creative New Zealand deciding who gets what. But with so many arts organisations in so much strife, the...
Gigi Fenster's A good winter reaches the book shelves from 2021-10-10T14:25
A story of obsession, jealousy and resentment won last year's Michael Gifkins Prize for an Unpublished Novel. But Gigi Fenster's book is now published, and unnerving its readers. A Good Wi...
The NZ Young Writers Festival takes on the conventional from 2021-10-10T13:46
There have never been so many outlets for young writers wanting to share their work with their friends and indeed the world. But there's nothing like a festival to allow them to get togeth...
Fiona Amundsen's installation at the Tokyo Biennale from 2021-10-10T13:31
Japan's imperial war efforts and sense of nationalism are explored in an installation called Our Remaining Breath, that's representing Aotearoa at the Tokyo Biennale. Kiwi artist Fiona Amu...
The stories behind Te Papa's portraits from 2021-10-10T12:45
There are risks in taking a portrait at face value. Matariki Williams and Rebecca Rice are the curators who selected the 36 historic portraits of Maori and settlers that have hung on Te Pa...
Australian comedy legend Rob Sitch - the man behind The Castle from 2021-10-10T12:15
Rob Sitch - Australian actor, writer, director and bloody legend whose CV includes satirical TV shows Frontline and Hollow Men, as well as one of that country's best loved films, The Castl...
Isa Pearl Ritchie and the characters of The Seekers' Garden from 2021-10-03T14:47
A widow, a rock star, a would be novellist and her anxious teenage daughter - these are among the strangers that Isa Pearl Ritchie beings together in new novel, The Seekers' Garden. Differ...
Poet Tim Grgec and All Tito's Children from 2021-10-03T14:37
Tim Grgec's grandparents escaped communist Yugoslavia in the 1950s, and came to Aotearoa as refugees. Tim's debut poetry collection weaves some of their memories into the story of two sibl...
Novelist - and haematologist - Eileen Merriman from 2021-10-03T14:26
If you could be tested to see if you carry inherited genes for a fatal disease, would you? That's a dilemma facing more and more people as scientists keep making breakthroughs in genetic t...
Petone's Schrödinger's Books is the NZ Bookshop of the Year from 2021-10-03T13:46
Opening a bookstore in late 2019 looks like the worst possible timing, given what happened over the next 18 months. But Schrödinger's Books in Petone has not only survived Covid, it's take...
Photographer Anne Noble has a thing about bees from 2021-10-03T12:44
Bees have long fascinated one of our foremost art photographers, Anne Noble. As a beekeeper herself, she spends lots of time observing their behaviour and how they move. She's also studied...
New Film Commission CEO David Strong from 2021-10-03T12:16
The new CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga has had to hit the ground running. No sooner had David Strong taken over from the outgoing Annabelle Sheehan when he ...
Nicola Daley and Dianne Forbes - picture books from 2021-08-22T14:49
The power of picture books - to transport, to delight and often as a way to help adults discuss serious ideas with children. All these aspects are being covered in a new international onli...
Patricia Donovan - The Madison Gap from 2021-08-22T14:40
Aotearoa author Patricia Donovan is having a very busy 2021. Earlier this year she released her debut novel The Remarkable Miss Digby and she's following it up a few months later with a se...
Jake Byrom - singing the songs of Buddy Holly from 2021-08-22T14:25
Well, it's a pretty tough stretch for performing industries but people are standing in the wings ready to blow aour socks off again as soon as is safe! One of them is Kiwi musical theater ...
John Callen from 2021-08-22T12:45
For his more than 40 years as a stage and screen actor and director, voice artist, teacher and mentor, John Callan has received the 2021 Equity New Zealand Lifetime Achievement Award. His ...
Putting the farm into the frame from 2021-08-22T12:30
Starting new and positive conversations around farming through art is behind what's believed to be a first of its kind artist's residency in Aotearoa. Self styled next generation farmers a...
Loading Docs focused on Hope from 2021-08-22T12:15
An international bee related scam and a love letter to poet Hone Tuwhare from his granddaughter through to the dilemma of whether or not to be tested to see if you have inherited a fatal d...
Bronwen Newbury: Falling Light from 2021-08-15T14:49
Waiheke Island is a different world to paint for its visiting Australian artist in residence Bronwen Newbury. Instead of the reds, yellows, oranges and purples she often uses in her painti...
Rosetta Allan on "crazy love" from 2021-08-15T14:40
Rosetta Allan believes very strongly in writing about what you know, even if that means sharing aspects of your life that are deeply personal and involve those you love. In her new novel C...
Morgana O'Reilly: Stories About My Body from 2021-08-15T14:25
Actor and now also playwright Morgana O'Reilly is exploring her love/hate relationship with her self styled Mum bod in her new play Stories About My Body. But Morgana really wants to have ...
A bird's eye view of Otakou from 2021-08-15T13:50
Photographing Central Otago landscapes from the air offer a whole new perspective on the impact activities like mining, roadworks and hydro electricity have had on this unique part of Aote...
Vasanti Unka - illustrator extraordinaire from 2021-08-15T13:33
"Riotously colourful and the creator of immersive worlds that inspire imagination" is how the judges of this year's Mallinson Rendel Illustrators Award describe the winner, new Arts Laurea...
A history of riot in Aotearoa from 2021-08-15T12:45
The overlooked stories of the emigrant labourers who in 1843 rose up against the New Zealand Company in Nelson, are now finally told in a new book by writer and social historian Jared Davi...
Designing a killer book cover from 2021-08-15T12:30
Aotearoa is experiencing somewhat of a publishing boom, and a big part of that is how well designed the book covers are. It turns out maybe you can judge a book by its cover. The Publisher...
LOTR flies overseas from 2021-08-15T12:15
On Friday morning workers on Amazon's Lord of the Rings streaming series were informed that future seasons of the show would not be shot in New Zealand. Amazon is moving future production ...
Jeanine Clarkin: Te Aho Tapu Hou from 2021-08-08T14:49
Fashion designer Jeanine Clarkin has been at the forefront of Aotearoa's design world since 1994. She burst onto the scene with a brand of fashion celebrating Maori street wear, Ta moko, k...
Sapphic Lake swans on stage from 2021-08-08T14:45
It's Swan Lake reimagined for the 21st century - Sapphic Lake is believed to be the first ballet in New Zealand to depict a story focused on lesbian and non binary love. It's creators see ...
New Cli-Fi novel imagines a world on fire from 2021-08-08T14:36
Novelist and non fiction writer Jillian Webster didn't mean to start writing climate fiction, bit it arrived in her life at pace. She's just published her second climate fiction novel The ...
Coffee art hits the capital from 2021-08-08T14:30
There's a use for coffee you might not know about - it can be used to develop film instead of the traditional blend of chemicals. Dunedin interdisciplinary artist Christopher Schmelz uses ...
Arts Laureate Harry Culy from 2021-08-08T13:35
Wellington photographer Harry Culy is fascinated with the kinds of things the rest of us wouldn't even notice - weeds breaking through cement, cracks in surfaces and isolated spaces. His d...
Polynesian Panthers series looks back to look forward from 2021-08-08T12:45
While it's taken 14 years to bring to the screen, the the release is timely for TVNZ's new series about the Polynesian Panther Party that fought for the rights of the Pacific Island and Ma...
Pork & Poll Taxes from 2021-08-08T12:30
In the latest era of heightened racism against Asians around the world, a group of Auckland theatre makers hope a new play will remind audiences of a time when Chinese in New Zealand were ...
Ellen Burstyn dons the entertainment triple crown from 2021-08-08T12:15
American actress Ellen Burstyn has won the rare Triple Crown of Acting - an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony. Her best known film roles include Chris MacNeil in The Exorcist, Sara in Requiem for ...
Nelson father and daughter film-makers from 2021-08-01T14:50
Father and daughter Nelson filmmakers Pete and Betsy Blasdale make a formidable team. Their names feature in the credits of more than half a dozen films in the upcoming Top of the South Fi...
Poet - and farmer - Janet Newman from 2021-08-01T14:37
Poems about farm life - both the harsh realities and the simple joys of living off the land - are found in a new poetry collection by Horowhenua farmer Janet Newman. Unseasoned Campaigner ...
Trumpeter Isabella Thomas is very much in demand from 2021-08-01T14:26
Wellington musician Isabella Thomas originally wanted to play the saxophone, then the trombone, until finally she settled on the trumpet. Since then she's had no regrets. The 23-year-old h...
Artist Emily Parr is inspired by the sea from 2021-08-01T13:46
Tamaki Makaurau-based artist Emily Parr feels a strong connection with the ocean and specifically with whales. At the same time she's exploring whale migration for her PhD, she's also pres...
The Kama Sutra offers help to the South Asian community from 2021-08-01T13:32
Playwright and director Shriya Bhagwat is tackling the taboo topic of sex in the South Asian community in her first full-length play The Kamasutra Chronicles. The premise is simple: can th...
Two major grants to M?ori arts organisations from 2021-08-01T12:35
The independent Maori theatre and dance sectors are overflowing with people wanting to create work. But what's often holding them back is a lack of experienced producers, and somewhere to ...
A Turnbull-held painting gets unexpected help from 2021-08-01T12:16
The public was asked to chip in for remedial work on an historic oil painting of the iconic White Terraces. It's held in the Alexander Turnbull Library collection, and the crowd-sourcing a...
Treasures of Stitch - the Wairarapa Embroiderers' Guild from 2021-07-25T14:48
40 years of painstakingly embroidered tablecloths, doll outfits and even portraits that look like paintings are on show in Wairarapa to celebrate the local guild's anniversary. Marjorie Mc...
Elizabeth Smither's short story collection The Piano Girls from 2021-07-25T14:35
A strong musical theme plays through Elizabeth Smither's new short story collection, The Piano Girls. In the title story,three sisters hold a recital each year in memory of their late moth...
The rise of the Bay Of Plenty film scene from 2021-07-25T14:25
The film industry is worth around three billion dollars annually to New Zealand, and the Bay of Plenty wants a bigger piece of the action. While local spending on drama projects has alread...
Mikee Carpinter - artist manager and film colourist from 2021-07-25T13:46
Mikee Carpinter has an intriguing CV. He's both a colourist working in film and television, with a second career as a manager of artists like singer-songwriter Georgia Lines: Accountant, t...
Theatre costume designer Elizabeth Whiting from 2021-07-25T13:30
So much rides on the shoulders of costume designers. Actors have to look the part, dancers have to be able to move freely, the outfits have to look authentic for the period - and all the t...
Poetry Live! 40 years on from 2021-07-25T12:36
Aotearoa's longest running live poetry event, Auckland's Poetry Live! is celebrating 40 eventful, often rowdy and always entertaining years, with a publication launched today called This T...
Pencil it in! from 2021-07-25T12:15
The pencil may be a humble object, but it's created countless masterpieces in the hands of artists and writers since the 16th century. The discovery of a large graphite deposit in the Engl...
Choreographer Mary-Jane O'Reilly goes noir from 2021-07-18T14:48
Ballet favourite Giselle and 1940s film noir combine in a new ballet by Mary-Jane O'Reilly and her long term partner and co-creative Phil O'Reilly. Ballet Noir, what becomes of the broken-...
Serie Barford's poetry addresses strong freelings from 2021-07-18T14:37
The self inflicted death of her long term partner sent Samoan-European poet Serie Barford into an emotional tailspin. The relationship with Alain had been intense but also difficult in lat...
Two Landfall editors look back - and forward from 2021-07-18T14:25
Landfall was founded by Otago poet Charles Brash in 1947, and it's had a succession of editors who've all made their own impression on the literary and arts magazine. Today we mark the lat...
Shannon Novak offers opportunities for plurality in art from 2021-07-18T13:50
An ambitious exhibition that's taking over both Tauranga Gallery and other sites around the city offers marginalised artists a rare opportunity to show their work and share their stories. ...
Marcus McShane comes out from behind the spotlight from 2021-07-18T13:31
Their usual home is behind the scenes, away from the spotlight. But now new awards have been created for those theatre practitioners who don't get a round of applause at the end of a show....
The birth of the NZ Women's Institutes from 2021-07-18T12:45
New Zealand Women's Institutes and the Hawke's Bay woman who founded the movement, Jerome Spencer, are celebrated in a new exhibition. In fact it's a double celebration as the exhibition c...
Gaysorn Thavat and The Justice of Bunny King dream team from 2021-07-18T12:34
New Zealand feature film The Justice of Bunny King made its debut last month at New York's prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. It got a special Jury mention for "outstanding achievement" by...
Love & Loss - decades of personal memories from 2021-07-18T12:16
A birthday card sent back and forth between a father and daughter over 20 years, and a poem left in a car's windscreen wiper ending an affair... These are among the deeply personal treasur...
Poet - and GP - Glen Colquhoun from 2021-07-11T14:47
When his long time publisher retired, writer Glenn Colquhoun had a big decision to make. To find a new one, or to enter the thorny world of self-publishing. The poet and childrens' writer ...
Crime in Ponsonby - novelist Suzanne Frankham from 2021-07-11T14:34
Forget Brokenwood Mysteries, or even Paul Cleave's Christchurch thrillers. Now Ponsonby is our latest literary crime hotspot. Expat Suzanne Frankham, who's now based in Australia, has set ...
Barnie Duncan - Tap Head from 2021-07-11T14:25
Have you ever looked at a lone, cold tap in a public toilet and wondered what it would say if it could talk? Nor have we, but that's the basis of comedian Barnie Duncan's show Tap Head, co...
Plan 9's first album - 35 years in the making! from 2021-07-11T13:45
Last year's lockdown saw the virtual closure of our film industry for months, and no films meant no film music. But one group of composers turned the lack of outside work to their advantag...
Veronica McLaughlin - capturing performance on camera from 2021-07-11T13:31
Postcards... Instagram and other social media may have overtaken them as the favourite way to show people where you've been, but there's still something terribly evocative about the word. ...
Sandy Adsett - six decades pioneering contemporary Maori art from 2021-07-11T12:43
Dr Sandy Adsett is one of the most significant and respected Maori artists and art teachers of his generation. Now, finally, he's agreed to a retrospective exhibition embracing his six dec...
Dance Festival - taking it to the street from 2021-07-11T12:30
Homegrown experts in Krumping, Waacking, Vogue and Hip Hop dance styles are about to be celebrated in a new dedicated event. THE NEST: Street Styles Solo Festival is the first of what the ...
A boost for Tauranga's arts sector from 2021-07-04T14:48
Three quarters of a million dollars over the next three years is earmarked to boost Tauranga's arts, culture and heritage sectors as part of the city council's long-term plan. In fact, ove...
Owen Marshall dives into the dark side from 2021-07-04T14:35
One of the bleakest stories by respected writer Owen Marshall, Coming Home in the Dark, is the basis for a new film of the same name. The story of a family tormented by strangers in Centra...
Geri Hakewill - the new Miss Fisher from 2021-07-04T14:26
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, the Australian TV series set in the 1920s and starring Essie Davis as the amateur sleuth with the fab frocks, was so popular there's now a spin-off set in t...
Gerri Hakewill - the new Miss Fisher from 2021-07-04T14:26
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, the Australian TV series set in the 1920s and starring Essie Davis as the amateur sleuth with the fab frocks, was so popular there's now a spin-off set in t...
The Laugh Track - Rachel Rouge from 2021-07-04T14:06
The comedy business is a competitive one - and in the end the final judge of whether a comedian is any good or not is the audience. But to get to that audience is the trick. And for many c...
Video artist Christopher Ulutupu from 2021-07-04T13:47
A series called New Kid in Town - Tiktok-type videos shot around Nelson's tourism hotspots - is just one of the projects that video artist Christopher Ulutupu has roped in his extended fam...
Where are all the women DJs? from 2021-07-04T13:32
Some male-dominated creative realms are proving harder for women to crack than others - like music production, particularly the DJ and electronic music scenes. So why is that? In an effort...
Appreciating the Art-East studio from 2021-07-04T12:38
A Christchurch art space has helped people who struggle with alcohol and drug addiction issues, with isolation, institutionalisation and homelessness for the past seven years. Now it will ...
Patu restored from 2021-07-04T12:16
Five years of painstaking work by Nga Taonga Sound and Vision film conservators has revealed previously obscured details in Merata Mita's landmark 1983 film Patu! The documentary focuses o...
Rob McDonald's second novel, The Nancy Business from 2021-06-27T14:25
The intense bullying of a young boy by schoolmates over his love of My Little Pony motivated expat Kiwi Rob McDonald to write his award winning book The Nancys that took out last year's Ng...
Building recording facilities for Hokianga youth from 2021-06-27T14:25
A recording studio in Hokianga has successfully attracted enough funding on the website, Boosted, to get the process of setting up a new sound desk and studio well on the way. Eru Wano, Jo...
Bryan Walpert's musings on middle age from 2021-06-27T14:25
Brass Band to Follow is the name of Bryan Walpert's 4th poetry collection and in it, he's thinking about what it means move into middle age. The busy professor in creative writing at Masse...
Building Southland's artistic capital from 2021-06-27T13:20
A new plan to get Southlanders more excited about and involved in the arts is about to be unleashed on the region. That's after the Arts Murihiku Charitable Trust succeeded in its applicat...
Photographer and sculptor Melissa Macleod from 2021-06-27T13:10
When she's not in her studio, Christchurch artist Melissa Macleod can be found foraging coastal flower seeds around New Brighton. She takes the seeds home and cultivates them in a greenhou...
The legend of Maori guide and interpreter, Lucy Takiora Lord from 2021-06-27T12:45
Lucy "Takiora" Lord who worked alongside the militia in the Taranaki Land Wars, helped the government purchase Maori land in her own tribal area and was guide and interpreter for Major Gus...
Seniors staying engaged with life through drama from 2021-06-27T12:10
Loneliness we know is a huge issue for many older people, as are losing self-confidence and mobility. Community drama classes for seniors being held in several Wellington suburbs are encou...
James and Tui - more than five minutes of fame from 2021-06-20T14:50
Remember their names....James Kereama Stent and Tui Tahere-Katene performed together recently on Maori Television's new talent show 5 Minutes of Fame. Not only did the Kapiti based friends...
Flash Fiction author Michelle Elvy from 2021-06-20T14:40
A New Zealand champion of flash fiction - ultra short stories - has just published what's described as a hybrid of small fictions and poetry called 'the other side of better'.
Lucy Mulgan's interactive opera from 2021-06-20T14:27
Little Red Riding Hood reimagined as an interactive opera for children... That's what UK-based Kiwi composer, Lucy Mulgan, has created for Orchestra Wellington and New Zealand Opera. RED! ...
Voice teacher Kirstie O'Sullivan from 2021-06-20T13:47
An actor's voice is as important - if not more so - than their look when it comes to casting. Film makers have more options than stage - for example the voices of many of the Bond girls in...
Writing Aotearoa's early colonial history from 2021-06-20T13:10
The ill-fated attempt by Nelson colonists to confront Te Rauparaha and a party of his warriors in 1843 - a fatal dispute now known as "The Wairau Affray" - is being portrayed in a new stag...
Composer John Gibson from 2021-06-20T12:45
Composer John Gibson has set himself a pretty big task - conveying the power and dominance of the Catholic Church in Renaissance Europe through sound and music. Rather than relying on exis...
National Concerto Competition - finally! from 2021-06-20T12:30
Two young cellists and a violinist vying to win New Zealand's National Concerto Competition have finally performed in Christchurch's James Hay Theatre. Lynn Freeman speaks to the winner an...
Maisie Chilton and the healing power of art from 2021-06-20T12:15
Using art to help people who've suffered mental or physical trauma - that's the ambition of Wellington based visual artist and poet Maisie Chilton. She knows full well the power of art to ...
Nicola Daly says children can handle complex - even confronting - books from 2021-06-13T14:44
Can young readers deal with complex themes, issues and feelings? The judges for the 2021 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults say yes, and writers are crediting their read...
Poet Sam Duckor-Jones finds himself inspired by train trips from 2021-06-13T14:25
Sam Duckor-Jones takes on God and politics in his new poetry collection, Party Legend. Sam, who's also a sculptor, won the Biggs Poetry Prize from Victoria University of Wellington in 2017...
Shooting the night sky from 2021-06-13T13:46
The Wairarapa just north of Wellington has applied to become the country's latest Dark Sky Reserve. And a new exhibition is encouraging people to look up at the night sky and soak up the d...
Philip Sharp - from fantasy props-maker to wildlife photographer from 2021-06-13T13:33
From set decoration, making props, models and costumes and art direction to cinematography and special effects, Philip Sharpe's film CV makes for impressive reading. He's worked on major m...
Arts Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni's big payout from 2021-06-13T12:35
Survival and now growth - that's how the Government is selling its $374 million, Covid-recovery investment in the arts. Overseeing this unprecedented spending in a sector that's often been...
Standing Room Only looks back on 20 years of covering the Arts from 2021-06-13T12:15
This time 20 years ago - virtually to the day - marked the launch of Radio New Zealand's brand new daily arts show, What's Going On. Since then it's gone weekly, changed its name a couple ...
Are the arts essential? from 2021-06-06T14:12
What is the role of the arts sector in a pandmeic world? That was the issue at the heart of the discussion at the Are the Arts Essential debate recorded at the Auckland Arts Festival in co...
Nigel Collins reimagines the requiem from 2021-06-06T13:50
Think requiem and something like Mozart's unfinished one may well come to mind. But a new spoken word and musical show is reimagining the requiem, both the text and the music. Five Welling...
Scotty Cotter on moving deliberately from 2021-06-06T13:33
Scotty Cotter is one of the busiest theatre directors in the country at the moment with two premieres opening in the next month. Neke is being performed on stage, while MAURI TAU is going ...
Assessing the impact of 'P' in Kaikohe from 2021-06-06T12:45
An art exhibition examining the impact of P in Kaikohe that will be created by offering canvases to a range of locals whose lives have been impacted by the drug, is being planned by a comm...
Peter Ireland on Frances Hodgkins from 2021-06-06T12:30
Paintings that are based on traditional embroidered samplers featuring quotes from the letters of New Zealand revered painter Frances Hodgkins feature in a new exhibition by Gisborne artis...
Surrealism lands at Te Papa from 2021-06-06T12:15
A massive new exhibition of surrealist art is arriving soon at Te Papa. Works from the 1910s through to the 1960s will span the walls, charting the journey of surrealist art in the 20th ce...
Athol Parks captures Mosgiel at Alert Level Four from 2021-05-30T14:50
Last week we spoke to a photographer and poet who produced a book based on his walkabouts around Te Anau. Today, Mosgiel's the inspiration for a local who's turned his musings into a bespo...
Andy Southall's Both Feet In Paradise from 2021-05-30T14:35
A butterfly researcher finds himself trapped in Paradise - in Samoa to be exact - despite his increasingly desperate efforts to get home to New Zealand. That's the setup of a new novel cal...
Saving St David's Memorial Church for music from 2021-05-30T14:27
In a last-ditch effort to save the historic St David's Memorial Church and turn it into a centre for music, dozens of musicians and singers have banded together to film a fundraising virtu...
Callum Passells is taking it to the streets from 2021-05-30T13:50
A short, punchy chant is one of the key features of any protest march. Now Auckland jazz musician Callum Passells explores these rhythmic and repetitive chants in his new work LCR - short ...
Lucy Marinkovich - dancing with Parkinson's from 2021-05-30T13:31
Dancer and choreographer Lucy Marinkovich is helping people living with Parkinson's disease to dance, in what she hopes will become a pilot programme. Lucy has two Dunedin/Otepoti-based re...
South Auckland choreographer Villa Junior Lemanu from 2021-05-30T12:48
Choreographer Villa Junior Lemanu's family has lived in the same house in South Auckland for some 25 years. His fears that his family will be forced to leave their home and their community...
Cian Parker's new play inspired by real-life tragedy from 2021-05-30T12:33
The explosion of grief that followed the death of her husband, is channelled into Cian Parker's new play, All I See. It's going to premiere at the 2021 Kia Mau Festival at Wellington's Cir...
Poppy: A story ten years in the making from 2021-05-30T12:21
In the movie business, very few things come easy, but the New Zealand film Poppy had more than its fair share of hurdles before the finish line.
Poppy take a bow! from 2021-05-30T12:21
In the movie business very few things come easy. But Linda Niccol's film Poppy had more than its share of hurdles to negotiate before it crossed the finish line. It tells the story of a pl...
The murals of Nelson's ArtWalk from 2021-05-23T14:50
A mural recreating a painting by the late Bill Hammond is about to be added to Nelson's ambitious ArtWalk project. Rather than being painted onto the sides of buildings, the murals are pri...
A romantic novel set during the Springbok Tour from 2021-05-23T14:38
Writer Kerry Harrison delves into her memories of taking part in the 1981 anti-Springbok tour protests for her latest novel, Hold the Line. In the book, she introduces legal student Beth w...
Photographer Tony Bridge takes a Walk in the Shadowlands from 2021-05-23T14:26
A waiata and an accompanying photograph for every day of last year's nationwide lockdown was the challenge Te Anau based photographer Tony Bridge set himself. Raahui A Walk in the Shadowla...
The bard of the West Coast, the late Peter Hooper from 2021-05-23T13:50
Painter Colin McCahon was so enchanted by the poetry of West Coaster Peter Hooper that he used his poems in several artworks. . 20 years after his death, Peter's published and previously u...
Photographing Londoners through windows during the lockdown from 2021-05-23T13:31
Looking out from Within - a series of portraits of Londoners looking out from their windows during the UK's protracted lockdown - is about to go on show at the Auckland Festival of Photogr...
The NZSO's big Budget score from 2021-05-23T12:46
Among the notable arts winners from this week's budget announcement is the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. It's getting an extra $3.2 million to tide it over the next two years. The orches...
Voices of Vanuatu from 2021-05-23T12:30
A 'first of its kind' anthology of new writing by three generations of women writers from Vanuatu offers us a remarkable insight into their lives, their joys, their hopes and their frustra...
Tiki Taane's family affair from 2021-05-16T17:31
Charlie and Karcia Taane are just 12 and 9 respectively, but they are about to go on stage with their famous Dad, performer and superstar producer Tiki Taane. That sounds pretty intimidati...
Leanne Radojkovich's short stories put people under pressure from 2021-05-16T14:41
The new short story collection by writer and librarian Leanne Radojkovich, hailman, includes some cautionary tales for people facing moral dilemmas.
Poet Siobhan Harvey is haunted by Ghosts from 2021-05-16T14:26
Migration and the ghosts they bring with them from their old homes to their new one - that's the theme of the new poetry collection from Siobhan Harvey.
Photographer Cody Ellingham captures the poetry of isolation from 2021-05-16T13:48
Moonlit shots of deserted country roads and derelict buildings are among the images Wellington photographer Cody Ellingham is exhibiting at the upcoming Auckland Festival of Photography.
Dressed - what the well-dressed colonial was wearing from 2021-05-16T12:41
When specialist textile curators at New Zealand museums examine donated garments, often the most fascinating stories come from the signs of stains, repairs and repurposing that they discov...
Tawhai Rickard reinvents Maori superheroes from 2021-05-16T12:35
Two M?ori superheroes - based on the Batman and Robin characters - are placed in different moments in Aotearoa's history in a new series of work by Tauranga-based visual artist Tawhai Rick...
Film Writers compete to get on a Black List from 2021-05-16T12:16
The movie business, famously, is a lottery. Quality alone has never been a guarantee a film would get the green light. Hence Hollywood's famous Black List - drawing movie producers' attent...
Panel: Fake News - is it a new thing? from 2021-05-09T14:06
This is a panel discussion recorded in Wanaka, at the 2021 Festival of Colour's "Aspiring Conversations" series. Lynn Freeman chairs the session exploring Fake News. She's joined by two ex...
Tim Barlow works in lime from 2021-05-09T12:45
Limestone, lime plasters and lime concretes, and how lime's been used in art and architecture - that's what Dunedin artist Tim Barlow is exploring in his new project The Lime Burners. Tim ...
Photographer Jim Marshall captured legends at their height from 2021-05-09T12:34
Photographer Jim Marshall was entrusted with unprecedented access to many of the world's music legends, and he documented many of the greatest events in music history. His best known image...
Dunedin writers Vanda Symon and Heather McQuillan from 2021-05-09T12:15
This week Lynn Freeman presents Standing Room Only from our Dunedin studio, in time for the Writers and Readers Festival. New Zealand is of course extremely lucky to be able to hold festiv...
Translating te reo into Italian from 2021-05-02T14:49
History is being made with a new collection of contemporary Maori women's poetry. Alongside the reo and English versions, the poems have been translated into Italian, Translation is a deli...
Thriller writer Tina Clough from 2021-05-02T14:40
Human trafficking is the latest crime to be investigated by Hunter Grant, the ex-army reluctant detective created by Swedish-Kiwi writer Tina Clough. Folded is the third outing for Hunter ...
Pop superstar Benee goes orchestral from 2021-05-02T14:25
Split Enz, Tami Neilson, The Phoenix Foundation and Teeks - all Kiwi acts who've been invited to reimagine their songs with a full orchestra. Now it's the rather unlikely turn of pop super...
Are we just Another Mammal? from 2021-05-02T13:50
We have historic choices to make as a species, reckons Wellington playwright Jo Randerson, who looks a power imbalances and asks why people just can't get along in her new show. Another Ma...
The conclusion of Philip Temple's biography of Maurice Shadbolt from 2021-05-02T13:33
He wrestled with demons, including depression and alcohol, for most of his life. But writer Maurice Shadbolt still managed to produce several seminal New Zealand novels, as well as some ou...
Jacob Rajan's new play is coincidentally timely from 2021-05-02T12:45
A play about impermanence, a population under threat and set in India - it sounds like it's just been created in response to the current pandemic crisis. But writer and actor Jacob Rajan w...
Walters Prize Exhibition from 2021-05-02T12:35
The country's biggest art award, the bienniel Walters Prize, marks its 20th year in 2021. It's undoubtedly had a powerful influence on the landscape of contemporary art in Aotearoa. Now th...
In defense of Sports Writing from 2021-05-02T12:16
Sports Literature often falls between two stools - too populist for the literati, too highfalutin for sports fans. Why is sports writing often seen as the poor relation of literature? The ...
David Eggleton: The Wilder Years from 2021-04-25T14:49
There is almost 40 years of poetry for Poet Laureate David Eggleton to choose from for his new Best Of anthology. The Dunedin based writer has called his collection of selected poems The W...
The Devil's Trumpet sounds from 2021-04-25T14:40
There is a real edge to the latest short stories by writer Tracey Slaughter, containing cautionary tales for people considering illicit relationships through to a dig at New Zealand's atti...
The Movement captures algorithms in dance from 2021-04-25T14:25
A new dance show is attempting to put one of the big changes of the 21st century into a human format. Artifact approaches the world of "Future Tech" by putting the algorithm on stage. It's...
The tenth tenor! from 2021-04-25T13:50
Like many of New Zealand's opera singers who would have been singing on international stages now if it weren't for the Coronavirus pandemic, tenor Cameron Barclay has come home looking for...
A Boy called Piano from 2021-04-25T12:45
A stage play about the abuse of a boy in state care and the lifelong emotional damage that came from that traumatic time, is about to be broadcast as a radio drama. The bold move is partly...
Restoring a historic typeface from 2021-04-25T12:30
A new series is looking at our past through material history. The Single Object series traces the whakapapa of items to tell the many histories of Aotearoa. The series has just launched an...
Single Asian Female to premiere in Tamaki Makaurau from 2021-04-25T12:30
Adapted from an Australian play, Single Asian Female Kiwi-style tells the story of a first-generation Chinese immigrant and single mother living in Mount Maunganui. Pearl Wong is also a re...
Selling kiwi films in a pandemic market from 2021-04-25T12:20
It's been an interesting year for film makers and distributors in Aotearoa. While cinematic releases were restricted and filming schedules were interrupted kiwi film makers and producers g...
A long-needed diary rescue project from 2021-04-18T14:49
Do you have a diary hidden away somewhere at risk of being chucked out or just deteriorating due to lack of attention? Dr Vivienne Plumb is a devotee of diaries. She's also a poet, fiction...
New poetry from author and slam artist - Courtney Sina Meredith from 2021-04-18T14:38
Burst Kisses on the Actual Wind is the latest collection of poems by author, playwright and slam artist Courtney Sina Meredith. Courtney's first poetry book Brown Girls in Bright Red Lipst...
Alys Longley links up with artists around the world from 2021-04-18T14:25
Dr Alys Longley from the University of Auckland has become an expert in collaborating with artists around the world in these pandemic disrupted times. The Associate Professor of Dance Stud...
New flags commemorate the people and horses of World War One from 2021-04-18T13:50
On ANZAC Day, flags will fly around the Wairarapa to commemorate both the soldiers and the horses who made up the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade serving in the first World War. Creatin...
Transmission from 2021-04-18T13:31
More than 20 hours of interviews recorded during and since the New Zealand-wide lockdown in March last year, have been distilled into a stage show called Transmission. The key figures for ...
Caren Rangi the first Pacific Chair of the Arts Council from 2021-04-18T12:45
Caren Rangi, the first Pacific Chair of the Arts Council in its 55-year history, is confident more Pasifika leaders will head the body that governs arts funder Creative New Zealand in the ...
An often Invisible history of the casualties of war from 2021-04-18T12:30
Portraying the invisible through visual art - that's the challenge more than 20 artists from universities in Poland, America and New Zealand set themselves back in 2019. The exhibition Inv...
The life of Rita Angus revisited from 2021-04-18T12:15
It's ironic - you spend years researching a book, it wins acclaim and awards when it's published, and then it generates new information that you wish you'd been able to include in it. But ...
Fifty years of the Court Theatre from 2021-04-11T17:32
Christchurch's Court Theatre has outlived all the other first professional theatres set up on New Zealand. It proudly celebrates its 50th birthday on the 21st of April. Felicity Price, a l...
A Nelson poets society publishes an anthology from 2021-04-11T14:50
It's been a tough year for numerous creative writing and publishing tertiary courses around the country. Last year was the last for budding writers at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of T...
Catherine Robertson and the Gabriel's Bay trilogy from 2021-04-11T14:40
The fictional New Zealand seaside town of Gabriel's Bay is the setting for a third novel by Hawkes Bay based author Catherine Robertson. The central theme explored in Spellbound is power, ...
The Hall - a small story told by a big choir from 2021-04-11T14:25
A small town family story about dementia and the healng power of music - performed with a mass community choir! - is the new offering from the team behind the play and movie Daffodils. Ali...
Tales from the back of the painting from 2021-04-11T13:43
What's on the back of a painting can tell as story as fascinating as what's on the front. There are not only the obvious - signatures and labels - but all kinds of other tantalising clues....
A girl called Lily from 2021-04-11T13:30
"I want to prove that people with Down syndrome can do anything." That's Lily Harper's mission. She's an award winning actor from Palmerston North who's starring in Up Down Girl, directed ...
Retiring NZ Film Commission CEO Annabelle Sheehan from 2021-04-11T12:15
Recently the Chair of Te Tuma Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission, Dame Kerry Prendergast, announced that CEO Annabelle Sheehan would step away from the role, after three years lea...
Stories of cerebral palsy told in Squeaky Wheel from 2021-04-04T17:15
From funny to heart breaking, the stories of people with cerebral palsy and those who advocate for them are told in a new verbatim play called Squeaky Wheel. Writer Kat Thomas, whose daugh...
Richard Huber from 2021-04-04T14:49
A multi media stage show about a fatal fire in a toy factory in Thailand in 1993, and a play about two privileged malcontents trapped in a room together, are both works in the upcoming Dun...
Thriller set among Kiwi vineyards from 2021-04-04T14:40
Vineyards are the setting for a new Aotearoa based thriller. Blood on the Vines is by Swedish migrant Madeleine Eskedahl who's now based in Auckland. The first in a planned trilogy, "The M...
Abby Cunnane: leading the Physics Room from 2021-04-04T14:30
Taking over an art gallery with a reputation for daring work that is more about pushing boundaries than making sales, is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Abby Cunnane has only been Direct...
Lissa Mitchel: stories of early women photographers from 2021-04-04T14:30
Bringing the stories of early women photographers in New Zealand out of the dark and into the light is the task Lissa Mitchell has set herself. In the Dark: women and New Zealand photograp...
New York City from all angles from 2021-04-04T13:50
At the end of 2019 Dunedin three artists went to New York to explore the city, and capture different scenes - from different perspectives. Little did they know they were visiting just befo...
Miniature models of the Christchurch that was from 2021-04-04T13:33
Christchurch artist Mike Beer creates miniature models of Christchurch buildings that were lost in the Canterbury earthquakes. Through these tiny models Mike hopes to remind people of the ...
Model maker Chris Menges on swords, armour, and props from 2021-04-04T12:45
From making prop swords that look sharp enough slice the hairs on your arm to a full set of armour, weapons fabricator, armourer and model maker Christopher Menges is an expert. His CV inc...
Lissa Mitchell: stories of early women photographers from 2021-04-04T12:30
Bringing the stories of early women photographers in New Zealand out of the dark and into the light is the task Lissa Mitchell has set herself. In the Dark: women and New Zealand photograp...
Filming in Otago reaches new levels: 'A real endorsement of quality' from 2021-03-28T17:46
Otago's enjoying an unprecedented level of filming around the region at the moment. A Netflix flim called The Royal Treatment about to wrap up after several weeks of filming in Dunedin and...
A trilogy of historic novels looks at colonial Aotearoa from 2021-03-28T14:49
Three historical novels that address the impact of colonisation in Aotearoa, told from the perspective of nine generations of a Maori whanau... That's a pretty big challenge that respected...
The English aristocrat in the Syrian desert from 2021-03-28T14:38
In 1853, wealthy widow Jane Digby found herself crossing the Syrian desert - not only because she had a healthy sense of adventure and love for the Arabian people, but to escape scandal ba...
The survival of The Regent, Te Awamutu from 2021-03-28T13:34
It's just been announced that Australian independent cinema operators can look forward to getting a share of a new $20m grants package from the Morrison government. Meanwhile their counter...
40 years of the Film Archive from 2021-03-28T12:45
On the first of April, the New Zealand Film Archive - now part of Nga Taonga Sound & Vision - celebrates 40 years of saving and restoring the nation's screen history, from feature films to...
Production designer Ra Vincent from 2021-03-28T12:32
It's great when people in the movie industry get a bit of credit where credit's due. All too often the spotlight only shines on the so-called star performers - directors, writers, producer...
NZ On Air is funding more ambitious productions from 2021-03-28T12:16
NZ On Air has been one of the distributors of the massive, post-Covid-19 government spending, first providing the industry a lifeline when lockdowns halted many TV productions, and now get...
Bluffworld by Patrick Evans from 2021-03-21T14:45
A novel about bluffing, evasion and the decline of humanities in universities - you can't say Christchurch writer Patrick Evans is scared to tackle the big subjects! Bluffworld is set in a...
Nic Low and 15 ways through the Southern Alps from 2021-03-21T13:45
Ngai Tahu author Nic Low knows the Southern Alps intimately. He's been on 15 treks through the mountains, following historic routes. Now Nic's working on a book about that history called U...
Florian Zeller, writer-director of Oscar favourite The Father from 2021-03-21T13:10
This week the Academy Awards finalists were nominated, and one of the heavily favoured films was The Father, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman. It's up for Oscars for both sta...
Andrea Gardner on having her award winner modified from 2021-03-21T12:46
"Please note the photo above has been edited to obscure the nudity in this print version of the article in order to avoid offending readers. The unedited photo can be viewed on our website...
In some secluded rendezvous - the ballroom cave from 2021-03-21T12:30
For more than sixty years, party-goers trekked across one of Auckland's wildest west coast beaches to Te Ana Ru cave, to dance on a kauri floor. It was built by loggers, and when not in us...
The secrets of Cosplay from 2021-03-21T12:10
Cosplay is the ultimate dress-up, honouring your fantasy, sci fi and sporting heroes and heroines by dressing just like them. But it often goes deeper, with cosplayers taking on their subj...
Four famous legends in a future afterlife from 2021-03-14T14:51
A fictional story of four real-life rainbow activists set in an afterlife - in 2079 to be exact - is the idea behind what's believed to be Aotearoa's first all Queer People Of Colour play....
Novelist Stephanie Johnson offers two views on change from 2021-03-14T14:40
In Stephanie Johnson's new novel Everything Changes we meet Colette, who's addicted to change, and her husband Davie who simply goes along with her plans. These include leaving Auckland af...
Dunedin fashion exhibition from 2021-03-14T14:27
An exhibition about disruptive fashion designers was delayed by that big disruptor of the moment - Covid-19. Now, a year or so later than planned, Fashion FWD > > Disruption through Design...
Katie Kerr and publishing in the margins from 2021-03-14T13:48
The country's cottage industry of small press publishers is bigger than you might imagine. And it's also thriving. The proof is in a new book on art publishing in Aotearoa called Dwelling ...
The sound of sculpture from 2021-03-14T13:33
It's long been the Holy Grail for this show - to get sculptures up on the radio! And finally we think we might have cracked it. Sculpture In Sound offers a series of words, sound effects a...
The great debate: Are the arts essential? from 2021-03-14T12:47
Are the Arts Essential? For listeners to this programme, that seems a no-brainer, you'd think. But six people who make their living in creative fields are about to go head to head to debat...
Nina Mingya Powles and Magnolia from 2021-03-14T12:32
Nina Mingya Powles' new book of poetry Magnolia , has been shortlisted for the 2021 Ockham Book Awards. It reflects on Nina's experiences as a Malaysian-Chinese-Pakeha woman who doesn't ea...
Servicing creative careers from 2021-03-14T12:16
$4 million over two years to help an estimated 1000 Kiwis in the creative sector to upskill and find work instead of having to live off a benefit... Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage...
Architect Roger Walker's new love - painting from 2021-03-07T14:47
When he found an abandoned canvas and acrylic paints during last year's lockdown, it changed the focus of noted Wellington architect Roger Walker. Now he's turning his hand to painting viv...
Laurie Steer - not your average ceramics from 2021-03-07T14:27
From adorable dead mouse bowls to ridiculously tiny-handled and hyper-spiritual "zombie buddha mugs", Mt Maunganui-based ceramicist Laurie Steer has a lot of fun in his studio. At the mome...
Animalismo Teatro - from Uruguay with love from 2021-03-07T14:27
Ending up in New Zealand when the lockdown hit, two members of a Uruguayan theatre company described their situation as "luckily stranded"! Now they're preparing to show Kiwis their physic...
The Porirua Arts Trail - dropping in on the region's artists from 2021-03-07T13:45
It happens just once every two years - the chance to see Porirua's artists in action, in their workshops and studios. The Friends of Pataka organise the Porirua Arts Trail, and this year a...
Poet/musician Nadia Freeman leads a new Asian Music Network from 2021-03-07T13:31
Helping Asian musicians to get more recognition - and more gigs - is the aim of the new Wellington Asian Music Network. Co-founder is poet, singer and electronic music producer Nadia Freem...
Pioneering Kiwi nature photographer Olaf Petersen from 2021-03-07T12:43
A collection of tens of thousands of photographs by Kiwi photographer and photojournalist Olaf Petersen is one of five new additions to the New Zealand Memory of the World Register. Most o...
Prize-winning Dunedin playwright Emily Duncan from 2021-03-07T12:30
Shocking, lacerating and wicked - that's how the judges of this year's Adam New Zealand Play Award describe the winning script & Sons by Dunedin writer Emily Duncan. She also took out the ...
Human rights lawyer Mervin Singham uses art as release from 2021-03-07T12:16
A key figure in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and in Faith-based Care helps to make sense of the stories of pain and anger through his art. Executive Direc...
A new play explores the Kiwi-Filipino experience from 2021-02-28T14:49
Filipino-Kiwi playwright Kiya Basabas hopes her upcoming show will encourage more from her community to write their stories for the stage.
Dunedin art in unexpected spaces from 2021-02-28T14:37
Off The Ground is a new project that's given Dunedin events stymied by the pandemic the funding they need to proceed.
Sculptor Chris Booth is taking it to WA - remotely from 2021-02-28T14:25
It's a one-tonne scultpure made from macrocarpa veneer, and inspired by the fungi coral. And it's New Zealand sculptor Chris Booth's creation for Western Australia's Sculpture by the Sea a...
Jason Muir turns a building site into a theatre from 2021-02-28T13:31
A central Wellington building site is being converted into a cross between a sports arena and a theatre, with live commentary on what's happening on site.
Patricia Grace's classic Cousins is now a movie from 2021-02-28T12:44
It's been a long held dream - something like 20 years - for novellist Patricia Grace to see her novel Cousins on the big screen. But that dream is about to be realised.
Invercargill's Last Heritage Tour from 2021-02-28T12:31
A film recording architect Mick Hesselin's emotional last tour of Invercargill's inner-city, heritage buildings slated for demolition, is about to premiere at the start of Southland Herita...
The Haka Party Incident is now a play from 2021-02-28T12:16
It was a famous scandal back in 1979 - the violent clash between He Taua M?ori activists and a group of Auckland University engineering students.
Time to remember two traumatic Christchurch events from 2021-02-21T15:48
A frantic rewrite was required during the lockdown last year by novellist Janna Ruth, who'd set her novel Time to remember in Christchurch throughout 2020. The book's characters are mainly...
Novelist Susanna Gendall and the "Disinvent Movement" from 2021-02-21T15:38
Imagine if you could disinvent things that really annoy you, things that also harm the planet. The central character in Susanna Gendall's debut novel The Disinvent Movement endeavours to d...
Jeweller Jane Dodd is inspired by the natural world from 2021-02-21T15:26
"I want to look at issues of extinction and infestation, cruelty and conflict. I want us to feel that we are being watched and that stock is being taken. I want us not to get away with it....
The intricate sugar art of Tracy Byatt from 2021-02-21T14:47
Sugar is treated as the enemy these days in terms of health, but in the hands of a skilled artist like Whanganui's Tracy Byatt, it can also be used to sculpt extraordinarily colourful and ...
More support for Tauranga's creative sector from 2021-02-21T14:30
Tauranga may be growing rapidly but its city council has only now established a specific role to support the region's creative sector. James Wilson is the city's first Manager of Arts and ...
170 wonders from the Alexander Turnbull Library from 2021-02-21T13:46
From millions of items in the Alexander Turnbull Library, curators have chosen just 170 for a new exhibition to celebrate the institution's 100th birthday. It's actually the 101st. The Mih...
New Generation stone artist Joe Sheehan from 2021-02-21T13:33
He started small, intricately carving cassette tapes and lightbulbs from pounamu. But now Wellington-based sculptor Joe Sheehan works on big-scale projects that really take over a space. H...
The return of the Lyttelton Museum from 2021-02-21T13:16
Today marks the start of an ambitious 9.9 million dollar fund raising campaign for a new purpose built home for Te Uaka Lyttleton Museum. The former building opened in 1969, thanks to the ...
Artist Mark Schroder takes on modern corporate culture from 2021-02-14T15:45
Corporate lawyer by day, subversive artist when he's not in his suit... Auckland artist Mark Schroder is casting a caustic eye over the corporate landscape in his new installation, Fortune...
Tongan tapa-making in a lockdown bubble from 2021-02-14T15:10
In the Coronavirus era, the word "bubble" has come to mean safety and sanctuary. But can bubbles also be cages, forcing families apart? This is one of the ideas explored by mother and daug...
Photographer Sara McIntyre remembers her father, painter Peter from 2021-02-14T13:45
Painter Peter McIntyre is best remembered for his work as New Zealand's official war artist during the Second World War, but a new exhibition takes us into the heart of the Central North I...
A Red Leap from Dog Island - Ella Becroft from 2021-02-07T15:45
A fearless 14-year-old girl who lives in a bleak part of a place called Dog Island is the hero of a new production called Dakota of the White Flats from Red Leap Theatre company.
Innovative and fearless - Gecko Press's Julia Marshall from 2021-02-07T15:30
Innovative and fearless the judges call her - the founder of publishing success story Gecko Press, Julia Marshall, has won the lifetime achievement 2021 Storylines Margaret Mahy Medal for ...
New opera company for the capital from 2021-02-07T15:25
New opera company Wellington Opera is set to be a major new company in Wellington's cultural scene, and its formation is being marked this month by the presentation of a rather unusual pro...
Tauranga Art Gallery's new director Stephen Cleland from 2021-02-07T14:40
Tauranga Art Gallery's new Director Stephen Cleland has big plans.
The Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award - Lisa Reihana from 2021-02-07T14:20
The pulling power of Auckland Art Gallery's current Maori contemporary art exhibition has the judges of New Zealand's first portraiture award for emerging Maori artists hoping it will also...
A Very Different World with Ngahiraka Mason from 2021-02-07T13:42
A Very Different World is a new exhibition at Te Tuhi in Auckland promising to offer a much-needed glimmer of hope for the future, while at the same time looking at the unprecedented diffi...
In Godzonia with expats Georgie Oulton and Anna Ledwich from 2021-02-07T13:30
Two expat British theatre makers are working with a Kiwi cast on a play that touches on some of the issues of the moment - isolation, exclusion - and the power of kindness.
Ballet Dancer Abigail Boyle from 2021-02-07T13:15
Abigail Boyle is looking forward to taking to the stage again with new company Ballet Collective Aotearoa.
New Zealand's newest ballet company Ballet Collective Aotearoa from 2021-02-07T13:10
A new ballet company has been formed, Ballet Collective Aotearoa featuring both leading dancers and graduates and students from the New Zealand School of Dance. The company launches with t...
Crime Writing Panel: Four Critics Four Continents from 2021-01-31T15:40
Four of the world's keenest crime readers came together for a live podcast recently, called Four Critics Four Continents, where they reflected on the best books in the genre for 2020. With...
Megan Huffadine's incredible still-life art from 2021-01-31T14:50
Still life paintings hold an enduring appeal for artists and art lovers and that includes Bannockburn artist painter, sculptor and tutor, Megan Huffadine. Her new solo show at Eade Gallery...
Miriama McDowell: A genuine all-rounder on stage and screen from 2021-01-31T14:33
The New Zealand film Coming Home in the Dark is having its World Premiere today at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. It's written by Eli Kent and James Ashcroft and James also directs this ...
At The Movies: The Kiwi telling Australian stories from 2021-01-31T14:10
Kiwi, Greer Simpkin, is a leading light in Australia's screen industry, producing acclaimed work for the big and small screens. Greer's held senior roles at the ABC in Australia including ...
Tropical Love Birds: A story of drama, comedy and domestic violence from 2021-01-31T13:45
It's a thirty year partnership in life and on stage that's produced a raft of memorable theatrical productions. Now Niuean/Samoan actor and writer Vela Manusaute's latest play, Tropical Lo...
Smart thinking keeps prison creative writing programme going from 2021-01-31T13:30
What started out as a creative writing programme for young prisoners at Auckland's Mt Eden Corrections Facility is now spreading around the country's prisons. It's down to the hard work of...
New play pits French and America's first ladies against each other from 2021-01-31T13:15
An imagined verbal battle between the first ladies of America and France is the premise of a play that's about to have its New Zealand premiere. Prize-winning Irish playwright Nancy Harris...
Kayleighsha Wharton on finding film locations from 2020-12-20T14:30
If someone knocks on your door out of the blue asking if you'd be interested in renting your building to a film crew, there's a good chance that person will be Kayleighsha Wharton. The Loc...
Folk duo: Aro from 2020-12-20T13:45
Many New Zealand bands have never been so busy with festivals clambering to fill their programmes with homegrown acts this summer. There are concerns that festivals might end up a bit same...
Helpless portrait restoration from 2020-12-20T13:34
It's taken two years so far and there's more work to go on repairing a large painting of a British shipwreck that isn't being allowed to sink without trace at the Dunedin Public Art Galler...
Courtney Johnston reflects on year as chief executive from 2020-12-20T13:15
It's a year since Courtney Johnston took on the role of Te Papa's chief executive. There'd been quite the turnover of people in the role since the nation's museum and art gallery opened in...
Jenny Harper: Why art galleries matter from 2020-12-13T15:40
While some parts of the arts sector are thriving, others are struggling financially thanks to Covid-19 and its aftermath. Theatres are one, art galleries another. So the publication of a f...
Writer Michalia Arathimos on writers' residencies from 2020-12-13T15:25
Being selected for two writers' residencies in a row has been the perfect welcome home gift for Greek/Kiwi writer and reviewer, Michalia Arathimos She and her family are preparing to leave...
Ceramicist Christine Boswijk from 2020-12-13T14:50
For more than 40 years, Nelson based ceramicist Christine Boswijk has loved the feeling of clay moving in her hands. Christine's highly respected and thought provoking ceramics are in publ...
Film production students in high demand from 2020-12-13T14:33
The demand for people with film production skills is so intense that students at the SAE Institute Auckland Campus were being offered jobs before they'd even graduated. Even staff are bein...
Preserving the history of Maori showbands from 2020-12-13T13:45
Dunedin-based oral historian Louise Kewene-Doig's father died when she was young, too young to ask her father about the heyday of the M?ori Showbands which he was part of - bands like the ...
Wearable Art on display at Te Papa from 2020-12-13T13:30
Usually Te Papa's exhibitions are months, if not years, in the planning - but it had just weeks to bring together a large-scale exhibition allowing people to get up close to award winning ...
Bumper year for NZ films from 2020-12-13T13:15
After an interrupted few months during the Covid-19 lockdowns, 2020 has turned into a bumper year for New Zealand made films - both in number produced and box office success. Next year, th...
Auckland Arts Festival - coping with Covid from 2020-12-06T18:17
The Auckland Arts Festival was one of the first major arts events that took a a huge financial hit when Covid-19 struck. But, undeterred, the organisers have pivoted like crazy to come up ...
NZ screen industry's brain gain: 'There's no place like home' from 2020-12-06T18:02
After decades of the so-called "brain drain", as New Zealand's best and brightest headed off to pastures new overseas, this year saw a sudden reversal. They call it a Brain Gain, as the Co...
Christ's College Drama Director David Chambers from 2020-12-06T15:49
A teacher who helped to shape the NCEA secondary school Drama curriculum - and fought to have it included as a NZQA subject - is about to retire after more than 40 years. David Chambers wa...
Lockdown images from Stewart Island from 2020-12-06T15:40
Photographs of the inhabitants of Stewart Island/Rakiura taken during the Covid-19 lockdown - snapped from a distance but still revealing - have been published in a new book. The photograp...
Te reo poetry film wins a major Irish award from 2020-12-06T15:25
A te reo Maori poetry film has won top prize at an international competition in Ireland. "Noho Mai" was a collaborative effort by the co-directors, writer Peta-Maria Tunui and audiovisual ...
Major exhibition of contemporary Maori art from 2020-12-06T14:31
It's almost 20 years since the last significant survey show of contemporary Maori art. But Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki has taken up the challenge to represent 70 years of work from t...
Rose Jackson is finding those collectibles from 2020-12-06T13:16
You'd think online sites like Trade Me and Facebook Marketplace would have marked the end of interest in op shops and dealers in all things retro. But it's not so. Rose Jackson and her par...
Sam Neill: 'A little optimism at the end of a rather dark tunnel' from 2020-11-29T17:40
To say Sam Neill has had a busy year is putting it mildly. He opened 2020 playing Phil O'Brien as guest star on Matinee Idle. After that, he shot off to the UK as a rather better paid gues...
Daniel Beban: Daily Deaths from 2020-11-29T15:49
For those of us listening to hourly bulletins throughout the year the statistics from the pandemic began to blur. It's hard to put the numbers into perspective. Hundreds of thousands of de...
Zirk Van Den Berg: I Wish, I Wish from 2020-11-29T15:40
Sometimes it feels like authors are in a race to see who can write the longest novel. In the age of Christmas market doorstoppers it can come as a relief to encounter a novella. You don't ...
Oil paintings to shine anew at the Turnbull Library from 2020-11-29T15:25
The Alexander Turnbull Library is turning its eye towards the oil paintings in its care. The Library has a huge collection of oil paintings but because they don't deteriorate in care, and ...
Pay equity in the NZ film and television industries from 2020-11-29T14:50
The New Zealand screen industry - film, TV and now gaming - has exploded over the past 20 or so years. Where you could once probably fit our film-makers into a decent-sized bus, these days...
In Kahoots at the Christchurch Art Gallery from 2020-11-29T14:33
A new exhibition at the Christchurch Art Gallery uses retro pop music, and futuristic Artifical Intelligence to create a bespoke experience for every visitor to the gallery. In Kahoots is ...
James Hope: The past and present of the corner dairy from 2020-11-29T13:30
The Kiwi dairy has been a cornerstone of New Zealand life since the 1930's - not just a source of food, and household essentials, but a newsagent, a post office and a centre of the communi...
Alexa Wilson: Dancing through the pandemic from 2020-11-29T13:15
It's been a very tough year for performance artists. But for now audiences can go along to shows in New Zealand and kiwi performers who have returned from overseas are capitalising on it w...