Culture 101

"We're all trying to kind of find some sound that links us together," celebrated New Zealand musician Neil Finn tells Culture 101 in an upcoming interview.

Aotearoa’s central arts funding body, Creative New Zealand, is majorly overhauling its funding structure, with eight new funds to open between March and August. The change follows the arts council’s admission its current arts grant system is no longer fit for purpose.  

What can chairs reveal to us about our history? There are sure to be seats in the new Objectspace exhibition and book The Chair: A story of design and making in Aotearoa that’ll cause you warm bodily pricks of memory.

Arts and culture news from RNZ's Culture 101.

The activists who defaced an English version of Ti Tiriti o Waitangi at Te Papa last year planned their actions very carefully, says Cally O’Neill from the social justice action group Te Waka Hourua. "There's a bunch of precedents for art as activism and that was exactly the direction that we were going," she tells Culture 101.

Prolific playwright Sam Brooks has not one, but two plays premiering in Wellington and Auckland in February for Pride. 

Each week, Culture 101 puts the spotlight on a different region to get the latest on the arts and culture scene. This week we’re at Waitangi. 

Kiwis will be watching the next season of White Lotus even more closely, following the casting of New Zealand actor Morgana O’Reilly (Housebound, Mean Mums, Wentworth). The hugely successful dark comedy will be set in Thailand for its third season, following earlier seasons in Hawaii and Italy. 

It may be 2024, but playwright Albert Belz (Ngati Porou, Ngā Puhi, Ngati Pokai) wants you to stretch like it's 1990. Dedicated to the pump of aerobics, Belz’s new play Hyperspace is an unapologetic 1990 nostalgia fest.

RNZ Culture 101 takes you behind the scenes and on a tour inside a giant bouncy castle complex with a difference.

News in the past week from the arts and culture sector

Each show, Culture 101 visits a different region to find out what's going on in the arts and culture scene. For our first show back this year, we're heading to Te Tairāwhiti and joining us is prolific Maori artist, musician, cultural advocate and the chief executive of the Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, Tama Waipara.

Everyone can sing. Not necessarily well, but everyone has the ability. The phenomenon Pub Choir has taken this idea and combined singing with comedy and beers.

For teenagers who grew up in the 2000s, Bring It On (2000) was a VHS and DVD staple. It would, without fail, be brought out during sleepovers. It felt like everyone knew the cheerleading chants. Kirsten Dunst was at the height of her fame. Closer to home, it’s serving as inspiration for a new theatre show Pring It On!, with the pom poms swapped out for Polyfest. The story goes behind the scenes, i...

Most of us at some point have worked for a company with an HR (Human Resources) Department. We’re familiar with the jargon and usually have brushes with the team entering and exiting a role.  But what about HR as a musical? 

Witi Ihimaera joins Mark Amery on Culture 101 to play ‘Fast Favourites’ - sharing some of his favourite current Aotearoa artists and cultural moments.   “We’re international now. It’s fantastic when you think about it - we had three New Zealand  films premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival… and Māori music in te reo has massively risen in the charts here. It’s poised to go global th...

Joining Mark Amery and Perlina Lau on Culture 101 to consider the year that was and pick some cultural highlights are Erin Harrington in Ōtautahi Christchurch, André Chumko and Sarah Laing in Poneke Wellington and Sam Brooks and Gemma Gracewood in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

As the summer break starts, many New Zealanders will be heading to the warmer climes of Te Tai Tokerau Northland and a town known for its arts, culture and heritage: Kerikeri.  Culture 101’s Mark Amery is joined by Kerikeri based RNZ journalist Peter De Graaf for this week’s Regional Wrap.

The phenomenon and history of folk horror has been explored in a new documentary, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (2021) screening at City Gallery Wellington. A sub-genre of horror, folk horror is described in the film as “prosaic meets uncanny”. A common theme is connection to the land, returning to the roots and cultures which have been sustained in spite of a dominant culture that’s progresse...

Actor, director, producer and writer, Tainui Tukiwaho (Te Arawa, Tūhoe) is the recent winner of the 2023 Bruce Mason Playwriting Award. Known for roles on Step Dave and having taken on portraying legendary comedian, Billy T James for telemovie, Billy, Tukiwaho has taken home $10,000, to encourage his writing for theatre.

When we talk about the pioneering generation of modern Māori artists, the names most typically heard are men: Ralph Hotere, Sandy Adsett, Selwyn Wilson, Muru Walters or Para Matchitt.  Deserving more recognition is Marilynn Webb. Of Ngāpuhi, Te Roroa and Ngāti Kahu descent, Webb passed away in 2021. She is best known for prints that connect us to the landscape, considering the effects of environme...

Each week Culture 101 invites a guest to share their cultural favourites and shout-out to other artists. This week it’s former Shortland Street and Good Grief actor and writer Grace Palmer.   

The journey anthropologist and award-winning writer Dame Anne Salmond has made into Te Ao Māori as a Pākehā over 50 years - creating a bridge for others to connect with our histories, our environment and our peoples - has been extraordinary.

Every week on Culture 101 we check the pulse of a different area of Aotearoa. This week, we’re in Motueka with Donna McLeod. 

In her major exhibition Coastal Cannibals at City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi, with a camera, Ngahuia Harrison offers different views on our landscape than we are used to seeing in a frame. She considers the complexity of perspectives, from kaimoana gathering sites to brand new suburban waterfront property developments.