Culture 101

In a 2023 election campaign special, panel series ‘Carcass’ provides you lively banter on where arts and politics did and didn’t meet on the hustings.

After 17 years as CEO of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Barbara Glaser has stepped down. 

Each week Culture 101 shines the spotlight on a different region. This week we’re in Rotorua with Mercia Dawn-Yates.

While we were all busy learning to make sourdough in lockdown or finally caving in and downloading TikTok, Bev Moon was busy knitting.

Pōneke ambient musician George Johnston has described his work as ‘aural ketamine’, driven by a belief in the healing properties of music.

Tarts: they’re sweet and Shakespearean but, as New Zealand comedian and writer, Deb Filler says “You want a taste?  Careful how you answer that question. This tart's not cheap.”

Every week on Culture 101 we welcome a guest to share the love and shout out to some current favourite arts and culture. This week’s guest is tumuaki (leader) of Te Kura Toi Whakaari o Aotearoa: NZ Drama School, Tanea Heke. Tanea is a loved figure from stage and screen. A staunch yet kind presence in films like No.2, Waru, Eagle vs Shark and Cousins.

With the 2023 Rugby World Cup starting soon we thought it might be a good idea to dig into the history of rugby football and examine the “origin story” of the game itself. As it turns out the “truth of the matter” is as murky as the secrets of scrummaging and as open to interpretation as the tackle ball rule. With Peter Hambleton and Susie Fergusson Recorded by Phil Benge and Produced by Duncan Sm...

A “bunch of nerds who play games and make comedy sketches about games” have come a long way. With more than 5.5 million subscribers on YouTube and in excess of 2.4 billion views on their channel, Viva La Dirt League are most definitely world famous - but mostly outside New Zealand. 

Creative New Zealand research this year shows artists are still earning considerably less than other wage earners. 

If it wasn’t for disco, Taiaroa Royal might be best known as a farmer. Not one of Aotearoa’s most celebrated dancers and choreographers.

Each week we join a creative correspondent from a different part of Aotearoa New Zealand. This week it’s Judene Edgar from Whakatū aka Nelson. 

BDSM is hitting the stage in Tāmaki Makaurau. No, not that BDSM - the Bomb Defusal School of Manakau of course.

Successful trials in France have shown drawing can improve the well-being and lessen the anxiety of those living with dementia. Now, Massey University will join forces with French institutes to run a trial in Wellington. 

Since he could barely reach the joysticks in his local parlour in Ngongotaha, Lake Rotorua, Preston McNeil (Te Arawa, Tainui) has loved spacies.

Comedian, actor and writer Kura Forrester drops into Culture 101 to talk about what she’s been watching and listening to when she’s not in rehearsal.  

Simon Morris looks at three movies that take certain short cuts to reach their audience.

Can you be a critic in your own backyard? Culture 101 speaks to arts critic and senior lecturer, Erin Harrington, about the latest from the Word festival in Christchurch. 

By the time she was seven, Susan Te Kahurangi King had stopped talking. Yet, today, she is one of Aotearoa’s most globally sought after artists. Paris, New York, Dusseldorf are just some of the locations of solo exhibitions this year. 

Each week we join a creative correspondent from a different part of Aotearoa New Zealand. This week it’s Baz Squire of Whangārei’s Hangar Gallery.

“New Zealand cancels Venice Biennale pavilion, citing inadequate resources” ran the headline on leading international art news site Artnet this month. There were similar from New York’s Artforum International. 

From Brahms to Bridgerton and Baroque to Beyonce; classical music is hitting the streets of the capital in early September as Classical on Cuba returns for a third year.   

TV star Karen O'Leary chats to Culture 101 about what she's seeing, consuming and why despite being all over TV, she doesn't watch much of it. 

The feature film Kainga features Pan-Asian ethnicities including Chinese, Indian, Maori-Chinese, Iranian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian and Tamil Eelam New Zealanders. Culture 101 discusses the importance of Pan-Asian representation on screen.

Is there more to Te Tai Poutini than wild foods, pounamu and driftwood?