Culture 101

Facilitator and curator Dayna Raroa joins Culture 101.

She joins Perlina Lau to share some of her cultural picks

A theatre show of the beloved Sir Terry Pratchett is currently on stage at Dunedin's Globe Theatre. Lords and Ladies has one of the Globe's largest casts of this year, giving ample opportunities to local actors and creatives to get involved.

Kaukapapa is a 40-minute drive North-West of Tamaki Makaurau, and a gateway to the Kaipara.

No documentary this year will likely come under as much scrutiny and discussion. Directed by Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz and on general release in New Zealand from September 25, Prime Minister follows Jacinda Ardern from taking up the leadership of the Labour Party, shortly before the 2017 election, to writing her memoir at Harvard in 2024.

They are some of the largest and most prominent buildings in our cities and towns. Places we are all are likely to spend significant time, as family and patients, weak or upset,. So why are hospitals so often considered ugly and unfriendly? 

There has been shock and concern amongst the arts and education world following the axing of Art History from the school curriculum.

Nicola Kāwana has been a familiar face to Kiwi audiences for decades. A graduate of Toi Whakaari, Nicola's acting career spans film, television and theatre.

Job stability and sustainability within a creative industry can be a constant battle for artists.

Cultural group Puku Rangi Tea from Rapa Nui Easter Island are providing a rare opportuntiy to experience their culture with performances in Blenheim, Wellington and Tauranga this coming week. They have traveled from one of the most isolated inhabited islands in the world. 

The untamed and wild Hokitika is better known these days as the "Cool Little Town." Located on the West Coast of the South Island, it's about 40 minutes from Greytown. It's home to the largestiwi in South Island, Ngai Tahu or Kai Tahu and was also the centre of the West Coast gold rush in the 19th century. It's a place where nature and culture collides; with a dramatic beachs, nature walks, lakes,...

Art in the Park returns to the iconic Eden Park next weekend from the 18th to the 21st of September. A curated art show in a stadium setting, it'll bring together artists and collectors with artist talks and workshops over the weekend.

Actor and writer Stephen Papps has a remarkable ability onstage to inhabit a multitude of characters. In his latest solo work Social Animal, written with Damon Andrews, he plays 13 characters, including three dogs. 

It's a new era at American Vogue with a new editor announced to take over from Dame Anna Wintour.

This year New Zealand Dance company Footnote is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Footnote bill their story as the story of contemporary dance in Aotearoa. A bold claim but they have some good reason. Footnote is our oldest contemporary dance group. They were founded by Deidre Tarrant in Poneke Wellington during formative times for dance in Aotearoa in the mid 1980s.

Across Tamaki Makaurau, there are 56 community libraries but there are also mobile libraries reaching those who can't access the public ones. These areas can be aged-care facilities, social housing or prison.

Enroute to the Hawkes Bay, Woodville was 100 years ago the home of one of our most famous portrait painters Gottfried Lindear and is home today to celebrated contemporary artist Maungarongo Te Kawa.

If you visit 24 Tawariki Street in Ponsonby, Auckland - which you are being invited to do this month - you'll find a stream reemerging in the front garden of a vacant house badly damaged during the 2023 Auckland Anniversary floods That house is currently populated by strange comic figures.

A new performing arts festival will be taking over several venues in Auckland for two weeks this month. We The Young in Tamaki Makaurau is celebrating art and imagination with 19 performances, workshops and interactive art experiences targeted at children and teenagers.

This week a group opposing the Wellington City Council's decision to demolish the capital's city to sea bridge, The Wellington Civic Trust, lost a Judicial Review. The group say they don't have the money to appeal but are pledging to fight on. They are not ruling out civil disobedience.  The Wellington City Council decision has been made in the face of the high cost of seismic restrengthening, and...

With the Billy T showcase around the corner, ahead of next year's festival and competition, this year's winner is still revelling in his victory.

I went down something of an Instagram rabbithole this week. For some people it's watching cooking or pots being made. For me it's been bookbinding. So meditative, many craft elements are combined.

Nearly a thousand choir singers converged on Ōtepoti Dunedin over the last few days as the Big Sing competition finished. 

The Arts news for 31 August.

If there's any country that understands and appreciates what film or television can do for tourism, it's us, here in New Zealand. Over the past decade, Scotland has been experiencing something similar.