{"id":295497,"date":"2026-02-21T17:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/295497\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T17:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:50:10","slug":"aotearoa-nz-festival-of-the-arts-in-wellington-runs-from-february-24-march-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/295497\/","title":{"rendered":"Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts in Wellington runs from February 24 \u2013 March 15"},"content":{"rendered":"

In many ways, it was the perfect opening gesture for the 40th year of the Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts, in Wellington.<\/p>\n

Though the festival officially opens on February 24, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds\u2019 February 5 and 6 Wellington concerts were adopted into the programme as a special 40th anniversary opening event.<\/p>\n

For co-directors Dolina Wehipeihana and Tama Waipara MNZM, the 40th anniversary is anchored in Maumaharatanga \u2013 remembrance – but not in looking backwards for comfort.<\/p>\n

\"FestivalFestival co-directors Dolina Wehipeihana and Tama Waipara wth Melane Tangaere Baldwin\u2019s work \u2018Hine Whakawetewete\u2019 an installation made from velveteen, suedette, leatherette, vinyl, latex PVC, spandex, satin, polyester quilting and polyester, on display at Te P\u0101taka Toi Adam Art Gallery.
\nPhoto \/ Rosalie Liddle Crawford<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t interested in nostalgia,\u201d Wehipeihana said, \u201cbut in acknowledging the foundations that got us here \u2014 and asking what that means now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe festival is part of an intergenerational chain,\u201d Waipara said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here because of the people who built platforms before us. Our job is to honour that and extend it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This ethos extends beyond the festival into their wider work. <\/p>\n

Wehipeihana manages multiple roles \u2014 co-director, Kai\u0101rahi M\u0101ori at Performing Arts Network NZ, and chair of the Atamira Dance Collective Charitable Trust \u2014 combining advocacy, mentoring, and strategic support for M\u0101ori artists.<\/p>\n

\" P\u0101taka Art and Museum director Ana Sciascia with Fred Graham\u2019s exhibition.
\nPhoto \/ Rosalie Liddle Crawford<\/p>\n

An award-winning musician, Waipara brings decades of experience as a composer, performer, and curator, alongside leadership roles including founding the Te Tair\u0101whiti Arts Festival and serving on boards from Te Papa to SOUNZ and iwi trusts.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of us sit in spaces of advocacy, particularly for independent artists who aren\u2019t part of large organisations, to put their brilliant work up so we can all see it, share it, and support it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That ethos is embodied in the return of Waiora Te \u016akaip\u014d \u2013 The Homeland by Hone Kouka. First staged in 1996 \u2014 commissioned by the festival \u2014 it toured nationally and internationally for five years.<\/p>\n

\" NZ playwright Hone Kouka at T\u0101whiri Warehouse. Photo \/ Rosalie Liddle Crawford<\/p>\n

Now, 30 years after its premiere, Waiora returns to Wellington\u2014directed by Kouka, who was struck by how much the play still resonates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a retrospective,\u201d Waipara said. \u201cIt\u2019s a living work. It shaped who we are \u2014 and it\u2019s still shaping who we\u2019re becoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

The revival carries generational resonance: the late Nancy Brunning starred as Rongo in the original; her daughter M\u0101 returns as sound designer and will also perform in her own festival show at T\u0101whiri Warehouse on February 28.<\/p>\n

\" Musician M\u0101 will perform at Tawhiri Warehouse on February 28. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the continuum,\u201d Wehipeihana said. \u201cThat\u2019s maumaharatanga in action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than impose a rigid theme, the directors began by listening.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe inherited a landscape rather than a locked programme,\u201d Wehipeihana said. \u201cSo, we asked \u2014 what\u2019s already in motion? What conversations are artists having?\u201d<\/p>\n

With excellence a given, the focus became connection, collaboration, and sustainability. <\/p>\n

\" Ten Thousand Hours – a wh\u0101nau-friendly acrobatic spectacular.
\nPhoto \/ Andy Phillipson<\/p>\n

Both directors speak about supporting artists beyond the festival stage: mentoring, advisory work, and building audiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about a balance of listening, being active and aware, and using whatever platform we have to create opportunities for connection between audiences and artists,\u201d Waipara said.<\/p>\n

Restaging works like the iconic Gloria and supporting digital dance and film projects exemplifies this vision. <\/p>\n

\"\u2018Big\u2018Big Flowers for a Wild City\u2019 by Martin Basher. These four monumental aluminium blooms in vases on four plinths were commissioned by the Wellington Sculpture Trust for the Collin Post 4 Plinths Project and are located on the Te Papa forecourt. Photo \/ Supplied.<\/p>\n

The festival also amplifies traditionally under-represented voices, such as the newly commissioned Music Portrait of a Humble Disabled Samoan, which portrays lived experience as a tetraplegic with humour, power, and political relevance.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Nothing about us without us\u2019 is at the heart of it,\u201d Waipara said.<\/p>\n

Movement and storytelling remain central in dance theatre work, Mythosoma.<\/p>\n

\u201cMythosoma explores injury, trauma, or shock and how we carry things in the body\u2026 the arts can help heal, told through dance and storytelling,\u201d Waipara said.<\/p>\n

\"RestagingRestaging works like the iconic Gloria and supporting digital dance and film projects exemplify the festival’s vision. Photo \/ Chris Symes<\/p>\n

The festival\u2019s approach to innovation is intentionally multi-disciplinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think about arts practice as a continuum\u2026 traditional forms evolving into contemporary practice,\u201d Wehipeihana said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKapa haka meets symphony and pop music, film meets theatre \u2014 it\u2019s all multi-disciplinary by default in Aotearoa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contemporary circus company Gravity & Other Myths makes its Wellington debut with Ten Thousand Hours, a wh\u0101nau-friendly acrobatic spectacular, while platinum-selling Rob Ruha performs with the NZ Symphony Orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre.<\/p>\n

\"RobRob Ruha performs with the NZ Symphony Orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre. Photo \/ E. Sinclair<\/p>\n

Curator Sophie Thorn describes Whai W\u0101hi at Te P\u0101taka Toi Adam Art Gallery as part of an ongoing national dialogue about belonging, land, and identity. <\/p>\n

Suspended near Ian Athfield\u2019s stairwell, the Te Waka Hourua panels play a central role. Originally from Museum of NZ Te Papa Tongarewa, they have been reinterpreted by the Te Waka Hourua collective to spark dialogue about colonial history, sovereignty, and M\u0101ori cultural authority. <\/p>\n

\" Te P\u0101taka Toi Adam Art Gallery curator Sophie Thorn with the Te Waka Hourua panels. Photo \/ Rosalie Liddle Crawford<\/p>\n

The panels invite viewers to reflect on how history is presented, whose voices are heard, and the ongoing impact of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.<\/p>\n

Reframing protest as \u2018continuation\u2019 rather than rupture, the artists present recurring motifs\u2014Bastion Point, legislative language, maternal imagery\u2014as questions to the viewer about where they stand within histories still unfolding.<\/p>\n

This message aligns with the wider festival: remembrance is not retrospective. It is relational.<\/p>\n

\" On display at P\u0101taka Art + Museum is Fred Graham\u2019s Te Wehenga o Rangi r\u0101ua ko Papa, 1988. Photo \/ Rosalie Liddle Crawford<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Porirua, P\u0101taka Art + Museum is hosting exhibitions honouring sculptor and carver Fred Graham alongside Mutumutu Ki Mukukai: Freshwater to Saltwater, highlighting Ngati Toa\u2019s enduring relationship with Porirua, and T\u012bpurepure Au Va\u2019ine\u2019s active t\u012bvaivai-making space.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about displaying quilts,\u201d lead curator Ioana Gordon-Smith said. \u201cIt\u2019s about the relationships and knowledge-sharing that happen around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\" P\u0101taka Art + Museum lead curator Ioana Gordon-Smith with \u2018T\u012bvaivai manu\u2019, a t\u012bvaivai made by Margaret Thompson, part of an exhibition created by the Porirua-based collective T\u012bpurepure Au Va\u2019ine. Photo \/ Rosalie Liddle Crawford<\/p>\n

Art isn\u2019t the only thing on show. The writers\u2019 programme functions as a \u201cfestival within a festival,\u201d based at the T\u0101whiri Warehouse. <\/p>\n

\" Courtenay Place in Wellington, known for its restaurants and nightlife. Photo \/ Rosalie Liddle Crawford<\/p>\n

Across theatres, galleries, and harbour edges, the 40th anniversary reveals itself not as showy performances, but as a living network of memory, collaboration, advocacy, and creative courage. <\/p>\n

It does not shout but it listens. It remembers. It builds the platform for whoever comes next.<\/p>\n

Details<\/p>\n

The Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts runs in Wellington from February 24 to March 15. <\/p>\n

Find more information and purchase tickets at festival.nz<\/a><\/p>\n

NZ Herald Travel visited courtesy of WellingtonNZ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In many ways, it was the perfect opening gesture for the 40th year of the Aotearoa NZ Festival…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23968,2782,140101,9225,4624,12889,442,32131,9063,49579,10408,6750,5131,71,78,49578,1535,1929,111,43,139,69,1118,36820,49577,15556,223,52,9192,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-295497","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-23968","9":"tag-2782","10":"tag-40th","11":"tag-advocacy","12":"tag-anniversary","13":"tag-aotearoa","14":"tag-arts","15":"tag-bold","16":"tag-celebration","17":"tag-crawford","18":"tag-creativity","19":"tag-february","20":"tag-festival","21":"tag-from","22":"tag-in","23":"tag-liddle","24":"tag-march","25":"tag-multidisciplinary","26":"tag-new-zealand","27":"tag-news","28":"tag-newzealand","29":"tag-nz","30":"tag-of","31":"tag-remembrance","32":"tag-rosalie","33":"tag-runs","34":"tag-the","35":"tag-wellington","36":"tag-writes","37":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}