Culture 101

You know those embarrassing uncomfortable thoughts and feelings you have you usually keep inside? Pōneke playwright and comedian Viki Moananu uses theatre and comedy to let them out. He calls them… Read more Audio

Gore is quite rightly known as our Capital of country music. But there’s always been much more going on culturally in this East Southland town. Read more Video, Audio

Vast exclusion zones operate around the cities of Pripyat, near the ruined Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, and Plymouth, on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, decimated by the island’s… Read more Video, Audio

The notoriously punishing, elite world of the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet Academy is centre stage in Joika - the first ever film collaboration between New Zealand and Poland.  Read more Video, Audio

Over 100 years ago artist Ahilapalapa Rands’ great-grandfather, the ukulele virtuoso Ernest Ka’ai wrote the song ‘Across the Sea’, the lyrics speaking to the pull that Hawai’i has for Kānaka Maoli… Read more Audio

A professional in the comedy scene for more than a decade now, Rhys Mathewson knew he was going to pursue comedy as a career after taking part in Class Comedians in 2006 at the age of 15. 

From that… Read more Audio

Arts news for 12 May Read more

Ten years ago acclaimed potter Rick Rudd sold his house -  together with its unique native and sculpture garden - in Castlecliff, Whanganui to establish Quartz Museum of Studio Ceramics in downtown… Read more Audio

Aotearoa New Zealand is a land of birds. Yet contemporary fiction providing a bird’s eye view has been slow to arrive. 

While Catherine Chidgey’s award winning 2022 novel The Axeman’s Carnival looks… Read more Audio

In this week’s Regional Wrap we look at the culture of Far North town Kaitaia. Read more Audio

In an article on Stuff in 2019, comedian Guy Williams posed the question, “Where are all the Māori comedians?” Williams noted that, despite our main comedy award being named after Billy T James, he… Read more Audio

A psychological thriller, part of TVNZ’s Motherhood Anthology Series has been released in time for Mother’s Day.

The film’s title Amah holds three different meanings. The term, used in East Asia… Read more Audio