Standing Room Only Podcast Options

2:37 PM.Poems about farm life - both the harsh realities and the simple joys of living off the land - are found in a new poetry collection by Horowhenua farmer Janet Newman. Unseasoned Campaigner touches on… Read more Audio

2:26 PM.Wellington musician Isabella Thomas originally wanted to play the saxophone, then the trombone, until finally she settled on the trumpet. Since then she's had no regrets. The 23-year-old has become… Read more Audio

1:46 PM.Tamaki Makaurau-based artist Emily Parr feels a strong connection with the ocean and specifically with whales. At the same time she's exploring whale migration for her PhD, she's also presenting an… Read more Audio, Gallery

1:32 PM.Playwright and director Shriya Bhagwat is tackling the taboo topic of sex in the South Asian community in her first full-length play The Kamasutra Chronicles. The premise is simple: can the Kamasutra… Read more Audio

12:35 PM.The independent Maori theatre and dance sectors are overflowing with people wanting to create work. But what's often holding them back is a lack of experienced producers, and somewhere to go for… Read more Audio

12:16 PM.The public was asked to chip in for remedial work on an historic oil painting of the iconic White Terraces. It's held in the Alexander Turnbull Library collection, and the crowd-sourcing appeal has… Read more Audio, Gallery

2:48 PM.40 years of painstakingly embroidered tablecloths, doll outfits and even portraits that look like paintings are on show in Wairarapa to celebrate the local guild's anniversary. Marjorie McGregor set… Read more Audio, Gallery

2:35 PM.A strong musical theme plays through Elizabeth Smither's new short story collection, The Piano Girls. In the title story,three sisters hold a recital each year in memory of their late mother, though… Read more Audio

2:25 PM.The film industry is worth around three billion dollars annually to New Zealand, and the Bay of Plenty wants a bigger piece of the action. While local spending on drama projects has already gone from… Read more Audio, Gallery

1:46 PM.Mikee Carpinter has an intriguing CV. He's both a colourist working in film and television, with a second career as a manager of artists like singer-songwriter Georgia Lines: Accountant, taxi driver… Read more Audio, Gallery

1:30 PM.So much rides on the shoulders of costume designers. Actors have to look the part, dancers have to be able to move freely, the outfits have to look authentic for the period - and all the time they're… Read more Audio, Gallery

12:36 PM.Aotearoa's longest running live poetry event, Auckland's Poetry Live! is celebrating 40 eventful, often rowdy and always entertaining years, with a publication launched today called This Twilight… Read more Audio, Gallery

12:15 PM.The pencil may be a humble object, but it's created countless masterpieces in the hands of artists and writers since the 16th century. The discovery of a large graphite deposit in the English town of… Read more Audio, Gallery

2:48 PM.Ballet favourite Giselle and 1940s film noir combine in a new ballet by Mary-Jane O'Reilly and her long term partner and co-creative Phil O'Reilly. Ballet Noir, what becomes of the broken-hearted is a… Read more Video, Audio, Gallery

2:37 PM.The self inflicted death of her long term partner sent Samoan-European poet Serie Barford into an emotional tailspin. The relationship with Alain had been intense but also difficult in later years… Read more Audio

2:25 PM.Landfall was founded by Otago poet Charles Brash in 1947, and it's had a succession of editors who've all made their own impression on the literary and arts magazine. Today we mark the latest changing… Read more Audio, Gallery

1:50 PM.An ambitious exhibition that's taking over both Tauranga Gallery and other sites around the city offers marginalised artists a rare opportunity to show their work and share their stories. Curator… Read more Audio, Gallery

1:31 PM.Their usual home is behind the scenes, away from the spotlight. But now new awards have been created for those theatre practitioners who don't get a round of applause at the end of a show. Sir Roger… Read more Audio, Gallery

12:45 PM.New Zealand Women's Institutes and the Hawke's Bay woman who founded the movement, Jerome Spencer, are celebrated in a new exhibition. In fact it's a double celebration as the exhibition called For… Read more Audio, Gallery

12:34 PM.New Zealand feature film The Justice of Bunny King made its debut last month at New York's prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. It got a special Jury mention for "outstanding achievement" by lead actors… Read more Audio, Gallery

12:16 PM.A birthday card sent back and forth between a father and daughter over 20 years, and a poem left in a car's windscreen wiper ending an affair... These are among the deeply personal treasures featuring… Read more Audio

2:47 PM.When his long time publisher retired, writer Glenn Colquhoun had a big decision to make. To find a new one, or to enter the thorny world of self-publishing. The poet and childrens' writer has gone… Read more Audio, Gallery

2:34 PM.Forget Brokenwood Mysteries, or even Paul Cleave's Christchurch thrillers. Now Ponsonby is our latest literary crime hotspot. Expat Suzanne Frankham, who's now based in Australia, has set her first… Read more Audio

2:25 PM.Have you ever looked at a lone, cold tap in a public toilet and wondered what it would say if it could talk? Nor have we, but that's the basis of comedian Barnie Duncan's show Tap Head, complete with… Read more Video, Audio, Gallery

1:45 PM.Last year's lockdown saw the virtual closure of our film industry for months, and no films meant no film music. But one group of composers turned the lack of outside work to their advantage. They… Read more Video, Audio