Standing Room Only Podcast Options

2:26 PM.If you've ever seen a Tibetan Buddhist sand mandala you'll appreciate the potential for this under-appreciated art material - at least away from the beach. Marcus Winter aka The Sandman is as much… Read more Video, Audio, Gallery

1:46 PM.It's easy to imagine that a new collection of Climate Change poetry from around the Pacific could be overwhelmingly a picture of doom and gloom. But what the four Kiwi editors of No Other Place to… Read more Audio

1:31 PM.Verdi's opera Macbeth is very true to Shakespeare's tale of a well-regarded military leader corrupted by his conviction he's destined to become King. Playing the lead role in NZ Opera's new… Read more Audio

12:45 PM.This is a shocking statistic in 2022. Just 3% of annual publishing in New Zealand features Maori and tagata moana writers. Facing these woeful figures, it's clear a strategy is needed to support and… Read more Audio

12:31 PM.2022 is the Year of the Tartan. It's also the 50th anniversary of the delivery of Te Petihana Reo Maori to Parliament demanding recognition of te reo. Artist Mitchell Manuel is about to open an… Read more Audio, Gallery

12:16 PM.Deciding which creatives get a cut of the limited government funding pie is always contentious. Art is subjective after all. There are inevitably claims of favouritism on panels selected to recommend… Read more Audio

3:51 PM.Artist Andrew Bogle has embraced the opportunity to market his art online, on the website "Artfull" which profiles the work of New Zealand artists to a national and international audience. Former… Read more Audio, Gallery

2:47 PM.After 140 years displaying art from around the country, the fate of the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts now hangs in the balance. Hopes of saving it rely on the generosity of the charitable trust's… Read more Audio, Gallery

2:36 PM.Creatures trying to survive as the world around them burns express their fears, their anger and their hopes in Naming the Beasts, the visceral new poetry collection by Auckland writer, Elizabeth… Read more Audio

2:26 PM.It's the ultimate example of taking art to the people - a bright yellow electric cargo bike filled with art supplies is about to hit the streets of Christchurch. It's the idea of artist Isaac Tait… Read more Video, Audio, Gallery

1:47 PM."Jukebox musicals" are shows based on existing hits from famous bands and songwriters. And for years, Broadway and London's West End have been dominated by shows like We will rock you and Mamma Mia… Read more Audio, Gallery

1:33 PM.What is a 'good' Chinese woman? That's one of the questions Hong Kong-born writer and performer Cynthia Hiu Ying Lam interrogates in her new play. She weaves together the stories of her two… Read more Video, Audio

12:47 PM.'Such a fine, sunny day' was the last thing 21-year-old resistance fighter Sophia Scholl said, before being executed in Munich after a Nazi show-trial in 1943. It's also the name of a new song cycle… Read more Audio

12:15 PM.Shortly, the next generation of elite New Zealand opera singers won't have to win a scholarship, find tens of thousands of dollars, or be separated from their families to train overseas for an… Read more Audio

2:49 PM.The circus has always been a symbol of escape, from children being amazed, amused - and often bemused - by their first experience of a live show, to disgruntled rebels running away to join the circus… Read more Audio, Gallery

2:37 PM.If the only way to address the global population crisis and the degradation of the planet was to limit everyone's lifespan to just 70 years, would you go along with it happily? Or would you fight to… Read more Audio

2:25 PM.In poker, a slow roll is the ultimate example of bad etiquette. It's when a player knows they've got the best hand but waits until their opponent thinks they've won the pot before showing the winning… Read more Audio

1:47 PM.Ditching the rat-race to go travelling around Aotearoa in a campervan - for some that sounds like a dream come true, for others - not so much. In her new play The Campervan, Kathryn Burnett pits a… Read more Audio

1:31 PM.Carterton artist Ngaire Kearney has the steadiest of hands and nerves of steel. She needs them - she etches intricate images into glass and stone, or burns them into wood. Most of her designs are… Read more Audio, Gallery

12:43 PM.A new play exploring the intersection of grief, faith and sexuality has shocked the playwright when it become the target of a hate campaign. Catholic-raised Tatiana Hotere was also involved for many… Read more Audio

12:29 PM.It's astonishing what magic one actor can produce on stage when they have a great script and the ability to play many roles simply through movement and voice.. TAHI - New Zealand Festival of Solo… Read more Video, Audio, Gallery

12:16 PM.Maori visual artist Dr Maureen Lander is a visionary, a leading exponent of weaving, both customary and experimental, an installation artist and a mentor to many. Added to her extensive list of… Read more Video, Audio, Gallery

2:47 PM.The sound of the country's top secondary school choirs resonated through the Christchurch Town Hall last night for the National Finale of New Zealand's largest choral event: The Big Sing. It's the… Read more Audio, Gallery

2:35 PM.What if somebody claims to know a distressing secret about your partner, and then challenges you via Twitter to find out what happened. This is the situation Kiwi journalist Joy Manville finds herself… Read more Audio

2:27 PM.After two disrupted years, Christchurch is looking forward to its WORD literary festival complete with real life audiences. Trustee, MC, poet - and occasionally chauffeur - for the festival, Daisy… Read more Audio