Arts
Kapa haka competition being launched in prisons
A kapa haka competition is being launched in prisons in a move to connect inmates with their culture and identity. All eighteen prisons are taking part in the 2021 Whakataetae Kapa Haka contest. The… Audio
Polyfest, the world's largest Pasifika dance festival
Let's go to Auckland now, where dancers from 60 schools are taking to the stage in Auckland today for the four-day Polyfest - the world's largest Pasifika dance festival. Last year's event was canned… Audio
New theatre show brings south Asian voices to the stage
A new show written during lockdown explores familiar relationships, gender norms and intergenerational conflict. Showing for two weeks at the Basement theatre in Auckland's CBD, First World Problems… Audio
How to Write about Art
Auckland Art Gallery director Kirsten Lacy talks to Jesse about the art of writing about art. Audio
The Most Dedicated - An Aotearoa Graffiti Story
What does 20 years of graffiti in Aotearoa look like? One graffiti crew decided to pull together as a collective to create an exhibition that looks at old and new works and the people involved in the… Audio
Fifty years of the Court Theatre
Christchurch's Court Theatre has outlived all the other first professional theatres set up on New Zealand. It proudly celebrates its 50th birthday on the 21st of April. Felicity Price, a long time… Audio, Gallery
A Nelson poets society publishes an anthology
It's been a tough year for numerous creative writing and publishing tertiary courses around the country. Last year was the last for budding writers at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology… Audio
Catherine Robertson and the Gabriel's Bay trilogy
The fictional New Zealand seaside town of Gabriel's Bay is the setting for a third novel by Hawkes Bay based author Catherine Robertson. The central theme explored in Spellbound is power, from family… Audio
The Hall - a small story told by a big choir
A small town family story about dementia and the healng power of music - performed with a mass community choir! - is the new offering from the team behind the play and movie Daffodils. Alison cares… Audio, Gallery
Tales from the back of the painting
What's on the back of a painting can tell as story as fascinating as what's on the front. There are not only the obvious - signatures and labels - but all kinds of other tantalising clues. Three New… Audio, Gallery
A girl called Lily
"I want to prove that people with Down syndrome can do anything." That's Lily Harper's mission. She's an award winning actor from Palmerston North who's starring in Up Down Girl, directed by Nathan… Audio, Gallery
Retiring NZ Film Commission CEO Annabelle Sheehan
Recently the Chair of Te Tuma Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission, Dame Kerry Prendergast, announced that CEO Annabelle Sheehan would step away from the role, after three years leading the… Audio
DMX, American rapper and actor, dies aged 50
US rapper and actor DMX has died at the age of 50, five days after suffering a heart attack.
Turid Revfeim: A life spent dancing
Turid Revfeim has spent her career on and around the stage. She joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 1980, leaving to spend four years with a company in Germany before rejoining in 1986. She rose to… Audio
Anne Geddes bringing back baby photos in lockdown
When the pandemic prevented world renowned photographer Anne Geddes from doing what she does, taking pictures of babies, she decided to do something else. She explains the "Joy" project to Jesse. Audio, Gallery
Woodchopper Darcell Apelu on combining her axe with her art
Darcell Apelu is a champion woodchopper with a string of titles under her belt. In 2019 she took out much of the Sydney Royal Easter Show before going on to win the Inaugural New Zealand Stihl… Audio
Anthony Phelps - NZ Punk
A new book has been published looking at the history of the punk scene in Auckland in the 20th century. From AK79 to the Class of 81 tracks the world of the punk scene through the eyes of the then… Audio
Stories of cerebral palsy told in Squeaky Wheel
From funny to heart breaking, the stories of people with cerebral palsy and those who advocate for them are told in a new verbatim play called Squeaky Wheel. Writer Kat Thomas, whose daughter Ella has… Audio
Richard Huber
A multi media stage show about a fatal fire in a toy factory in Thailand in 1993, and a play about two privileged malcontents trapped in a room together, are both works in the upcoming Dunedin Arts… Audio
Thriller set among Kiwi vineyards
Vineyards are the setting for a new Aotearoa based thriller. Blood on the Vines is by Swedish migrant Madeleine Eskedahl who's now based in Auckland. The first in a planned trilogy, "The Matakana… Audio
