Arts

Auckland's Hobson Street Theatre Company, whose actors have all experienced homelessness, is representing New Zealand at an international Arts Festival held every three years in Rotterdam. The… Audio

Anne Hamblett was married to Colin McCahon. But a new exhibition is a reminder that she was also an important artist in her own right, although she gave up painting to raise her family and to support… Audio

Dimanche tells one story of a family battling extreme weather conditions and another of three filmmakers braving the Arctic to document species doomed to extinction: The show is coming to New Zealand… Audio

Music by women expressing their strength, from Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin in the 60s to Helen Reddy's feminist anthem 'I am Woman', Mahinārangi Tocker leading the way in Te Reo and today's techo… Video

Actor, playwright and painter Carl Bland wrote and co-directed Mr Red Light, a comic story about a bank robbery that goes wrong (so badly wrong in fact that the would-be robber ends up taking hostages… Audio

Taking the conventional wedding rom com and giving it a First Nations twist, Australia's ILBIJERRI Theatre Company and New Zealand's Te Rehia Theatre Company bring cultures together in Black Ties. Audio

Irish director and choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan (aka Micháel MacAodhagáin-O'Dobhailen) was last seen at the festival in 2018 with a production of Swan Lake. He returns with the Teac Da sa… Video, Audio

Oscar-winning songwriter, and one half of world-conquering comedy folk duo Flight of the Conchords, Bret McKenzie is also one of this year's Festival of The Arts' curators. He's assembled an eclectic… Audio

American artist and musician Laurie Anderson is one of the curators of this year's NZ Festival of the Arts. Anderson tells Kim Hill she feels unchanged by the decades that've passed since she… Video, Audio

Mark Amery looks at Wellington and Auckland's arts festival seasons. This week he checked out the artist, performance poet and musicians live and installation works at New Zealand Festival in Lower… Audio

Rest home life is at the centre of a performance at the NZ Fringe Festival. It's also performed by the residents of those rest homes. Two of the cast from, 'Dance Me to the End of Time', speak to… Audio

The life and work of unsung literary hero Emilia Bassano has had its international premiere at Auckland's Pop-up Globe. Emilia's author, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm talks about the show and its success to… Audio

Film and TV correspondent Sarah McMullan reviews the Stephen King novel-turned-TV series The Outsider and British comedy Military Wives and takes a look at New Zealand film Births, Deaths and… Audio

Multi-instrumentalists, partners, collaborators and music historians  Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi join Kathryn Ryan to discuss the (sometimes fraught) musical connections between race… Audio

Pacific performing artists showcase the richness of Maori and Pacific poetry through theatre for this year's Auckland Arts Festival. Audio

Auckland dancer and performer Vincent Farane is hitting the stage after a stint with one of the biggest dance crews in the world. Audio, Gallery

Finalists for the country's top book prizes are out this morning.

Sixteen works have made it on to the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards finalist list for fiction, poetry, illustrated non-fiction and… Audio

Robert Kelly has some strong feelings about the use of sound and music in new (ish) series hitting our screens and streaming platforms. Robert discusses Sharp Objects, Watchmen and The Brokenwood… Audio

Poetry is alive and well in New Zealand primary schools! Teachers around New Zealand are currently using a famous William Carlos Williams poem to get children to admit their naughtiest deeds. Audio

'Cold Blood' is the latest delightfully absurd offering from partners in art and life choreographer Michèle Anne De Mey and filmmaker Jaco Van Dormael. Featuring tiny props, cinema projection, and a… Video, Audio