Features

Arts media coverage is teetering on the brink of collapse, a new report commissioned by Creative New Zealand says. The authors talked to Culture 101 about what has gone wrong and why we need arts journalism. Audio

Brother and sister duo Sam and Ellie Studd's new book The Best Things In Life Are Cheese aims to help us understand and appreciate cheese in all its many forms. Audio

Charm, colour and brilliance are on offer in this concert of a trio for oboe, bassoon and piano by French neo-classicist Jean Françaix, a work by New Zealand composer Salina Fisher for string trio, a charming work for oboe and strings by Mozart, and the dazzling Piano Quintet by Robert Schumann.

St Andrew's College included the classic Led Zeppelin rock song as part of a prizegiving ceremony on 26 November, which led to a flood of requests for the footage, and it has now been viewed more than 150,000 times. Video, Audio

All Blacks mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka talks about his 23 years with the team, nurturing the mind to improve the game, and making use of wisdom from tough times. Audio

Actor and star of The Brokenwood Mysteries Fern Sutherland has just wrapped her tenth season on the television detective drama, driven by the show's enthusiastic and loyal international fan base, she tells Culture 101. Audio

If there is life on other planets, what might it look like, and would they even bother coming to Earth? Audio

Every photographer needs their muse, and for Kate Simon, Bob Marley has proved a lasting one. Audio

As wars continue in Gaza, Ukraine, and other parts of the world, a new book questions whether New Zealand ought to have a military force at all. Audio

Award-winning writer, musician, and broadcaster Nick Bollinger investigates what differentiates New Zealand pop music from its overseas cousins, and what that can tell us about our identity in the 2023 Lilburn Lecture. Video, Audio

Lunchtime Concert: Top classical musicians visit the small Wairarapa town to perform stellar chamber music, including Elgar's Romance for bassoon, Rachmaninov's cello sonata, and Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence.

LISTEN: An exuberant and diverse crowd packed the Michael Fowler Centre for this, the first concert to a live audience by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (or any large ensemble worldwide) following the first COVID lock downs.

Chanelle Dickie helps working horses adjust to life off the track at the Selwyn Equestrian Centre. Audio

A 7,500m2 wetland at the bottom of South Wairarapa's Kaiwaiwai Dairies is reducing nitrates drained from paddocks.  Audio

Beloved entertainers Lynda and Jules Topp chat to Charlotte Ryan. Video, Audio

Enjoy music by Aotearoa composers Karlo Margetić and Louise Webster; Hiroaki Tokunaga from Japan, Kurt Rohde from the U.S., and Jae-Moon Lee from South Korea in this Asian Composers League concert recorded by RNZ Concert.

Hine Waitai-Dye (Ngāti Kurī) says an open mind is the number one prerequisite for learning to construct a traditional Māori canoe. Video, Audio, Gallery

Sufjan Stevens' new release, Javelin, has provoked William Dart to a week of deep immersion in the American's earlier music to find out just where his new elegiac songs fit in. Audio

We're celebrating the First Sunday of Advent today with some favourite Advent hymns including O Come Emmanuel, and Of the Father's Heart Begotten. Audio

English grime music pioneer Flowdan chats to Samantha Mythen before hitting the stage in Wellington.

This week, Nick Tipping focuses on jazz manouche, a genre created by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, and carried on by modern masters Angelo DeBarre, Stochelo Rosenberg, and Biréli Lagrène. Audio

Sociologist David Brooks believes treating others with kindness and respect is something we can all learn to do better. Video, Audio

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’ celebration of cheap and nasty filmmaking, Grindhouse, comes home in a paradoxically beautiful package, reports Dan Slevin.

Kelly Gibney shares a summer barbecue side dish from her latest cookbook Enjoy.