Features

Musician, writer and advocate Áine Kelly-Costello talks with Upbeat about progress in making the arts more accessible for people with disabilities. Audio

Several documentaries about great female rock stars have come to film festivals in recent years, so music enthusiast and RNZ Music studio operator Jana Whitta offers some highlights and insights.  Video, Audio

A selection of live music performances from some of NZ's favourite musicians, including Bic Runga, Neil Finn, Tiny Ruins, David Dallas, Ladi6, Dave Dobbyn and the Phoenix Foundation. 8:30 pm Fridays on Nights with Bryan Crump.

When Beethoven was 22 he moved to Vienna and found an abundance of virtuoso pianists - fertile ground for the development of the piano concerto genre. Audio

Virgie Tovar says her battle has been with fat discrimination, not weight loss. Now she accepts who she is and no longer starts the day with the thought that she hates her body. Audio

Auckland's Māori and Pasifika youth hubs fear they may be left out of the Council's redevelopment plans for their communities. Video

New children's book My Storee is full of spelling errors, with the author - himself dyslexic - aiming to show kids, parents and teachers alike that writing need not get in the way of creativity. Audio

Nick Bollinger discusses the rustic reveries and parting odes of Otago singer-songwriter Holly Arrowsmith. Audio

Nearly six months on from a major earthquake in Papua New Guinea's Highlands region, affected communities remain in desperate need of help. RNZ Pacific’s Johnny Blades and Koroi Hawkins travelled to the remote Highlands region.

Aretha Franklin was quite rightly called Queen of Soul. Named as the greatest singer of the 20^th century, her music was intense and personal, intricate yet appearing to spring from a place of pure feeling, Nick Bollinger writes.

Wellington cafes seem a dime a dozen, but when the Trade School Kitchen officially opens in Naenae next week it will offer prisoners a chance at employment and reintegration. Video, Audio

Marriage and children didn’t end the musical careers of Lauren and Matt Barus, and an album’s worth of material was slowly put together in the back shed,  in those stolen moments any parent craves.  Video, Audio

We live with them 24/7 and yet most of the time we have absolutely no idea what our pets are thinking. The author of blog Companion Animal Psychology, Dr Zazie Todd answers the burning questions about dog and cat behaviour. Audio

The Sampler - This jazz-based west Auckland rap project showcases Scott as no longer the stroppy twenty-something of Home Brew but a young father in his early thirties, taking stock of his past, present and future, writes Nick Bollinger.  Video, Audio

Ebonie Smith, Senior Engineer at Atlantic Records in New York City. We sent RNZ’s Jana Whitta down to Roundhead Studios to check it out and have a korero with Ebonie. Audio

Our Changing World - Like a modern Kiwi version of the Domesday Book of England, more than 1,000,000 pages of NZ surveyors' notes have been digitised in one of the largest cultural heritage projects in the world. Audio

Six New Zealand composers re-conceive a work by Renaissance composer Richard Davy to make a moving musico-dramatic work called 'Passio'. Audio

New Zealand scientists have published the first major results from their study of the unique & extremely resilient organisms living in the Taupō Volcanic Zone. Audio

Nick Bollinger lends an ear to the reflective raps of Tom Scott in his new jazz-based project. Video, Audio

The Wireless - Pre-employment drug tests, psychometric tests, aptitude tests, credit checks, police checks and health tests add up to a lot of work before you even get - or don’t get - the job, Naomi Arnold discovers.

Several documentaries about great female rock stars have come to film festivals in recent years, so music writer and RNZ Music studio operator Jana Whitta offers some highlights and insights. Video, Audio

Mediawatch - Telco Spark has scored the rights to screen the English Premier League, long a part of the package at Sky TV, as the subscription viewing game grows increasingly competitive.

A Pacific Arts Strategy aiming to drive funding for the contribution Pasifika art is making to New Zealand is set to be launched in September.

Tonga's ability to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism is being scrutinised.