Culture 101

The name of the northern Hawkes Bay river town of Wairoa has been translated as "the long water which bubbles, swirls and is uneven". That certainly became true earlier this year when Cyclone… Read more Audio

While other kids went to kindergarten, when he was a small child Tongan New Zealand artist John Vea was on the factory floor where his father worked.

The experience has led Vea to make the… Read more Audio

Toi Mahara gallery director Janet Bayly offers the whakatauki: ‘ahakoa he iti he pounamu’, when she speaks of the Kāpiti Coast’s regional Gallery in Waikanae. “The gift of something small but… Read more Audio

This week saw the passing of a legend in the arts in Aotearoa. Sir Jon Trimmer, arguably New Zealand’s most beloved dancer has died aged 84. With him to the end in Paekākāriki alongside his wife Lady… Read more Audio

Freshwater ecologist, environmental science researcher and activist Dr Mike Joy is a well known outspoken voice in the need for our society to make radical changes to deal with our major environmental… Read more Audio

Lucy Godoroja unfastens the miniature world of wonder and the surprising history of the button. In her book, All Buttons Great and Small.  Read more Audio

Culture lover and curator Rosie Dawson-Hewes is passionate about accessibility in the arts. It led her to collaborate with a new Bay of Plenty art patron Fiona Menzies to create A Seat at the Table at… Read more Audio

Henderson artists Bernie Harfleet and Turtle Sarten make visible the things we often find uncomfortable to talk about. Urgent social issues all around us: like family harm, mental health and poverty.

Cat Lovett is a New Zealand textile designer with a passion for the sustainable. Her interest in design has led her to live in Mexico's textile capital, Oaxaca. There she has been closely studying the… Read more Audio

Self declared pirate queen Mandy Mayhem gives Maggie Tweedie a slice of life in Waitati. The celebrant, MC and Dunedin City Councillor gives the regional wrap into the cultural happenings of the… Read more Audio

It took until the 1970s for Toi Māori (Māori  art) to develop a tradition in clay (uku). One that in part looks back to an ancestral Lapita pottery tradition across the Pacific. 

Today, the… Read more Audio

Jo Ann Firestone is a  teller of tales, a producer, host, and co-founder of Couch Stories. A sold out storytelling series that has taken the Nelson Arts fest by storm.  Read more Audio