A new social media project d8talk sees a group of young Gen Z New Zealanders taking part in a frank and honest conversation dating. Over the next few months, it's being rolled out across the channels including Instagram, SnapChat, Tik Tok and consists of two parts; Tapes and Diaries. The tapes include 38 interviews from people aged between 18-24 years old and the diaries follows 8 interviewees over several months. Culture 101 spoke to director Joe Canham and producer Georgia-May Russ about the inspiration behind the series.

After nearly 30 years, British writer and director Mike Leigh has reunited with actor Marianne Jean-Baptiste for his new drama and comedy film Hard Truths.

Comedian, actor and theatre maker Barnie Duncan, is now in preparation mode ahead of this year's NZ International Comedy Festival.

Arts News for 9 March 2025.

Bringing precolonial history alive in the landscape with storytelling and your mobile phone When you travel around New Zealand our heritage since colonisation is visible in museums, monuments and buildings, in town and marae. Yet the long history of occupation of the land prior to this remains invisible to most of us. Yet retold walking the land, the landscape can light up with connections and stories as the sites of pa, gardens, and trails by land and water are made apparent. Locales are an award winning place-based storytelling agency who have been working with communities to make this heritage more visible. They do so through digital technology, available through your phone, oral histories and new kinds of signage. It's work that might allow both locals to these places and visitors better appreciate how rich our relationship with the land has been. One of Locales' most recent projects He Ara Kotahi, Hei Ara Korero won a 2024 Best Design Award. It's an innovative digital storytelling trail revealing the histories of six culturally significant sites around the Manawatu River. Using augmented reality and 3D modeling the experience allows people to move through what is now central Palmerston North, when this was says Locale "a place of lush forests, pristine waterways, and bustling settlements." For the project representatives of Rangitane o Manawatu identified significant korero, places, and tupuna to share, with hours of oral histories filmed. This project was preceded by another in the central North island which won even more awards. Initiated by mana whenua, Nga Ara Tipuna interprets a set of pa and wetland sites across Waipukurau and Takapau in the central Hawkes Bay, as well as the site of Pukekaihau Pa, considered a thriving Maori settlement from the 1600s until the 1830s. It won multiple Best Awards, was supreme winner at the 2022 Hawkes Bay Heritage Awards and Outstanding Project at the 2023 Recreation Aotearoa Awards. So - three years on - how is Nga Ara Tipuna doing in enabling change in the community? We are joined by Nga Ara Tipuna cultural lead Brian Morris of Ngati Marau and Ngai Te Rangitotohu and Locales director Chris Hay.

Between the coloniser and the colonised: Anglo-Indian culture made visible A small Indian minority community with a fascinating history, Anglo-Indians have been settling in Aotearoa New Zealand since the early colonial days and have a unique blended cultural heritage, including food, dialect and origin stories. Yet Anglo-Indians are near to invisible in public life, often silent due to a double discrimination they have faced. Sitting in their origin and culture between a coloniser and the previously colonised. Otepoti Dunedin based artist and muralist Guy Howard-Smith is setting out to change this. The son of an Anglo-Indian father migrant, in late 2023 he undertook a residency in India with Asia New Zealand Foundation support to explore his Anglo-Indian culture. Howard-Smith graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland in 2003. The result of two years of research is an exhibition at Corbans Art Estate in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland, close to where in Titirangi he was born. The works have been also inspired by the famed Amar Chitra Katha comic series he was exposed to while in India. Exhibition Big Seas, Small Waves is on show until April 5.

About 45 minutes from Queenstown, on the northern shores of Lake Wakatipu and a gateway to hiking trails is Glenorchy. Surrounded by mountain ranges and with Dart River for jet boating and kayaking; the views are breathtaking. At night the stars shine bright and The Milky Way and the Auroras can be seen. In February, Tahuna Glenorchy became the fifth Dark Sky Sanctuary in Aotearoa and the 23rd in the world. With a population of only 10,000 it's a huge achievement and the town are hopeful more people will travel to spend the night, boosting tourism. Glenorchy is also home to many artists who are drawn to the beautiful landscapes and surroundings. Chairperson of the Glenorchy Museum Group and Dark Skies Group, Leslie Van Gelder spoke to Culture 101.

Ration the Queen's Veges: Turning Te Papa activism into a stage show In 2023, a group spray painted over the English Treaty of Waitangi Exhibition at Te Papa sparking controversy. The redacted words read "No. Her Majesty The Queen of England the alien. ration the Queens veges." Some praised the action while others were outraged. 12 people were arrested and four people were charged. But one member - Te Wehi spent 48 hours in Rimutaka Prison following the activism which lead to an unexpected chain of events involving the other inmates. Writer and director Tainui Tukiwaho is now bringing this story to the stage and spoke to Culture 101. Ration the Queen's Veges is at Te Pou Theatre for Te Ahurei Toi o Tamaki Auckland Arts Festival from the 12th till the 16th of March.

On Banks Peninsula in Canterbury fingers of lava have created a landscape of many deep bays and rugged hills. This is the distinctive setting of our next story and one that has made a deep impression on artists. Artist Louise Menzies' latest exhibition Purple Cliffs, Blue Hills is to be found at the restored Stoddart Cottage in Diamond Harbour, birthplace of a leading 19th and 20th century impressionist painter Margaret Stoddart. It is now a living gallery and museum The cottage is a short ferry ride from Lyttleton on the Peninsula, and Menzies' exhibition features ferry timetables, late 19th century boot fragments, and different types of trails across the landscape, with scarves the artist's main canvas.. In its concerns the exhibition travels further around the peninsula to Menzies Bay, the namesake of Louise Menzies' ancestor, JH Menzies. He was a renowned Victorian carver, known for his work in the church at Little Akaroa. A branch of Louise's family have lived on the peninsula since the 1870s. The works are the result of time spent at nearby Karearea Cottage on the Stoddart Cottage-Purau artists residency in 2023. Louise Menzies joined Culture 101 in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland. Purple Cliffs, Blue Hills is on at Stoddart Cottage until March 30.

Six is 80 minutes of high-energy, girl power pop songs and a rewriting of 500 years of history. Or herstory rather. The show title refers to the six wives of Henry the VIII who come together to battle it out in a singing competition; spilling secrets about their shared ex-husband to decide which Queen takes the lead. The hit musical is currently on at The Civic as part of the Auckland Arts Festival. It first debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017, West End in 2019 and Broadway in 2020. Co-creator, composer and lyricist, Lucy Moss became the youngest female ever to direct a Broadway show when Six was taken to New York. In 2022, it won a Tony Award for Best Original Score and has been nominated for a Grammy. Lucy Moss spoke to Culture 101.