They flit around you in the back garden at the compost, or dive at your feet in the bush. The pīwakawaka or fantail is a special bird: so common, yet so magic. 

There's a lightness, a joy to this small bird, but while they perform a cheeky acrobatic dance closer to us than any other, they are also known as harbingers of death. For Māori, to have the ability to cross from our physical world  into other realms. 

The pīwakawkaka - or tīwakawaka to use the artist’s chosen dialect - is central to a major artwork by renowned Aotearoa New Zealand artist Shannon Te Ao, Ia rā, ia rā (rere runga, rere raro). It is representing Aotearoa New Zealand from next month at one of the world’s most significant arts events the Gwanju Biennale in South Korea.

The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra is bringing the epic scores of The Lion King and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the stage alongside the films this year.

Palmerston North or ‘Palmy’ as it’s known brims with energy, culture and heritage. Overlooking the Manawatū river, the region boomed with a pastoral farming industry.

Last year the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Manatu Taonga reported New Zealand's arts and creative sector contributed $16.3 billion to New Zealand's GDP, or 4.3% of the total economy, in the year ending March 2023.

For three weeks in August every year, thousands of artists descend on Edinburgh for the largest performing arts festival in the world.

For many stand-up comedians, performing in a garage could seem like a career low-point. But in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, comedian Heta Dawson has turned his garage in his South Auckland family home into one of the freshest and most exciting comedy venues in North Island.

Indian Ink Theatre Company has built up a remarkable reputation for developing and touring original work over 27 years. 

Founded by Justin Lewis and Jacob Rajan, more than half a million people have seen their original delightful and often philosophical shows. They now tour them not just around this country, but to territories like Australia and North America. Quite a record for an independent theatre company.

Principal performer and co-writer Jacob Rajan is beloved for his remarkable performances, inhabiting a multitude of characters from an Indian experience of the world.

At the age of three, writer Sasha LaPointe was given her Skagit name in a ceremony - taqʷšəblu. In the Pacific Northwest, it’s a big deal to be given a Skagit name and she was her great-grandmother’s namesake - Violet taqʷšəblu Hilbert.

This weekend in Ōtepoti Dunedin small presses and independent publishers from around Aotearoa gather to share and exchange at Small Press Fest.  The festival reflects a move among younger creatives away from the internet towards community, focusing on the empowerment of making your own printed media. There’s also an eye on sustainability with presses more likely to be printing small numbers of books themselves and using recycled paper - rather than sending off PDFs to China for mass production shipping. The printing press currently working on a book about Small Press Fest 2023 and 2024, as well as the recent upsurge in independent publishing in Aotearoa, is Pōneke ‘underground publishing house,’ 5ever Books.

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