Hāwera artist and marionette maker Cherol Filbee shares all the tricks of the trade and the joy that goes into making marionettes and performing with ‘The Interluders’ at the Hāwera Repertory.

Lesley Dowding is the Artspace artist in April. She talks about how her love for stage craft, photography and stained glass windows has influenced her current exhibition.

Artist and well-being advocate Paul Rangiwahia uses words and images to manage his personal wellbeing. He talks about investing in yourself and his latest resources.

This week’s Sugar Loafing Arts Cast is a WOMAD Poetry Slam special! Mikaela talks to local poets Anne Bayliss and Warren Smart in the lead-up to WOMAD. Warren ended up in the final two against Paekākāriki poet Kerry Dalton. Poet Laureate Chris Tse offers some useful tips and advice on what he is looking for in poetry, both spoken and in print.

When does a hobby become a job? Helen McLorinan Artist and Kerilyn Douwes talk about time management, pricing art, consistency of income and how their visual arts practice in painting and pewter has evolved.

Michelle Bent talks to the March ARTspace artists Frances Rookes and Mikaela Nyman about their joint exhibition of 2D prints and 3D knitted wire bodies, about things hidden within, body shaming, loss and the shadows they carry around - or, in this case, put on the wall.

Huhana Smith and Monique Jansen from the artists collective Te Waituhi ā Nuku: Drawing Ecologies and Phil Stevens from Slow Farm talk about biochar as a practical and creative response to climate change at a biochar burning event at Parihaka māra.

Heidi Griffin, Chair of the Taranaki Arts Trail, gives us the ins and outs of the Taranaki Arts Trail which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Deadline for registering: 31 March.

Dave ‘Tex’ Smith talks about innovation and collaboration, his digital art, building on indigenous story-telling, turning museums inside out and a new type of social media platform.

Ruha Fifita talks about the extensive research and collaboration that goes into making tapa art on a large scale. Ruha’s work ‘Lototō’ can be seen in Te Au: Liquid Constituencies at Govett Brewster Art Gallery and in the spectacular retrospective Robin White: Te Whanaketanga | Something is Happening Here in Auckland. She is the Curatorial Assistant for Pacific Art at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art.