Dolina Wehipeihana (Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāti Raukawa) and Tama Waipara MNZM (Ruapani, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou) have been working side-by-side as the Festival Co-Directors since June last year. While they are deep into developing the programmes for the 2025 Wellington Jazz Festival and 2026 Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts we thought it was the perfect time to discover more about what makes them tick. We put the infamous Proust Questionnaire to them to reveal gems about their personality, tastes and aspirations.

Shona Riddell is a Wellington-based writer with a love of cold weather and an interest in the history of remote locations. She has written three books including Trial of Strength: Adventures and Misadventures on the Wild and Remote Subantarctic Islands and picture book, The Tale of the Anzac Tortoise. With a new book, Guiding Lights: The Extraordinary Lives of Lighthouse Women releasing in late August, I caught up with Shona to find out about the book and where her fascination with lighthouses began.

Jo Marsh's multimedia theatrical adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet opens at BATS Theatre on 21 August. Employing a combination of live action and multimedia, the classic play will be brought to life with just three performers and distilled into a one-hour performance.

I caught up with Jo talk about the production, her adaptation and creative process.

Hayden Taylor (Ngāi Tahu) is the Musical Director and Maya Handa Naff the Vocal Director for WITCH Music Theatre's upcoming production of Lizzie the Musical, based on the life of accused American axe murderer Lizzie Borden. This follows their successful collaboration on previous WITCH productions Into the Woods and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.

WITCH Music Theatre is an alternative production house for music theatre work in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, creating concerts, cabarets to full-scale musicals. They champion LGBTQIA+ art, progressive programming, and create spaces for local artists to create engaging and entertaining work.

I popped into their rehearsal space toward the beginning of their rehearsal period to catch up with Hayden and Maya about their roles, the production and which cast albums they're currently listening to on repeat.

Shannon Brosnahan Inglis is a co-founder of The Grid, a new immersive art space coming to the heart of Wellington for two months this winter. The opening exhibition, Rivers of Wind, has been created by The Grid’s other co-founder, Delainy Jamahl, and opens on 5 July.

I sat down with Shannon to ask her about the space, the opening exhibition, and long term plans for The Grid.

Julia Deans' career has seen her front one of New Zealand's most popular bands, Fur Patrol, release critically acclaimed solo albums, perform the works of iconic musicians Joni Mitchell and Jacques Brel, collaborate with The Adults, SJD and Neil Finn (among others) and perform classic albums live as part of Come Together.

After the announcement of four special Fur Patrol shows to mark the 20th anniversary of their second album Collider, I asked Julia to give us some insight into her musical life.

Anna Coddington (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa, Ngāti Whakaue) is an award-winning New Zealand songwriter, singer, producer, children's book author and law student. Her new album, Te Whakamiha, releasing on 28 June blends te reo Māori and English and showcases a new, collaborative songwriting style.

I reached out to Anna to ask a few questions about the record, her songwriting process and what music has been exciting her lately.

Jane Perry is an independent Wellington artist known for her elegant, graphic and lively work. After ten years studying and working in London, she returned to New Zealand in 1979 and has forged a career as a painter and illustrator, racking up an impressive number of award nominations and exhibitions along the way.

Her paintings evoke her personal stake in her subject, whether the inspiration is a mood, music, politics, memories or conversation. Her understanding of composition is unmistakable.

I've gotten to know Jane quite well through sitting next to her at NZSO concerts, and when she launched a new website to display and promote her art, I thought this was the perfect opportunity for me to share her and her work.

Joy Cowley Award-winning author Kristin Kelly is about to release a new picture book, Mitchell Itches, about a boy growing up with eczema. An ex-nurse who moved into primary teaching after having children, Kristin initially started writing books when she found there was nothing available about certain topics she wanted to bring into her classroom.

I caught up with Kristin to ask her a few questions about her writing process, eczema and her publishing journey.