Creating and bringing a new opera into the world is a major undertaking, and for acclaimed composer Victoria Kelly, there’s a mounting sense of excitement and uncertainty.

Three sketches from Victoria’s first opera, Ocean feature as a ‘work-in-progress’ in Orchestra Wellington’s final 2026 concert, Oceans this month.

“A religious obsessive and an atheist walk into a theatre …”

It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it’s how Wellington creative couple Stuart McKenzie and Miranda Harcourt describe the theme of creating their latest play, After God. 

Wellington drummer and composer Hikurangi Schaverien-Kaa (Ruawaipu, Ngāti Porou) brings together a unique ensemble for the 2026 Wellington Jazz Festival commission Te Ao Kōhatu. We caught up with the in-demand musician on the line from New York City where he’s been spending time with his partner and friends in between two UK and European tours and ahead of his return to Te Whanganui- a-Tara for the Festival in October.

Singer, performer, composer, actor – Mercury Prize winner Benjamin Clementine makes his Aotearoa debut at Wellington Jazz Festival next month. Widely regarded as one of contemporary music’s singular voices, here are four reasons you should book your tickets to Benjamin Clementine’s Back to Basics tour now.

Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Luke Eisemann is the new Director of the New Zealand Fringe Festival. With a background in theatre and devised theatre, the next festival will be his sixth year at the Fringe, but until now he’s been “in the background”.

We find out more about the man whose job is wrangling the programme of hundreds of events spanning the spectrum of arts – dance, theatre, cabaret, burlesque, circus, puppetry and more.

Wellington Jazz Festival marks its 30th birthday this year. We catch up with one of the event’s founders, Simon Bowden, to take a look back over the years.

It's been a long journey for the six incredibly talented Finalists in the 2026 Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest.

We grabbed a few minutes with Cecily Shaw, brothers Faamanu and Jordan Fonoti-Fuimaono, Samuel Downes, Samuel Mataele, and Sarah Mileham on Sunday night to ask each of them to tell us something about themselves which may surprise people. Read on to find out who used to figure skate, and who has been taking heavy metal 'scream' lessons!

Hundreds of New Zealand charities – including the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts and Wellington Jazz Festival (2025 performance Boogie Wonderland pictured) – rely on generous donations to support their work.

Tāwhiri Patron Partner Bloomsbury Associates have just launched a practical tool to help people determine their philanthropic ability. The Giving Gauge is designed to help people understand their capacity to give, while maintaining confidence in their own financial wellbeing. We find out more from Bloomsbury Associates Founder and Principal Adviser Philip Stevenson.

Button up your cardigan, Dave Armstrong’s brand new play Local Library has its world premiere at Circa Theatre this month.

An affectionate comedy about libraries, loneliness, local bodies and busy-bodies, Local Library reunites well-known Wellington actors Peter Hambleton and Jude Gibson. We caught up with the pair to talk about friendship, theatre, libraries and books.