2024 Wellington Jazz Festival Commissioned Artist MĀ (Maarire Brunning-Kouka) has released her sophomore album Blame it on the Weather.

From her debut album Breakfast with Hades, a self-produced solo project created from her bedroom, Blame it on the Weather marks an artistic shift - a move outwards, crafting a sound shaped by community and a desire to make music that reflects the now.

We sat down and had a chat with her to discuss the magic behind the music.

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 curating 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 with the infamous Proust Questionnaire.

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.

Debuting this May at the YIRRAMBOI Festival in Naarm/Melbourne, ARTicle Editor Hannah Flacks sat down with artistic duo Kelly Nash and Nancy Wijohn from Body Island NZ, to discuss their new work co-commissioned by the Aotearoa NZ Festival of the Arts.

Lucy Marinkovich and Lucien Johnson have collaborated on numerous projects, including Strasbourg 1518 which was commissioned by and premiered at the 2020 New Zealand Festival of the Arts. Their latest work, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes will be performed at Te Auaha 6-8 March as part of the 2025 Fringe Festival.


I caught Lucy and Lucien during their production week in Dunedin to chat about the show before it makes its way to Wellington.

Jenny  Pattrick is well known for her historical fiction novels, all ten of which have been bestsellers in New Zealand.  The 88-year-old author has turned her pen to playwriting with her first full-length play, Hope, opening at Circa on 25 January.  Brought to the stage by the creative team behind Prima Facie, Hope is set in the very near future and delves into profound ethical questions about life, death and the morality of fighting for those we love.

As 2024 comes to a close, we've been reflecting on the year that's rapidly disappearing behind us. And what a year it has been!


We asked some of our staff to tell us about the year that's been, what's surprised them, what's inspired them and what they've loved most about 2024 at Tāwhiri.

If you're anything like me, you might have found yourself getting a little behind on your reading during the year (according to Goodreads, I'm 25 books behind my goal for 2024). But with the holidays ahead, it's the perfect time to catch up on all those fabulous reads you may have missed.


To help me figure out what I should be taking to the beach with me this summer, I reached out to our friends at Unity Books, one of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts' longstanding partners, and asked them what they would recommend. Now I have to decide how many I might be able to fit into my suitcase! I'm away for 10 days, so that means I need... 11 books?

Folly is an annual print only anthology of art, short stories, non-fiction and poetry produced in Wellington city. Unbound by academic affiliations, fiercely independent, and purposely not high brow, Folly is home to content which it describes as beautiful, sexy, funny, insightful and provocative.


Published in November each year, the 2024 issue has just been launched. I had a chat with Folly's editor, Emily Broadmore about why she chose to create a print journal in an increasingly digital world, how she selects the stories and what readers can expect.