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Meet Tāwhiri's Festival Co-Directors
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.
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Jazz @ Fringe
It’s always an exciting time when our friends at the New Zealand Fringe Festival bring artists across multiple disciplines into the spotlight to showcase new ideas and works in development. This year, a number of familiar #WellJazzFest faces are taking the stage with new and evolved projects, bringing a mix of genres, storytelling, and experimentation to the stage.
Here are a few shows you might enjoy from the extensive Fringe programme. -
Meet the Makers: Lucy Marinkovich and Lucien Johnson
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.
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Interview with Jenny Pattrick
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.
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Summer Reading List with Unity Books
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?
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2024 End of Year Wrap Up
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.
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Interview with Folly editor, Emily Broadmore
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.
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A Chat with Maarire Brunning-Kouka
Pōneke-based Maarire Brunning-Kouka is one of two commissioned artists for the Wellington Jazz Festival, composing the captivating soundtrack for Oro Māia, a show featuring poems by acclaimed American poet and activist Dr. Maya Angelou, translated into te reo Māori.
Featuring a cast of talented wāhine toa, Oro Māia is a brand-new work and will be performed in Wellington for the first time on Saturday 19 October after having its world premiere at the Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival.
We caught up with Maarire to chat about the genesis of the project and her creative process as a commissioned artist.
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Interview with Riiki Reid
Riiki Reid is a Pōneke-based singer-songwriter, choreographer and producer of Samoan, Latvian, Scottish and Māori (Ngāti Porou) descent. After a string of hit singles and touring as support for local legends such as Lorde, Dave Dobbyn and L.A.B, she is joining the Fly My Pretties line-up for their upcoming Wellington Jazz Festival show, Elemental.
I caught up with Riiki to find out more about the show, how it feels to join a supergroup like Fly My Pretties and much more.
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Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts is brought to you by the energetic team of Tāwhiri, along with the generous support of our fantastic partners.