With the full 2024 Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts programme now live, I asked Mere Boynton, the Festival's Director Ngā Toi Māori, to share a little something about the events she selected and what audiences can expect from them.

Elisabeth Vullings is a Kāpiti Coast-based artist who has been a finalist in the Parkin Drawing Prize four times, securing a highly commended award In 2020. The Kilns Project will open at Toi Mahara Kāpiti Coast District Gallery in early 2024 and will showcase Elisabeth's first foray into ceramics.

I caught up with Elisabeth and asked her five questions about the exhibition and the new direction she's taking with her work.

On A Good Day is a 3-day Wellington concert series located at Anderson Park, the Capital city’s first-ever show of its kind. Following the success of Fat Boy Slim’s show at the same location, Live Nation and WellingtonNZ saw the appetite for more live music and entertainment to be performed at this brilliant location - surrounded by Wellington’s iconic Botanic Gardens and urban landscape.

I caught up with WellingtonNZ's Major Events Development Manager, Tiana Rakete to talk to her about the event, Anderson Park and what live events she's excited for this summer.

Multi award-winning vocalist and songwriter Kirsten Te Rito (Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu) is one of our two commissioned artists at this year's Wellington Jazz Festival.

Te Rito will premiere her new work Māreikura at Meow on Sunday 29 October. Rooted in Māori cosmology and drawing inspiration from the stories of wāhine Māori atua (Māori goddesses), Māreikura channels the divine through improvisation, rhythm and soundscape. Audiences are in for a treat as Te Rito will also debut songs from her new album, Collisions.

I caught up with Kirsten and asked her five questions about her upcoming show and more.

Jake Baxendale is one of two artists the Wellington Jazz Festival commissioned to compose new works for the 2023 Festival. Waypeople, based on Ursula Le Guin's translation of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching marks Jake's first foray into writing music with lyrics. I asked him five questions about his commissioned piece, the musicians he's chosen to play with and his composing process.

GP, therapist, researcher, educator and author, Adelaide based Dr. Cate Howell has over 40 years' experience in the heath sector and is passionate about mental health and wellbeing. Her new book, The Flourishing Woman, is a unique holistic guide to fostering women's mental health and wellbeing.

I tried hard to catch up with Cate over Zoom for a chat about The Flourishing Woman but was stymied by internet drama and time differences, so I ended up sending her my questions in writing. Not exactly the same experience, but still very interesting!

The Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts has released details of four exciting shows from the 2024 programme which are on sale now. I tracked down Creative Director Marnie Karmelita - who is in the midst of moving herself, her life and her very large dog to Tasmania - and asked her for some thoughts about the three events in her programme.

Fergus Aitken has been a performer for over 40 years, working across stand-up, mime, corporate entertainment, children's theatre and as a teacher of physical theatre. One of his most beloved characters, Mr Fungus, famous for being New Zealand's loudest mime, is back this school holidays with a new show, Mr Fungus Dreams.

I stopped by Circa and caught up with Fergus during the last few weeks of putting the show together to find out just what Mr Fungus Dreams is all about, how Fergus and his team have put the show together and the joys (and perils) of performing for children.

Sue Elliott is one of the masterminds behind the Public Art Heritage website that launched recently. With close to 400 publicly accessible artworks across Aotearoa listed, it has been a massive research project for Sue and her co-director Dr Bronwyn Holloway-Smith. The ongoing project has been designed to ensure future generations of New Zealanders have awareness of and access to these cultural treasures, and an understanding of what has already been lost.

I met Sue for a coffee to talk about the site, its purpose and the huge amount of documentation and research yet to be completed.

You can explore the site for yourself here.