Latest news updates

Award-winning show heads to Wellington

10 March 2021
An award-winning play, Up Down Girl, the story of a young woman with Down syndrome leaving home for the first time, will open at Wellington’s Circa Theatre on 20 April after a sell-out season in Palmerston North in 2020. Lily Harper, a young Palmerston North actor who has Down syndrome, plays the main character, Mattie. “Everyone is different and anything is possible. I want to prove that people with Down syndrome can do anything." Read more

Milestone for the creative spaces sector

10 March 2021
"The Creative Spaces Initiative has been established to deliver the Government’s $18 million fund for creative spaces over three years. This is a very significant milestone for everyone working and participating in creative spaces," writes Richard Benge, Executive Director, Arts Access Aotearoa, in his latest blog

Dancers’ input at the heart of Jolt

10 March 2021
Collaborations with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, a three-day residency with two secondary schools, and performances in the community are among the projects marking Christchurch creative space Jolt’s twentieth anniversary celebrations. The centrepiece of the celebrations will be its biennial show at the new Cashmere Theatre on 4 and 5 October. Read more 

Minister announces $18 million fund for creative spaces

25 February 2021
“Funding creative spaces will support new jobs and expand existing roles to help build a more sustainable sector and skilled workforce,” said Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni, in a media release announcing the $18 million fund over three years to support creative spaces. “It will enable creative spaces to increase the reach and quality of their services and programmes, including into Māori and Pacific communities.” For more

Journey through the arts to a productive future

25 February 2021
"Kia Ora. I am a member of Redemption Performing Arts. I am a father, a son, a brother and an uncle. I am Māori and I have served seven years of a nine-year sentence. I am also a practising artist, musician and songwriter – skills I learned and developed during my time in prison, mainly through the five years I have been with the Redemption Performing Arts group in Northland Region Corrections Facility." Read more

Empowering women on a journey of change

25 February 2021
Family, friends, children, sunshine, love, happiness and exercise are the seven nouns one woman used in a painting of her body to describe the things that give meaning and joy to her life. It’s a list of words common to most women, whatever their circumstances. In this instance, it’s a woman serving a community sentence participating in Te Whariki Manaaki (The Nurturing Mat). This is an annual programme based around a three-day noho marae (stay on a marae) in Taranaki. Read more

Auckland’s “100% Aotearoa” festival all about inclusion

18 February 2021
Auckland Arts Festival 2021 will see a “massive increase” in free events, supporting its access-for-all kaupapa, says Artistic Director Shona McCullagh. “We want everyone to feel welcome and represented.” More than 70 events will happen at a dozen venues from 4 to 21 March. A feature of this year’s Festival is that all the events have been created by artists and companies based in New Zealand. Read more