Culture 101

Sarah Ell was a sixth former camping on the shores of Lake Tarawera when she first imagined writing about the eruption. That was 1986, a century after the mountain blew. Forty years on, her story has a cast of visitors...

Kirsten Vangsness was halfway through an ab workout when a distinguished voice across the gym announced that it worshipped at her throne. It was Tim Curry. She went straight to work and burst in on her bosses to tell...

It's Labour Weekend, which in Raglan means the studio doors are open. The Raglan Arts Weekend is in its 16th year, with more than 70 artists inviting thousands of visitors in to see where the work gets made...

There's a lot more singing in season two of Happiness, and Luke Di Somma is the one writing it. This time the show within the show is a Sherlock Holmes musical. Luke helps run the writers room, so the songs are planned...

Not many people decide to sit down and watch a 40-minute drama on their phone. Plenty of people will watch 40 one-minute episodes, though, one easy decision at a time. That's the hook behind micro-dramas, the vertical...

Jonathan Smart knew artist Mark Braunias since 1988, the year Jonathan opened his gallery and Mark graduated from Ilam with a remarkable class of artists. Almost two year's after Mark's death, Gliff, the current show at...

Jason Te Mete explains how Battle Chorus works. The audience is split into two teams, learns a set of choruses on the night, then sings off. Jason co-created it with Rutene Spooner, and it began in 2019 as a commission...

Megan Brown, Artistic Director of the Tauranga Arts Festival, gives Perlina a heads up on this year's festival highlights.

When Roberta Flack died, Zoe Moon felt like she'd lost a teacher. Flack was the singer who helped Zoe find her own voice, away from the sonic expectations she felt as a Black woman. Real Black for Me weaves Flack's...

Auckland-born, Melbourne-based dancer and choreographer Rebecca Jensen brings two works to Tempo Dance Festival, and both are about threes. Natural Basic is a trio built on the waltz step, with layers of choreography...

The New Zealand Film Commission is ending its Core Funding Programme, which gives just over $1 million to 10 screen organisations and guilds, including Equity, the Directors Guild, SPADA and Pacific Islands Screen...

Kate Rodger reviews three new releases: Verity, The Social Reckoning and the Netflix documentary Unabomber.

In 2000, Tom Eslinger became the first global creative director of digital at any agency network, at Saatchi & Saatchi, in a role that had no job description. It started in 1989, when a mentor in Minneapolis sent him a...

Ten of the 120 artists at this year's Lyon Biennale are from Aotearoa, after curator Katherine Nichols was told to return to where she's from. Taarati Taiaroa was at the opening. In the main venue, a former locomotive...

After two years of major upgrades and earthquake strengthening, City Gallery Wellington is open again. The work covered the internal masonry walls, the roof, heating and ventilation in the gallery spaces, new display...