Culture Compass

The modern couch is a thing of wonder; a distant relative from the wooden benches the ancient Egyptians savoured grapes upon. A good contemporary couch – which these days is almost ubiquitously an oversized sectional – is designed to draw you in, hold you like your mother did, and prevent you from ever getting up. Its powers are only enhanced during the winter months, which is why the arts and culture community of Aotearoa has to work infinitely harder to draw you out of sofa-based hibernation. Their primary tool for enticement: winter festivals. Peel yourself from your cushioned cage and explore these cultural events; it’s good for you and your couch.

Determined to one-up the capital whenever possible, Tāmaki Makaurau is putting on two live performance festivals next month, starting with the Auckland Live Cabaret Festival, June 3 – 15. The city’s most iconic theatre – The Civic – will become an intimate club for glamorous, sexy, funny and outrageous cabaret theatre of all ilks. Among the highlights of the festival are Olivier Award-winning cabaret and circus show La Clique; a night of Aotearoa’s most delicious vocal talents with Georgia Lines, Hollie Smith, Louis Baker and Nikau Grace; The Tīwhas performing A Matariki Spectacular; Catherine Alcorn as Bette Midler in The Divine Miss Bette; and more.

The second festival in Auckland’s June arts calendar is the Pacific Dance Festival, opening on June 6. This year it’s taking place at both its flagship venue, Māngere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku, and heading west to Te Pou Theatre in Henderson. The guiding principle of the festival is the concept of faiva, which is “the sacred act of storytelling through movement, chant, poetry, song, and ceremony.” Alongside the powerful programme of live performances, the festival also offers dance workshops, open rehearsals, The Fono – a space for storytelling and dialogue, and activations at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland Museum and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. The human body remains one of the most powerful tools we have to express pain, joy and everything in between, and the Pacific Dance Festival is an excellent way to see that in action.

In Wellington, the first of the winter long weekends brings with it the return of the NZ Art Show at TSB Arena. Celebrating its 22nd birthday this year, the Art Show features approximately 4000 artworks – its setup requiring a truly Herculean effort. There are 250 artists featured in the 2025 show, among them painters, photographers, ceramicists, glass artists, metalwork artists, digital artists, and more. It’s a varied collection of established and emerging artists and one of the best ways to both educate yourself on local contemporary art and, importantly, support our local artists by buying their work. Tickets are available both online and on the door.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra welcomes Hungarian conductor Gábor Káli this month, who’s leading the orchestra for two concerts in Wellington (May 23) and Christchurch (May 25), featuring our own exceptional violinist, Amalia Hall (NZTrio). Titled Echoes of Home: Bartók & Dvořák, Káli will lead the orchestra in a folk-inspired piece by the legendary composer from his homeland Béla Bartók, his Second Violin Concerto, with Hall playing the solo. Káli is a dynamic young conductor in high demand who since winning the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award in 2018, has conducted all over Europe. The repertoire for both evenings will also include performances of Douglas Lilburn’s Aotearoa Overture and Antonín Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony.

Mid-May and mid-New Zealand Music Month – there’s still time to get your wardrobe sorted for NZ Music T-Shirt Day on Friday, May 30. More than just a display of national music pride, NZ Music T-Shirt Day is a fundraiser for MusicHelps, a charity that supports other organisations that use music as a means to help and heal communities. Some of the organisations they support provide music therapy sessions, others provide music programs in respite and palliative care settings, and some conduct music education programs for people who are at-risk, vulnerable, or in rehabilitation. There are three ways to participate: buy a t-shirt from MusicHelps, organise a fundraiser with friends, colleagues, community or family, and/or make a simple donation.