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2026 Festival Highlights

2026 Pānga Whetiwara
50+

Events

150,000+

Overall attendance

670+

Artists, crew and event staff engaged

95%

Audience satisfaction

18%

New audiences

97%

Wellington residents agreed that events like the Festival make Wellington a more enjoyable place to live

375

Pieces of media coverage

50+

Events

150,000+

Overall attendance

670+

Artists, crew and event staff engaged

95%

Audience satisfaction

18%

New audiences

97%

Wellington residents agreed that events like the Festival make Wellington a more enjoyable place to live

375

Pieces of media coverage

50+

Events

150,000+

Overall attendance

670+

Artists, crew and event staff engaged

95%

Audience satisfaction

18%

New audiences

97%

Wellington residents agreed that events like the Festival make Wellington a more enjoyable place to live

375

Pieces of media coverage

After a whirlwind three weeks, the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts has officially wrapped up its 40th year! 🎉

Article Magazine

  • Five Minutes with ... New Fringe Festival Director Luke Eisemann

    Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Luke Eisemann is the new Director of the New Zealand Fringe Festival. With a background in theatre and devised theatre, the next festival will be his sixth year at the Fringe, but until now he’s been “in the background”.

    We find out more about the man whose job is wrangling the programme of hundreds of events spanning the spectrum of arts – dance, theatre, cabaret, burlesque, circus, puppetry and more.

  • 30 Years of Wellington Jazz Festival

    Wellington Jazz Festival marks its 30th birthday this year. We catch up with one of the event’s founders, Simon Bowden, to take a look back over the years.

  • Something Surprising


    It's been a long journey for the six incredibly talented Finalists in the 2026 Kiri Te Kanawa Song Quest.

    We grabbed a few minutes with Cecily Shaw, brothers Faamanu and Jordan Fonoti-Fuimaono, Samuel Downes, Samuel Mataele, and Sarah Mileham on Sunday night to ask each of them to tell us something about themselves which may surprise people. Read on to find out who used to figure skate, and who has been taking heavy metal 'scream' lessons!