Culture 101

In the new feature film Koka an elder Maori woman, under the celestial guidance of Matariki, makes a long journey home in a car that's seen better days. For Koka's director, Kath Akuhata-Brown of… Read more Video, Audio

Good Bitches are still baking across the country and the collective has just released its third cookbook Familiar Foods. But it's not the classics you may be imagining but rather family recipes; some… Read more Audio

Te Ahu a Turanga is a new $824 million 11.5-kilometre four-lane highway connecting the Lower North Island East to West. It opened this week. it is, in effect an enormous sculpture park you can drive… Read more Audio

To celebrate Matariki, singer-songwriter, TV presenter and political candidate Ria Hall will be on stage with the Auckand Philharmonia to present a night of epic anthems. Her self-titled EP won Best… Read more Audio

Arts news for 8th June 2025. Audio

Does an underground still exist? Or is it just one more consumer choice in an ever growing banquet of ticketed events? Testing this may be Tamaki Makarau's biennial Festival of Live Arts (FOLA), at… Read more Audio

Each week Culture 101 puts the spotlight on a different part of the country and we're going a bit more suburban this week to West Auckland - and the suburb of Titirangi. Close to the Waitakere Ranges… Read more Audio

Award-winning UK festival Focus Wales celebrates emerging talent and artists. The festival which has been running for 15 years saw more than 22 thousand attendees, showcased 250 artists across 20… Read more Audio

This month welcomes two contemporary indigenous performing arts festivals which have established themselves as cornerstones of the presentation of new work from Aotearoa and across the Pacific.  Read more Audio

A new digital whodunnit comedy series puts the spotlight on the dangers and growing epidemic of image-based abuse and bullying. Inspired by millennial television shows like Gossip Girl, The Sender is… Read more Audio

If cities can be lonely places no one told artist Sallie Culy. A familiar face on the streets of inner city Poneke Wellington, Sallie counts many people she has met a friend. Its an approach to life… Read more Audio

The shortlist for the 2025 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults was announced this week and, among the titles, is a story on the theme of Matariki by journalist and broadcaster… Read more Audio