In just 1.5 weeks time Tempo Dance Festival | Te Rerenga o Tere kicks off its milestone 25th edition, celebrating the brazen, the visceral and the rebellious. Featuring the best dance creatives from Aotearoa and beyond, the festival offers up six days of movement from 13 – 18 October (with some pre-festival treats) in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Read MoreFrom cults and Indigenous experiences of neurodiversity to the seriousness and silliness of having hair, the collision of K-pop and feminine rage, and a multigenerational whānau performance, Experimental Dance Festival Aotearoa returns this December with a programme that takes a break from the mainstream.
After a six-year post-Covid hiatus, Experimental Dance Festival Aotearoa (formerly Experimental Dance Week Aotearoa) takes over Tāmaki Makaurau from 20 November – 12 December, presenting 21 projects across 10 venues and bringing together artists from Aotearoa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Taiwan, USA, Sweden and Korea. Artist talks and workshops begin from 20 November in the lead up to the full festival kicking off on 1 December.
On Saturday night the next wave of comedy talent from across the motu competed for a coveted spot as one of the Billy T Award nominees at the 2027 NZ International Comedy Festival.
Read MoreOffering up 100’s of jokes and 1000’s of laughs, the NZ Intl Comedy Festival line up show Best Comedy Show On Earth is back for a whole heap of end-of-year comedy carry-on. Host Ben Hurley and some of our top comedians step up to the mic for an uproarious night of comic genius on Saturday 14 November at the Bruce Mason Centre.
Read MoreKōanga has arrived at Te Whatu Stardome, with school holiday adventures, Halloween’s cosmic counterparts, an immersive live music experiment and the return of Strings Under the Stars.
Read MoreFrom 12 November – 6 December, Silo Theatre rounds out the year with Marathon, a wildly funny take on one of the most disastrous races in sporting history. It’s also inspired by true events, which frankly makes it worse.
Read MoreThis December, Jubilation Choir will sing the house down at The Hollywood in Avondale alongside three of Aotearoa’s most distinctive voices, Tami Neilson, Annie Crummer and Will Crummer. With only two performances on Sunday 6 December, don’t miss Jubilation’s spectacular return to the Hollywood for a joyous celebration of singing.
Read MoreNZTrio He Taonga Wairere brings its 2026 Dreamscape season to a close with Reverie, a sweeping final programme moving between dreams and reality, romantic fervour, shimmering stars and the outer reaches of space.
Touring 10 centres across Aotearoa from 31 October – 4 December, Reverie brings together music by Hanna Kulenty, Adam Schoenberg, Leonard Bernstein and Robert Schumann, alongside the premiere of a major new work by New Zealand composer Karlo Margetić.
Award-winning playwright Sam Brooks transforms Q Vault for the premiere of All You Had Was Fun, November 18-29.
Four friends hang out. Someone brings pizza. Someone brings wine. Someone isn’t there.
The Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand (MHF) has announced the details for Mental Health Awareness Week 2026, running nationwide from 12 - 18 October. This year's theme, Belonging Matters, invites schools, workplaces, and communities across Aotearoa to focus on small, everyday moments of connection that foster a genuine sense of inclusion and boost mental wellbeing.
Read MoreCross Street Music Festival has dropped the first wave of artists for Saturday 28 November 2026, bringing together some of Aotearoa’s most exciting independent, underground and emerging music for its biggest year yet.
Sola Rosa, MELODOWNZ, Borderline, Lilbubblegum, DARTZ and Where’s Jai are among the first names announced for the eighth edition of the independent Tāmaki Makaurau festival.
Auckland Theatre Company and Auckland Live have extended their major new production of Cabaret, the musical at the Kit Kat Club, adding an extra week of performances through to Sunday 25 October.
Read MoreJoyful, adventurous and bursting with homegrown and global creativity, the Nelson Arts Festival returns this spring with 11 days and more than 50 events spanning theatre, music, comedy, circus, literature, visual arts and large-scale community celebrations.
From 22 October – 1 November, Whakatū will come alive with breathtaking performances, a bold new commission and shared moments of wonder, as New Zealand's longest-running annual regional arts festival brings together local, national and international artists for an unforgettable celebration of creativity, connection and imagination.
Miranda Harcourt and Stuart McKenzie, pioneers of verbatim and biographical theatre, return with AFTER GOD — a theatrical journey across continents and conversations, with acclaimed actor Michael Hurst joining them to explore some very big questions about meaning, madness and metaphysics.
Premiering at Wellington’s Circa Theatre from Saturday 17 October to Saturday 14 November, AFTER GOD brings together the stellar cast of Michael Hurst, Kali Kopae, Andrew Paterson, Tara Canton and Roy Clark.
A new play by Ngāpuhi playwright Geoffrey Clendon explores the 1898 Hokianga conflict, when a dispute over a Dog Tax escalated into an armed confrontation between Te Māhurehure hapū and government forces. Tāke Kurī: The Dog Tax Rebellion plays at Te Pou Theatre, Tāmaki Makaurau from 28 October – 1 November, before travelling to Turner Centre, Kerikeri on 12 November and the Rawene Town Hall on 13 November.
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