Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival celebrates the creativity, culture, and communities of the East Coast of Aotearoa – the first place the sun rises in the world.
We believe the arts grow people. They strengthen identity, keep language alive, and build community. That’s why inclusion, access, and authenticity sit at the centre of everything we do.
As the only regional Toi Māori arts festival in Aotearoa, we play a distinctive role in developing artists, strengthening community identity, and sharing the stories of Te Tairāwhiti – a first of its kind, leading the world in what it is to connect people, art, culture and identity.
Our mission is to support the next wave of exceptional East Coast talent and give it a world-class stage, so as many people as possible can experience it. We’ve been doing this since 2019.
Using the arts to explore what it means to be of ‘the land of the living light’, our vision is to inspire and continue to build Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival to be an event our community is proud of – now and for generations to come.
