Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival is growing what’s on offer for the region, as it moves beyond a festival-only experience to a broader programme of events and creative opportunities across the year.
“The festival has always brought communities together through great shows and shared moments,” Festival Director Ani-Piki Tuari says.
“Alongside that, we want to create pathways to carry our creative voices further, and support them to reimagine our stories through different art forms.”
From 2026, Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival’s long-term focus will be to continue to support the arts, grow creative leaders from the East Coast outward, build lasting cultural infrastructure, and position Te Tairāwhiti as a centre of creative leadership.
“It’s a new beginning in our commitment to enhance wellbeing, creativity and economic opportunity through the arts, and create experiences that are uniquely Tairāwhiti,” Tuari says.
The 2026 programme includes:
- A Curator’s Apprenticeship Programme, the first of its kind for the festival, to open a new pathway into creative leadership.
- A scriptwriters’ workshop, to develop original work by East Coast storytellers – a first for Aotearoa; it exemplifies Te Tairāwhiti creatives leading the way.
- Te Ara i Whiti, the interactive light trail (which saw a record 18,000 visits in 2025) with leading contemporary artists and tamariki from local kura, to share stories of people and place. Alongside ‘After Glow’, a new spotlight session at Te Ara i Whiti to put artists and emerging talent on the main stage.
“Developing our creatives strengthens our community, and it’s a privilege to build a future that honours the festival’s legacy while charting a new course,” Tuari says.
Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival thanks our major funders Trust Tairāwhiti and Creative NZ, and our many patrons, sponsors and volunteers for their continued support.
Full details of the 2026 October programme will be announced in a separate release.
