Culture 101

Kiwi chef Anthony Hoy Fong

21 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Anthony Hoy Fong has carved out a hugely successful career, cooking for US presidents, Oprah and has worked with NBA legend Shaquille O'Neill to desig...

Playwright Anders Falstie-Jensen wins Bruce Mason Award

21 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This year's Bruce Mason Playwrighting Award has been awarded to Anders Falstie-Jensen. In 2015, Centrepoint won the Adam Award for Best New Zealand Pl...

Best Films of 2025 with Kate Rodger

21 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the lead up to Christmas we've been looking back at the best books and television of the year. This week - it's time to look at the best films - wi...

Theft, fraud and forgery: Art and crime

21 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Penelope Jackson speaks to Culture 101 about the fascination with art and crime and why writing about it can be complicated and difficult.

Not Only Fred Dagg: Lorin Clarke on her father's legacy

20 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When we think of the late comedian, writer, satirist, and performer John Clarke - aka Fred Dagg, words like legend and icon often come to mind. But fo...

Fast Favourites with comedian Michele A'Court

20 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Stand-up comedian, writer and MC, Michele A'Court - is one of Aotearoa's most recognisable faces. She joins us for our final Culture 101 of the year ...

Peata Larkin leading charge to save music and community centre

14 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tamaki Makaurau contemporary artist, Peata Larkin is known for her work which often explores the intersection of pattern, spirituality and Maori ident...

Best Television of 2025 with Karl Puschmann

14 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

TV reviewer Karl Puschmann shares his top TV picks for the year.

Panto Season in full swing at Circa with director Simon Leary

14 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

He speaks to Culture 101 about whether panto in Aotearoa is different to rest of the world and their approach to casting and staging for this producti...

Legendary James Cameron on Avatar Fire and Ash

14 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Legendary James Cameron on Avatar Fire and Ash.

Battle to become Ultimate Elvis Artist: Taurean Kenny Mill

13 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Come January, the top Elvis impersonators from Australasia will descend on New South Wales to battle for the title of the Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artis...

Exhibition spotlights pioneering New Zealand photographer Steve Rumsey

13 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

RNZ's Angie Skerrett has been finding out about the photographer who wasn't afraid to see things differently through the lens.

Fast Favourites with Professor and author Deidre Brown

13 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The academic, teacher, mentor, art historian, and multi-award-winning author joins Perlina Lau share some of her cultural favourites.

Best Books of 2025 with Time Out Bookstore's Jenna Todd

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Best Books of 2025 with Time Out Bookstore's Jenna Todd.

Sea shanties and singalongs

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Perlina Lau talks to the creator of a new musical, based on a beloved children's book written by the late Margaret Mahy.

Regional Wrap: Ashburton botanical art exhibition

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dunedin-based Artist Jane Marshall Fitzgerald was born in Ashburton  and she joins Culture 101.

"Bloody hell" Quintessential Kiwi farmer

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bloke of the Apocalypse is a new animated Kiwi series which has hit YouTube. Creator Charlie Faulks speaks to Culture 101.

Arts News

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Arts news. .

"Genuine and stable": Proving your love to strangers

06 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Genuine and Stable is Uhyoung Choi's debut as a playwright and is based on his experiences as a former immigration lawyer. 

Contemporary Ana Iti wins $100,000 New York residency

06 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The sculptor, video artist, and writer has been chosen as this year's Harriet Friedlander Fellow and joins Culture 101.

Fast Favourites: Sophie Henderson

06 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Silo Theatre's Artistic Director joins Culture 101 for Fast Favourites and to preview the programme for the 2026 season.

The extraordinary life of botanical artist Fanny Osborne.

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Writer and curator Kate Waterhouse has spent the past several years looking into the life of Aotea Great Barrier botanical artist Fanny Osborne. Kate ...

Screen Writer and Producer Matthew Metcalfe

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Will a recent change to the screen rebate make a difference to our struggling screen sector? NZ producer and screen writer Matthew Metcalfe tells Cult...

Regional Wrap: Spotlight on Aotea Great Barrier

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Potter Sarah Harrison joins Culture 101 from Aotea Great Barrier to talk about life on the island and the creative community that lives there. Sarah'...

Lifting the veil on a new glossy magazine all about weddings

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Publishing has been struggling in this age of on-line content, but a trio of Auckland women have taken the plunge and launched a new glossy magazine c...

Arts news for 30 November 2025

29 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Arts news for 30 November 2025

Philanthropist Greg Moyle

29 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Art collector Greg Moyle has promised 20 artworks worth around $5m to the Auckland City Art Gallery. It is one the most significant bequests in the g...

Fast Favourites with Lara Fischel-Chisholm.

29 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Dynamotion dance troupe are back with a new show for the Christmas season. Featuring big dance numbers and lip-syncing to narration, the format of...

"Posture of our generation" Milarky sculpture

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Scultpure on the Shore in Tamaki Makaurau winds up this weekend. The biennial exhibition has been showcasing more than 120 artworks by both establishe...

Paying homage to the "big tree" of Cornwall Park

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Artist Josh Lancaster doesn't want you to look too closely at his paintings. Instead, he hopes his work will transport people to moments in their live...

Hanly House: Campaign to create artists' oasis residency

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The race is on to preserve the home of two of New Zealand's most beloved artists. For 30 years the Mt Eden home of Pat and Gil Hanly has been a creati...

Regional Wrap: Sarjeant Gallery wins major architecture prize

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This time last year we took Culture 101 on the road to the new, revamped Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui. To those unfamiliar with this...

Oscar-winning prosthetic artist on transforming "The Rock"

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

He's won two Oscars, worked with Hollywood A-lister actors and directors but if he's done his job well, then his work is invisible. Make-up and prosth...

Local jeweller Zoe and Morgan celebrate twenty years

22 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Local jewellers Zoe and Morgan are celebrating two decades of their family business. The two siblings along with their sister Ruth had all ventured do...

Fast Favourites: Best actress winner Antonia Prebble

22 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

She's one of the country's most beloved actors and on Friday night, took home the Best Actress in a Series Award for the second time for her role in t...

Could this be this country’s finest map?

16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There is much joy to be had poring over a great map. And this particular map may be the finest in New Zealand to pore over of them all. It's a map of ...

Rose of Tralee Keely O’Grady dances her way to Christmas

16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Christchurch's Keely O'Grady and Mitchell O'Hara join Culture 101 to discuss the Irish dance show A Celtic Christmas.

Niels Meyer-Westfield on painting NZ bird feathers

16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nature artist, Niels Meyer-Westfeld joins Culture 101 to talk about his new book Feathers of Aotearoa: an illustrated journal.

Regional Wrap: Te Whare Taonga o Kawhia - Kawhia Museum

16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Regional Wrap: Te Whare Taonga o Kāwhia - Kāwhia Museum.

In a first NZ artist Yvonne Todd turns to AI

16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of New Zealand's leading photographers and artists, Yvonne Todd has announced she is now only working in AI. We believe as a professional in Aotea...

Poet Tusiata Avia on "the most challenging book I've written"

15 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A year ago, on Culture 101 we played a recording of Tusiata Avia reading a commissioned poem for the 2024 Arts Foundation's Laureate Awards. It was en...

From Nude Tuesday to Educators: Jackie Van Beek

15 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jackie van Beek joins us on Culture 101 to talk about season four of Educators and share some her cultural favourites.

From painting to performance: the remarkable story of Vietnamese artist Tran Luong

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Just opened at New Plymouth's Govett Brewster Gallery is a major survey exhibition of one of Vietnam's leading - but at home most controversial - arti...

Winner of Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement, poet Dinah Hawken

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On Thursday evening, poet Dinah Hawken was one of three recipients of a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement. The others were, for fiction,...

Regional Wrap: Maungaturoto

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Local artist David Gunson joins us to talk about the arts scene there and the town's new art gallery.

A history of acting in Aotearoa

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Authors David O'Donnell and Hilary Halba join Culture 101 to discuss their new book.

Explosive work of one of the most significant artists of the 21st century to come to NZ

08 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi have announced that they will return to Te Ngākau Civic Square next October 2026 with a major new exhibition fro...

Artist Dinah Priestley on her 'colourful adventurous life’

08 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A just released book, An Eccentric History in Batik shares the story of the art and love of Dinah Priestley and Tony Burton.

Lulu Sun: Our leading tennis player on the rise

08 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Born in beautiful Te Anau, since age 5 tennis star today Lulu Sun has lived around the world. Formerly representing Switzerland, since 2024 she has ag...

Arts News for 2 November 2025

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Arts News for 2 November 2025.

All art is politics: acclaimed Australian artist Mike Parr's controversial performance

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All art is politics: Acclaimed Australian artist Mike Parr's controversial performance.

Regional Wrap: working with kelp in the Waitaki

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Regional Wrap: working with kelp in the Waitaki.

The Dry House: Alison Bruce in her most challenging role yet

01 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Award-winning actor Alison Bruce is one of the country’s most versatile and experienced stage and screen actors.   

Tauranga Art Gallery: part of $306 million redevelopment of the city's cultural heart

01 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tauranga Art Gallery reopens in $306 million redevelopment of city's cultural heart.

Fast Favourites: TV presenter and journalist Laura Tupou

01 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Fast Favourites: TV presenter and journalist Laura Tupou.

Hamish Coney: the auction of the collection of late curator Ron Brownson

26 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2023 Aotearoa lost one of its most beloved curators and supporters of contemporary photography, and Maori and Pacific art and artists, Ron Brownson...

Fiona Samuel awarded Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship

26 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Stage and screen veteran Fiona Samuel has been awarded this year's Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship by the Arts Foundation.

Regional Wrap: KOAST Art Trail with Joan Honeyfield

26 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Each week Culture 101 puts the spotlight on a different part of Aotearoa for our regional wrap. KOAST Arts Trail has been taking place this Labour Wee...

Century old Maori carving completed after 115 years gifted to British people

25 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Last month, a century-old Maori carving was restored and gifted to the British people. Carved originally in 1910, by master carver Tene Waitere, the p...

Designing spaces for parents and children: Raukura Turei and Elisapeta Heta

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For their latest installation Elisapeta Heta and Raukura Turei have designed a space inspired by the special space Kohanga Reo plays in their lives.

Arts Laureate 2025: Roseanne Liang honoured with Gaylene Preston Filmmaker Award

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This year's Arts Laureates have been announced with eight new artists being honoured and recognised for their exceptional work and their contribution ...

Regional Wrap goes to Analogue Aotearoa in Te Aroha

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every week on our Regional Wrap we travel to a different place around the country and, today, nestled in the Waikato below the Kaimai Ranges it's the ...

20-year-old artist wins international award for stunning night sky photography

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Landscape astro photographer, Tom Rae, has won the Royal Museums Greenwich Skyscapes Astronomy Photographer of the Year for a second time.

Taniwha: following the tails of our popular shapeshifting creatures

18 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From the news headlines to carving, from poetry and film to waiata and whakatauki the taniwha is a pervasive yet mysterious figure in our culture.

What to do with the old family silver?

18 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Teaspoons, teapots, trophies, vases, trays and napkin rings. Silver objects have long been prized as a way of celebrating and commemorating.

Fast Favourites: Children's author Kiri Lightfoot

18 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Children's and young-adult author, Kiri Lightfoot, has long had a love of picture books. As a teenager she would only taking babysitting jobs if there...

Turning Twizel into a film set: Show Me Shorts director Arthur Gay

12 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Show Me Shorts Film Festival turns 20 this year. It's become Aotearoa's leading international short film festival and this month there will be more th...

Restoring the power of black tapa with memories of the Tongan and English Queens

12 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1953 Queen Salote of Tonga visited England for Queen Elizabeth the Second's Coronation. At which, she is said to have won "the affection of the Bri...

Regional Wrap: Whau Arts Festival with Melissa Laing

12 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Each week Culture 101 puts the spotlight on a different part of Aotearoa. Occasionally we go into the suburbs and this week we're going inner-west in ...

Touring innovative NZ theatre everywhere successfully and sustainably

12 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Shortly opening in Wellington, Tauranga and Nelson are touring works by two of this country's most well-travelled, and most acclaimed contemporary the...

Winner of Sargeson Prize: Aotearoa's largest short story competition

11 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Author Becky Manawatu has won The Sargeson Prize, the country's biggest short story competition, taking home $15,000 for her work, The Vase.

Fast Favourites with Everyday Māori's Hemi Kelly

11 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Next Friday and Saturday, the Kupu Maori Writers Festival brings together authors from across the motu to significant locations across Rotorua. 

Getting to live in your childhood dream house: Tracey Scott's remarkable colonial villa

05 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Did you ever have a dream house as a child? One you told your parents you wanted to be yours one day? Perhaps, like Tracey Scott's, it even had a turr...

Regional Wrap: Colville Creators and Makers Festival

05 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The biennial Colville Creators & Makers Festival finishes tomorrow after six days of exhibits and creative workshops. Held in Colville Hall, 30 minute...

Hawke's Bay Festival marks 10th anniversary

05 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hawke's Bay Arts Festival kicks off next week and it's marking its 10th anniversary.

Painting star Philip Clairmont on show for the first time in 30 years

28 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The late painter blazed a brilliant, dazzling trail across the Aotearoa New Zealand art scene of the 1970s.

The influential and revealing ways video games portray culture

28 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Culture 101 speaks to three Victoria University researchers and lecturers who look at the intersection of video games, and culture.

Regional Wrap: Ōkārito's entire town in new exhibition

28 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Artery of the Wild is on now at the Leftbank Gallery in Greymouth.

87-year-old community arts legend June Renwick

27 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Director and producer June Renwick joins Culture 101 to talk about her lifelong love of drama and why she set up the Selwyn Community Arts Theatre. ...

Locals turn Cyclone Gabrielle into art installations

27 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Facilitator and curator Dayna Raroa joins Culture 101.

Fast Favourites with singer-songwriter Julia Deans

27 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

She joins Perlina Lau to share some of her cultural picks

Staging the beloved Terry Pratchett's work at Dunedin's Globe Theatre

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A theatre show of the beloved Sir Terry Pratchett is currently on stage at Dunedin's Globe Theatre. Lords and Ladies has one of the Globe's largest ca...

Regional Wrap: the sculpture gardens of Kaupapakapa and Kaipara

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kaukapapa is a 40-minute drive North-West of Tamaki Makaurau, and a gateway to the Kaipara.

Who's in charge of telling the story of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern?

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

No documentary this year will likely come under as much scrutiny and discussion. Directed by Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz and on general release in...

Do hospitals have to be ugly? The history of our health design

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

They are some of the largest and most prominent buildings in our cities and towns. Places we are all are likely to spend significant time, as family a...

The problem with dropping art history from the curriculum

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There has been shock and concern amongst the arts and education world following the axing of Art History from the school curriculum.

Fast Favourites with actor Nicola Kāwana

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nicola Kāwana has been a familiar face to Kiwi audiences for decades. A graduate of Toi Whakaari, Nicola's acting career spans film, television and t...

Innovative agency tackles instability for actors and performers

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Job stability and sustainability within a creative industry can be a constant battle for artists.

Manahi Pakarati: Ambassador for Chile and Rapa Nui

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Cultural group Puku Rangi Tea from Rapa Nui Easter Island are providing a rare opportuntiy to experience their culture with performances in Blenheim, ...

Regional Wrap: The untamed and wild Hokitika

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The untamed and wild Hokitika is better known these days as the "Cool Little Town." Located on the West Coast of the South Island, it's about 40 minut...

Jessica Gurnsey's vibrant portrait paintings capture moments in time

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Art in the Park returns to the iconic Eden Park next weekend from the 18th to the 21st of September. A curated art show in a stadium setting, it'll br...

Actor Stephen Papps: playing many characters beside himself

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Actor and writer Stephen Papps has a remarkable ability onstage to inhabit a multitude of characters. In his latest solo work Social Animal, written w...

A new era for American Vogue

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's a new era at American Vogue with a new editor announced to take over from Dame Anna Wintour.

What's changed for contemporary dance in 40 years?

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This year New Zealand Dance company Footnote is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Footnote bill their story as the story of contemporary dance in Aote...

Words on the Street: Inside the role of a mobile librarian

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Across Tamaki Makaurau, there are 56 community libraries but there are also mobile libraries reaching those who can't access the public ones. These ar...

Regional Wrap: Woodville

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Enroute to the Hawkes Bay, Woodville was 100 years ago the home of one of our most famous portrait painters Gottfried Lindear and is home today to cel...

Flood-damaged Ponsonby house becomes art installation

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you visit 24 Tawariki Street in Ponsonby, Auckland - which you are being invited to do this month - you'll find a stream reemerging in the front ga...

We the Young: New youth performing arts festival

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A new performing arts festival will be taking over several venues in Auckland for two weeks this month. We The Young in Tamaki Makaurau is celebrating...

What now for public art icon Wellington's City to Sea Bridge?

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This week a group opposing the Wellington City Council's decision to demolish the capital's city to sea bridge, The Wellington Civic Trust, lost a Jud...

Fast Favourites: Billy T comedian Hoani Hotene

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

With the Billy T showcase around the corner, ahead of next year's festival and competition, this year's winner is still revelling in his victory.