Culture 101
Episodes
Dealing with trauma through poetry: Hazara-Afghani Abdul Samad Haidari’s remarkable story
21 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Pōneke based poet and journalist Abdul Samad Haidari became a refugee at the age of 10. For Haidari poetry has been a way to cope with the trauma and...
Choreographing intimacy in a post-#MeToo era
21 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Intimacy coordination is a relatively new concept both in Aotearoa and across the world. Borne from the #MeToo movement, it’s a way to keep actors a...
Regional Wrap in ‘mural town’ Katikati
21 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s known as ‘mural town’, it's Aotearoa New Zealand’s avocado capital and this week it’s the focus of Culture 101’s regional wrap.
Champagne Problems at the new look Aotearoa Art Fair
21 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Aotearoa Art Fair is the apex of the art market food chain. This weekend on the Tāmaki Makaurau waterfront, the public, 32 dealers and many curat...
Origin: Ava Duvernay’s thought-provoking new film on caste systems
21 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Oscar-nominated US filmmaker Ava Duvernay’s new thought-provoking film Origin is based on the New York Times bestselling book Caste: The Origins of ...
Fast Favourites with veteran broadcaster Julian Wilcox
21 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This year marks 20 years of Whakaata Māori - Māori Television. Something to celebrate particularly in this climate of broadcasting cuts and redundan...
Mataaho Collective scoops Golden Lion at Venice Biennale in a huge weekend for art from Oceania
21 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Aotearoa New Zealand has won one of the world’s most prestigious art prizes. Mataaho collective have been awarded the Golden Lion by a jury at th...
Arts news: NZ in Italy, a screen crisis, new dance festivals & annual fests skip a year
14 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts news for Sunday 14 April from RNZ
Keeping the lights on in our public galleries not just about funding
14 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A "lack of joined-up thinking" in Wellington's gallery sector has led to two major art spaces closing at the same time, an art historian and former ga...
Trailblazing Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap in Aotearoa
14 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Say the name Anurag Kashyap in South Asian circles and you’ll likely find some star struck fans. The prominent Indian filmmaker will be in Tāmak...
Regional Wrap: Sean McDonnell’s Baylys Beach
14 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Baylys Beach is a settlement of a few hundred on a wild section on the west coast of Northland, just outside Takiwira Dargaville. It’s home to pa...
Prominent portrait photographer Jae Frew shifts focus
14 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve ever opened a magazine in Aotearoa New Zealand, chances are, you’ve almost certainly seen Jae Frew’s work.
Artwork copyright in the age of social media and AI
14 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today we are all publishers, sharing fresh content online to please our followers. So when does taking a photograph of an interesting artwork constitu...
Christchurch playwright scoops an award trifecta with The Odyssey
14 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Two playwrights have won this year’s Adam NZ Play Award: Dan Bain from Christchurch for The Odyssey and Sam Brooks from Tāmaki Makaurau for This I...
From flaming kūmara to East Timor: Te Radar performs five different shows over five nights
14 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When a comedian approaches Comedy Festival season, you expect the trial of a new show, and all the challenges that represents. But this year beloved...
Arts News: Toi Te Papa & City Gallery Wellington face closures while Christchurch Arts Centre threatens insolvency
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts and culture news for Sunday 7 April.
The art of being a cultural translator
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take to be an effective cultural translator? Yang Fan will tell you that the language is just the beginning.
Aminé Ramer: the vital role of the music supervisor
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you think of your favourite film, chances are there’s a pivotal scene driven by music or a killer soundtrack. Either way, you can thank the work ...
Regional wrap: Whakatipu, Wānaka & Hāwea - a creative Queenstown-Lakes District
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A $3.9 million dollar multi-purpose arts and cultural space, Te Atamira, opened in the burgeoning commercial district of Frankton near Queenstown in M...
From Marx and Austen to stranded in an airport: Jonathan Dove on keeping opera relevant
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“If opera doesn’t tell stories about right now or about who we are now, then eventually it’s just going to die out,” British composer Jonathan...
Slavfest! Music and culture from the Balkans through to Asia with Irina Mosina
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Slavic culture crosses from Eastern Europe and the Balkans through to Asia. It encapsulates a real diversity of countries but which share strong cul...
A feast for the eyes: The hyperrealist paintings of Alice Toomer
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Food is perhaps one of the easiest ways to bring people together. But what about when it's painted? In the case of young Pōneke Wellington-based arti...
Masterchef winner Sam Low on Fast Favourites and new podcast
07 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Masterchef New Zealand winner 2022, author, and Instagram star Sam Low joins Culture 101 to share his inspirations and cultural favourites.
Arts News Sunday 31 March
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts news for the week from RNZ's Culture 101.
Guitar maker and carver Nui Stretch: Two parallel careers in wood
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Raised in the countryside, north of Tamaki Nui-A-Rua and Dannevirke in the lower North Island, Nui Stretch has the distinction of having two parallel ...
Travelling through Asian and Pasifika cultures in batik with Rozana Lee
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
20 years ago, artist Rozana Lee lost her mother, relatives, childhood friends and her family home in Aceh, Indonesia in the Boxing Day Tsunami. More t...
Regional Wrap: Blenheim with Tyler Redmond
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tyler Redmond joins Mark Amery on Culture 101 to introduce Blenheim for this week’s Regional Wrap.
12-year-olds in NZ highly engaged in arts and culture
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new report highlights a high level of engagement with arts, culture and recreation among 12-year-olds across Aotearoa New Zealand. Released by th...
Fashion designer Jimmy D and the fight against the dull and turgid hick town
30 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jimmy D is welcome proof that fashion needn’t be all glitz and glam. It can relate as much to a grungier street reality as the cocktail party or old...
An unlikely pairing? K-pop meets Pasifika
30 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At first glance it may seem like an unlikely combination - Korean pop music and Pasifika youth - but as a new documentary on The Spinoff demonstrates,...
Making Mischief with West End and Broadway star Nancy Zamit
24 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
West End and Broadway wasn’t the dream when UK theatremaker Nancy Zamit co-founded Mischief Theatre in 2008, but the idea of being paid to do improv...
Regional Wrap: Francisca Griffin in Port Chalmers
24 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Port Chalmers in Ōtepoti Dunedin has long been a haven for artists as well as seafarers. It’s an active commercial port and these days the locals a...
Travelling from North Yorkshire to Aotearoa via the sun: theatremaker Alexander Wright
24 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For North Yorkshire’s Alexander Wright theatre making is a way of bringing together the very local with the much larger universe he believes we need...
Arts News Sunday 24 March
23 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Weekly arts and culture news from Aotearoa New Zealand with Perlina Lau and Mark Amery
Māoriland Film Festival Wrap
23 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Māoriland Film Festival is being held in Ōtaki on the Kapiti Coast this week 20-24 March. It's Aotearoa's annual International Indigenous f...
Rugby becomes art: a scrum suspended in time
23 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Still Lives - Auckland is a live performance artwork combining what are sometimes considered opposite ends of the spectrum; rugby and art. Followin...
The vital electricity of contemporary poetry: Fast Favourites with Tracey Slaughter
23 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Culture 101’s Mark Amery invited award-winning author of fiction, poetry and essays, the Kirikiriroa Hamilton based Tracey Slaughter, to play Fast F...
Best of the Fest #5: A very old man with enormous wings, The Sun and the Wind, Aiga and in the thick of Dunedin Fringe
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It may be the fifth and final episode of Best of the Fest but festivals across Aotearoa have not been slowing down. Culture 101’s Perlina Lau in ...
Arts News for Sunday 17 March
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
News for the week with Culture 101.
New report shows increased interest in Asian arts and culture among Kiwis
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new report commissioned by Asia New Zealand Foundation Te Whītau Tūhono has found an increased interest and desire for Asian arts and cultural exp...
Regional Wrap: Ngāmotu New Plymouth’s Fin Rah Zel at WOMAD
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For a band from Taranaki, making the WOMAD lineup is a dream come true. For Ngāmotu New Plymouth indie group, Fin Rah Zel, this weekend is it. Kno...
Ju Percussion: powerhouse ensemble performs in NZ for the first time
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Taiwan’s first professional percussion ensemble, Ju Percussion Group, was founded in 1986 by Tzong-Ching Ju who still leads the group today.
Aiga: Lusi Faiva’s disability-led Pasifika show on her life in her own words
16 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Samoan, aiga means family. Not just your immediate family but your wider circle. It could be through blood, marriage or even an adopted connection....
The 12-year-olds who meet a mountain in Rachel House's first feature
16 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are four shining stars on screen in the new joyous and heartfelt Aotearoa New Zealand film The Mountain - the directorial debut of acclaimed act...
Fast Favourites: Black Grace choreographer Neil Ieremia gives movement to Pacific anger
16 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dance company Black Grace has just returned from a US tour where thousands of people watched their latest work, Paradise Rumour. The company performed...
Arts News Sunday 10 March
10 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The arts and culture news on Culture 101
When art and film become entwined: painter Sandro Kopp
10 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2018, Sandro Kopp was tasked by film director Wes Anderson with creating ten monumental paintings for the film The French Dispatch in less than thr...
Regional Wrap: Timaru and what’s next for South Canterbury’s arts institutions
10 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A well known arts critic, historian and commentator, Andrew Paul Wood in Timaru fills us in on ‘drama’ around the Timaru Theatre Royal redevelopme...
Reimagining a map from a Tongan perspective: Icao Tiseli
10 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What would a map that represents a more distinct lived human cultural perspective look like? That has been the very personal question for Icao Tiseli ...
Oscars predictions with Gemma Gracewood in Los Angeles
09 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the 96th Academy Awards on Monday 11th March - the final ceremony of the awards season which started almost a year ago at the Cannes Film Festi...
Boy: a tragic and compelling story of gender identity
09 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The true story behind theatre show Boy is both controversial and compelling. Appearing at the Auckland Arts Festival theatre and written by Dutch-born...
Musicians who paint: The Bats’ Robert Scott plays Fast Favourites and remembers Hamish Kilgour
09 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ōtepoti Dunedin’s Robert Scott is best known as a member of seminal New Zealand bands The Bats and The Clean, but more quietly he’s been painting...
Arts News for Sunday 3 March
03 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
News from Aotearoa and abroad
NZ Artist Simon Denny in Berlin and New York on NFTs, meta landscapes and space colonies
03 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Berlin-based New Zealand artist Simon Denny’s work has long explored the culture of new technology and the dreams tech entrepreneurs sell us. ...
Regional wrap: Tauranga arts groups face up to 300% rent increases
03 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Artists in Tauranga recently took a creative response to comment on the City Council's Long Term Plan, which proposes steep rental increases for commu...
The Waikato Wars: What painter Richard Lewer didn’t learn at school
03 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At the New Zealand Portrait Gallery in Pōneke hangs an enormous New Zealand flag upon which artist Richard Lewer has painted the words: “To have a...
How to Have Sex: rising British acting star Mia McKenna-Bruce
02 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
British coming-of-age drama, How to Have Sex has found a new way to tackle the issue of sexual consent. It’s strangely both nostalgic and very uncom...
Tackling climate change with bonkers creative ideas: inventor artist Steve Mushin
02 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Habitat-printing robot birds, water-filtering sewer submarines, and flying bikes launched on waste heat thermals are just a few of the 100-plus bonker...
Fast Favourites: Kiwi Actor Yoson An in modern Aussie rom-com
02 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Yoson An’s career (Mulan, The Luminaries, Dead Lucky, Creamerie) has been steadily on the rise and impressively, he’s played a wide range of cha...
Best of the Fest #2: a morning rave, the Savage Coloniser, Witi’s Wahine, The National, Soweto Gospel and the mighty Waikato
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is it with tall people up the front at gigs? Should morning raves replace gym sessions? Joining us this week on Best of the Fest are writers Emil...
Best of the Fest #1: taniwha time machine, aerial displays and a slightly isolated dog
25 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
RNZ Culture 101 presents the first episode online and on-air of Best of the Fest - a brand new five-week 30 minute panel discussion series. Hosts P...
‘Swiftonomics’ - the unparalleled influence of Taylor Swift
25 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you’re a Swiftie or you’re rolling your eyes, you can’t deny the influence of Taylor Swift. She is inescapable and it feels as though sh...
Arts News for 25 February 2024
25 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts News for 25 February 2024
Regional Wrap: Waikato with Louisa Drummond
25 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Every week Culture 101 speaks to a creative correspondent to gauge the cultural pulse of Aotearoa’s regions. Speaking from Kirikiriroa as the Hamil...
‘The wind whistling you in behind the springtime’: celebrated Irish musician Lisa O’Neill
25 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Acclaimed Irish singer songwriter Lisa O’Neill has been enjoying some wider attention lately for two reasons. Firstly, a spellbinding rendition of ‘...
Reinventing the savage club as SaVĀge K’lub with performance artist Rosanna Raymond
24 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Savage Club started in London in 1857 and was a ‘gentleman’s club’ dedicated to the arts and literature. Eventually, it was established thro...
A thoroughly modern Māori cabaret
24 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Cabaret Thoroughly Modern Māui stemmed from a conversation between musical theatre performer Rutene Spooner and actor Jennifer Ward-Lealand.
Sculpture on the islands of Waiheke and Venice: fast favourites with Brett Graham
24 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A group of acclaimed Maori artists have been selected to exhibit as part of the centrepiece international exhibition at this year’s Venice Biennale ...
Kōpū: Leaving white feminism at the door
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A theatre show at this year’s Hamilton Arts Festival was inspired by an incident and debate at Waitangi in 2021.
Bringing the dance floor to the poetry book: Sylvan Spring’s Killer Rack
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Poetry and music at their best share a trick: the ability to be both celestial and grounded; dealing with the particulars of our lives, yet moving int...
From Christopher Walken to JLo: the best ads of Super Bowl 2024
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Super Bowl 58 was held in Las Vegas this year with the Kansas City Chiefs facing off against the San Francisco 49ers. The event has become a cultural ...
Regional Wrap: Kaikoura with Te Awhina Rangimarie Arahanga
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Every week Culture 101 speaks to a creative correspondent to gauge the cultural pulse of Aotearoa’s regions. This week, we’re in Kaikoura with wr...
Kristen Ng: bridging Aotearoa and China’s musical undergrounds
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kristen Ng aka electronic artist Kaishandao has been touring Aotearoa this summer in support of her beat-filled album Homeland. She describes it as an...
A shaky time for Aotearoa’s International Film Festival
17 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s one of the great cultural events of Aotearoa New Zealand – certainly one of the longest established: Whānau Mārama New Zealand Internation...
Fast favourites: Billy T winner Abby Howells
17 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
2023 Billy T winner Abby Howells is taking her award winning show La Soupco to the Hamilton Arts Festival.
An unlikely musical fusion: India Meets Ireland
11 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It was love at first sight, or sound rather, for tabla master Basant Madhur, and Irish guitarist and bouzouki player Jon Sanders.
Maureen Lander: weaving with string games and Te Rā our oldest sail
11 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This weekend at Auckland Museum there is a rare overnight wananga to share matauranga Māori knowledge around an extraordinary object: Te Rā, the onl...
Regional Wrap: Winton with Deow of South Sea Spray Festival
11 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Every week Culture 101 heads to a creative correspondent out around the motu to gauge the cultural pulse of Aotearoa’s regions. This week: Māori...
Lunar New Year: celebrations with paediatrician, poet and playwright Renee Liang
11 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Aotearoa, families celebrate the Lunar New Year in a variety of ways, says paediatrician, poet and playwright Renee Liang. For her own family, C...
Arts News Sunday 11 February 2024
10 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our wrap-up of the week's arts and culture news.
Queer comedian Jess Karamjeet: Redundant and living with a hidden disability
10 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Comedian and writer Jess Karamjeet is hoping her love of Neighbours will be the Trojan horse for her new show Redundant.
Neil Finn: 'Music will save the world'
10 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"We're all trying to kind of find some sound that links us together," celebrated New Zealand musician Neil Finn tells Culture 101 in an upcoming inter...
The future of arts funding with Creative New Zealand boss Stephen Wainwright
04 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Aotearoa’s central arts funding body, Creative New Zealand, is majorly overhauling its funding structure, with eight new funds to open between March...
Arranging 110 chairs from 170 years: Objectspace's Kim Paton
04 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What can chairs reveal to us about our history? There are sure to be seats in the new Objectspace exhibition and book The Chair: A story of design an...
Arts News Sunday 4 February 2024
04 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arts and culture news from RNZ's Culture 101.
When does protest become art? Defacing an English version of the Treaty of Waitangi
04 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The activists who defaced an English version of Ti Tiriti o Waitangi at Te Papa last year planned their actions very carefully, says Cally O’Neil...
Pride: Playwright Sam Brooks on queer storytelling
03 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Prolific playwright Sam Brooks has not one, but two plays premiering in Wellington and Auckland in February for Pride.
Performance art with Dad: Tame Iti’s son Toi Iti
03 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Each week, Culture 101 puts the spotlight on a different region to get the latest on the arts and culture scene. This week we’re at Waitangi.
Fast Favourites: Kiwi actor Morgana O’Reilly cast in White Lotus
03 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kiwis will be watching the next season of White Lotus even more closely, following the casting of New Zealand actor Morgana O’Reilly (Housebound, Me...
Pump up a 1990 jam with playwright Albert Belz
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It may be 2024, but playwright Albert Belz (Ngati Porou, Ngā Puhi, Ngati Pokai) wants you to stretch like it's 1990. Dedicated to the pump of aerob...
WATCH: Immerse yourself in Alan Parkinson’s giant inflatable cathedral
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
RNZ Culture 101 takes you behind the scenes and on a tour inside a giant bouncy castle complex with a difference.
Culture 101 Arts News January 28 2024
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
News in the past week from the arts and culture sector
Regional Wrap: Te Tairawhiti with Tama Waipara
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Each show, Culture 101 visits a different region to find out what's going on in the arts and culture scene. For our first show back this year, we're ...
Pub Choir brings mass singing to Aotearoa
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone can sing. Not necessarily well, but everyone has the ability. The phenomenon Pub Choir has taken this idea and combined singing with comedy a...
Pring It On! A Polyfest parody hits the stage
27 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For teenagers who grew up in the 2000s, Bring It On (2000) was a VHS and DVD staple. It would, without fail, be brought out during sleepovers. It felt...
H.R. The Musical - putting office culture on stage
27 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most of us at some point have worked for a company with an HR (Human Resources) Department. We’re familiar with the jargon and usually have brushes ...
Witi Ihimaera on the massive rise to come of Māori culture in 2024
27 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Witi Ihimaera joins Mark Amery on Culture 101 to play ‘Fast Favourites’ - sharing some of his favourite current Aotearoa artists and cultural mom...
The year that was: best of Aotearoa culture 2023
17 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Joining Mark Amery and Perlina Lau on Culture 101 to consider the year that was and pick some cultural highlights are Erin Harrington in Ōtautahi Chr...
Regional Wrap: creative Kerikeri
17 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As the summer break starts, many New Zealanders will be heading to the warmer climes of Te Tai Tokerau Northland and a town known for its arts, cultur...
‘Don’t look behind you!’ A history of folk horror with Kier-La Janisse
17 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The phenomenon and history of folk horror has been explored in a new documentary, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (2021) screening at City Gallery W...