Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival: Our Stories, Our Stage, Our Future
Image: Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival 2026
Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival is charting a new direction - one that looks toward a future supporting the creative talent already here. Gizzy Local's Te Paea Maurirere sat down with Festival Director Ani-Piki Tuari to talk about what comes next.
There is something special about being from Te Tairāwhiti.
We are a place that has always produced big ideas, bold creative voices, and stories that travel far beyond our shores. Our region has a long history of creatives who make their mark well beyond home.
But what about those shaping the next creative wave, right now?
That's part of the exciting direction Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival is taking.
In a kōrero with Festival Director Ani-Piki Tuari, the focus wasn't just on the event itself, but on the creative pool already here across Te Tairāwhiti. There are creatives - artists, storytellers, and ideas - throughout the rohe, across all kinds of creative forms.
“We're really special here in Te Tairāwhiti,” Ani-Piki says. “Every corner has its own stories.”
Those stories do not all look the same, and neither does creativity. Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival wants to encompass “all arms of creativity” - to give creatives the room to express themselves, and community the chance to share in it and enjoy it.
“It's also about working alongside communities to shape kaupapa together - bringing forward the stories people want to tell, and building pathways within the rohe [region] for those ideas to grow.”
Image: Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival 2026
The ‘E Tipu E Rea – Te Whaihanga’ pilot is one example - 15 new film scripts brought together from one kaupapa, a reminder of what can emerge when storytellers from different backgrounds are supported to develop an idea and bring it to life. A number of those scripts will go on to further development.
If curating is your calling, expressions of interest for the very first Te Ara i Whiti Curator’s Apprenticeship are now open. It follows curator Melanie Tangaere Baldwin supporting 40 rangatahi artists to exhibit as part of this year's light trail.
All of these are new opportunities to grow creativity within our community.
The vision is for Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival to build more presence throughout the year - growing the arts and the opportunities to experience creativity across Te Tairāwhiti.
“The arts are year round,” Ani-Piki says.
What that looks like in practice is still taking shape - but the direction is set, and this year's programme marks the first step toward it.
For Ani-Piki, the future means Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival “heading the way of any person's chosen art forms.” It's about building something that showcases the depth of creativity already here, and giving people a reason to come and experience it for themselves.
“Showing the world what we have to give and what we have to offer,” she says.
There are early conversations already underway about what next year could look like. The ambition goes beyond simply growing what's on offer. The long-term vision is to create something people actively seek out and look forward to - something that, in time, draws people to Te Tairāwhiti, not only from around Aotearoa, but from across the world.
The question is no longer simply what the kaupapa can bring to Te Tairāwhiti.
It is what Te Tairāwhiti can create, and how far can we take it?
The foundation has already been laid by those who came before. Now, we have the chance to build on it, invest in what is here, and create space for the next generation to take their place.
Because our stories are worth sharing and there is no better place to start than home.
Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival wants to hear from the community to help shape this direction - ideas, feedback, and expressions of interest are all welcome through the ‘feedback’ contact form on the website.
Image: Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival 2026
Article adapted by Te Paea Maurirere
