The Lantern Festival opened on Thursday at a new venue, the Manukau Sports Bowl. It's the first one in Tāmaki Makaurau in four years. Photo / David Watson
The Lantern Festival opened on Thursday at a new venue, the Manukau Sports Bowl. It's the first one in Tāmaki Makaurau in four years. Photo / David Watson
In the final weekend of summer, there is plenty for you to do and enjoy before the days get too short to bother. In this week’s guide to Auckland, you can plan out how to spend your time effectively and successfully.
If you’re sticking around Tāmaki Makarau this weekend, indulge in the mix of art, music, culture and culinary endeavours that are happening in all pockets of the city.
Find the best of Auckland, its people and its places, using this week’s stacked guide to lead you straight to the hotspots.
As Auckland Pride rounds the bend into the home stretch, now’s the time to wear your activism on your sleeve and join the Pride March. On Sunday, the march departs from Aotea Square and makes its way down to Takutai Square, Britomart for the Pride Party. It’s an opportunity to get loud and proud about basic human rights for all and for the LGBTQIA+ community to revel in the unifying power of queer activism. The party in Takutai Square will have food stalls, activities and DJs including Brown Boy Magik, Vercetti and Blush.Mp3, with singer/songwriter Pati AF headlining the event. Bring your rainbow pride and add your voice to the crowd celebrating and uplifting queerness, queer visibility and queer joy.
When: February 25, meeting from 2pm (March begins at 3.30pm).
Where: Aotea Square, Auckland CBD. Pride Party from 4.30pm. Takutai Square, Auckland CBD.
Price: Free.
2) Hamilton Arts Festival - Various locations
The Hamilton Arts Festival kicked off on Friday. Photo / Jim Tannock Photography Ltd
Always worth the drive, the Hamilton Arts Festival kicked off on Friday with a programme that’s awash in must-see events. Saturday night is the annual Sunset Symphony, a free concert performed by the Trust Waikato Symphony Orchestra and Sunday afternoon features the NZ Opera and Opus Orchestra performing some of opera’s most beloved pieces from The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville, among other favourites. Across the festival there’s a hugely varied programme of performances including music, theatre, musical theatre, comedy, dance and more. Bic Runga’s playing a live Sunset Session in Hamilton Gardens next weekend, the Boon Sculpture Trail is a highlight for art enthusiasts and the Festival Hub in the Gardens has food vendors on site and free live local music nightly. Spend the next 20 minutes perusing the online programme and we bet you’ll find something that’ll pique your interest.
The inaugural Moana Auckland, New Zealand's Ocean Festival kicks off on Saturday. Photo / Damian Alexander
Tāmaki Makaurau has a new festival on the scene; the inaugural Moana Auckland, New Zealand’s Ocean Festival kicks off on Saturday and includes 19 events that showcase our “love affair with the ocean.” Along with the return of the Auckland Boat Show in mid-March, there are brand new events like the Z Manu World Champs — qualifying rounds taking place this weekend and next — and the Wooden Boat Festival, celebrating our maritime heritage. The festival hub is at Te Wero Island, in the Viaduct, where you can catch live entertainment, fill your puku with kai from the Food Truck Collective fleet, and learn all about our moana and how we can look after it at the interactive sustainability hub. We want this love affair to last, so get out and celebrate, appreciate and respect our moana like all good partners do.
When: February 24 - March 24.
Where: Various locations in central Tāmaki Makaurau.
It’s been four years since the last Lantern Festival in Tāmaki Makaurau and we couldn’t be more excited to see it back in all its illuminated glory. Opening on Thursday, the BNZ Auckland Lantern Festival is staging its comeback at a new venue, the Manukau Sports Bowl. There will be cultural performances, retail and craft stalls including calligraphy and fortune telling, of course a huge range of tasty food stalls and over 500 illuminated lanterns. There’s an outdoor movie screen playing family friendly short films and over on the venue’s basketball court you can catch appearances by the Breakers and Northern Kāhu players, as well as participate in skills sessions. The festival will close on Sunday night with a dazzling fireworks display. Welcome back, Lantern Festival, we missed you!
When: February 22-25, 5pm-10.30pm.
Where: Manukau Sports Bowl, Te Irirangi Drive, Manukau.
Lunar New Year in the Square will take over Aotea Square on Sunday, the final event in Auckland Live's Summer in the Square programme. Photo / Bryan Lowe
The Lantern Festival isn’t the only Chinese New Year celebration this weekend, Lunar New Year in the Square is taking over Aotea Square on Sunday, the final event in Auckland Live’s Summer in the Square programme. There will be live performances including a street dance crew battle, lion and dragon dance and a karaoke challenge, as well as a selection of food trucks, hands-on craft workshops and more. While you’re in the city, keep a look out for the stunning red neon Lucky Cats designed by artist Aan Chu and built by Angus Muir Design. They’re hanging from the lamp posts from Darby Street.
When: February 25, 1pm-7pm.
Where: Aotea Square, Auckland CBD.
Price: Free.
6) Sculpture on the Gulf - Waiheke Island
Explore a world of art on Waiheke Island at the Perpetual Guardian Sculpture on the Gulf. Photo / Anton Forde, The Unity of Protection Te Kotahitanga o Whakamaru 2022 and Peter Rees Photography
Waiheke Island is at its peak power at this time of year, not least because on Saturday Perpetual Guardian Sculpture on the Gulf opens. The outdoor sculpture exhibition is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and the Matiatia Coastal Walkway continues to be one of the most spectacular sites in the world to experience art. Over the two kilometre trail you can see works by some of Aotearoa’s most respected artists that respond uniquely to the environment. Artists include Brett Graham, Gavin Hipkins, Lonnie Hutchinson, Natalie Guy, Simon Ingram and many more. The walk is not suitable for prams, wheelchairs or bikes — it’s unsealed, narrow and steep in places — so visitors need to be aware of their own fitness levels. There’s an information tent just along from the Matiatia wharf where you can buy entry and shuttle bus tickets so head straight there when you hop off the ferry.
Price: Tickets $20/pp for sculpture trail, $10/pp for shuttle bus, children under 15 free, from sotg.nz
7) A Doctor Who Event - Auckland Girls’ Grammar School
The ninth doctor of the BBC television series, Christopher Eccleston, will be a key speaker at the Doctor Who event. Photo / Paul Blomfield PR
Whovians, put down your coffee and get yourselves down to Auckland Girls Grammar immediately for The Lord of Time: A Doctor Who Event featuring the ninth doctor, Christopher Eccleston. The event coincides with the 60th anniversary of the BBC television series and, along with Eccleston, features companions Pearl Mackie, Wendy Padbury and stage actor Rob Lloyd. Throughout the day there will be Q&A sessions and panel discussions with each guest, a group panel with all the guests, opportunities to get autographs and photos with the stars and special event merchandise for sale. Only true Whovians will grasp the enormity of this event and all its wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff — to them we say, allons-y!
Next Week: In The Italian Style - Auckland Town Hall
The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's concert, In the Italian Style, will transport you to Italy on a classical music journey next week. Photo / Adrian Malloch
Take yourself on a classical music journey to Italy next week with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s concert, In the Italian Style. Conducted by Giordano Bellincampi, the theme for the evening’s repertoire is music inspired by Italy: Schubert’s Overture in C In the Italian Style, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 Italian and Berlioz’s Harold in Italy, featuring Robert Ashworth on viola. You’re bound to float out of Auckland Town Hall dreaming of long summer nights under the Tuscan sun.
When: February 29, 7.30pm.
Where: Auckland Town Hall, Queen Street, Auckland.
The NZSO will be hosting a special concert in the three major centres in March, celebrating and honouring those lives lost and forever changed by the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting. Photo / Lamia Lahbabi
Next month, the NZSO — in collaboration with Aotearoa’s Muslim communities — will present a very special concert experience in Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland that honours the lives lost and forever changed by the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting. Featuring international stars including conductor Fawzi Haimor, Moroccan vocalist OUM, and oud virtuoso Kyriakos Tapakis, the concert includes New Zealand premieres from American composer Valerie Coleman, Iranian Reza Vali and Estonian Arvo Pärt, as well as a world premiere from our own John Psathas. Psathas’ “Ahlan wa Sahlan,” created in collaboration with OUM and Tapakis, embodies a message of peace and belonging, inspired by the memoir of terror attack survivor Farid Ahmed. Beyond Words aims to promote unity and peace through music and will undoubtedly be a moving experience for anyone who is lucky enough to witness it.
