Commemoration vs Celebration

Over the last week, Wellington has been the focus of an Anzac Day like no other. The long-awaited Pukeahu National War Memorial Park opened with a “spectacular” light show, and on Friday the city stopped to cheer a “spectacular” Anzac parade (paging Guy Debord!). This was followed by a huge turnout for the dawn service on […]

Park(ing) Day 2015

The attitude around Park(ing) Day has changed dramatically since I first got involved a few years ago. Where I was struggling with by-laws to work around not getting permission to set up my space, WCC has now brought it into Parks Week and the Wellington Sculpture Trust does the logistical management. On March 11, a total […]

Win a VIP double pass to the Wellington Wine and Food Festival

Wellington is a city overflowing with good restaurants and fine drops to drink. It seems ridiculous that we haven’t had our own day-of-food-and-wine-and-oh-okay-fine-beer yet. Luckily, that’s about to change with the cunningly named Wellington Food and Wine Festival. The Festival brings together the best of local food, wine, beverages and restaurants, outdoors on the waterfront […]

The Performance Arcade 2015

The Performance Arcade is one of those delightful yearly Wellington events that happen come rain or shine, wind or gale. The Arcade’s popped up on the waterfront every summer since 2011 and the 2015 series kicks off tonight 18th of February at 5pm. It’s running for 13 hours every day – because even artists have […]

Without literature, life is hell!

This Saturday a large number of spots in Wellington are taking part in a pub crawl but without the pubs. And with literature instead. A LitCrawl if you will! Actually that’s a slight lie. There are not only three pubs involved (Hashigo Zake, Meow and Little Beer Quarter) but there’s a Writers’ Beer as well. Nine […]

Another Laneways opportunity…

On the back of the successful Hannahs Laneway event during WOAP, the Ti Kouka et al folks are at it again – this Saturday with a Day of the Dead Fiesta. These celebrations in Mexico are traditionally a three-day event from 31 October to 2 November to remember those who are no longer with us.  For more […]

Zig-zag Texts

Bridget Williams Books publishes a series called BWB Texts, “short books on big subjects by great New Zealand writers”, and two new ones will be launched next Thursday at Unity Books. Martin Edmond’s Barefoot Years recounts childhood memories of life near Ohakune, while Thorndon: Wellington and Home, My Katherine Mansfield Project by Kirsty Gunn (Rain, The Big Music) will be of […]

World of Wearable Arts Season

I’ve heard the complaints; World of Wearable Arts – WOW is for women of a certain age and is far too expensive. I’d not been to the show before so I couldn’t confirm or deny, but oh wow are those people wrong. To start with WOW to me was two experiences seamless melded together, and also […]

Miramar is hacking and wants all the developers

Wellington is running its first Civic Hackathon the first weekend of November to tackle transport issues in and around Eastern Suburbs and the wider city. The Hack Miramar folks have got a bunch of people involved already and they’ve got spots open if you want to join in and they’re looking for freaks, geeks, and […]

Craft Central, moves into the Centre of Wellington

For over a year Craft Central’s been a delightful little market held monthly at Miramar School, one of those little secrets only locals know about, like Craig the Chemist who always has stickers on hand to bring a smile to kids’ faces.  But Libby and Katherine, Craft Central’s creators, had big dreams, to turn their 100% NZ […]