Wellingtonians rejoice for it is almost ARTS FESTIVAL SEASON!

From the beginning of February through March we’ll be able to enjoy work in development, new and experimental acts, and some of the best stuff from around the world.

First one to start is the Fringe Festival.  As they say on the website “Our festival is open access and includes contemporary work in art forms including (but never limited to) audio, busking, cabaret, clowning, comedy, circus, dance, film, fashion, improvisation, music, online, physical theatre, podcast, poetry, puppetry, spoken word / storytelling, theatre, visual & digital art.” That means the weird, the wonderful, and the downright bizarre can be ours for the low low price of their tickets. Look out for their little yellow booklets around town.

Associated with the Fringe is the Putahi Festival – where new work develops in stages. Featuring some of the city’s most promising and proven indigenous artists it’s a quick week 9-13 February at Studio 77 at the university. Three works in process by William Duignan and Waylon Edwards, Patrick Godinet, and Miria George, are spotlit in this year’s festival.

Finally there’s major international arts festival The New Zealand Festival. From 26 February – 20 March we can see local and international talent in a whirlwind of events. Tickets for this festival are much more expensive than the other two festivals because of its nature, but the excellent Tix-for-twenty scheme is back for those of us who spent way too much over the festive season. However if you don’t want to miss out on seeing the likes of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Wynton Marsalis, Kneehigh Theatre, plus our own Royal New Zealand Ballet, Gareth Farr, or Trick of the Light Theatre, etc, then I suggest you book now. Writers Week is from 8-13 March. A teaser programme has been launched with the full programme released next week on January 28.

I’m yet to properly sit down and decide which shows I want to go to (i.e. can afford) so if you have favourites list them below!