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Kia Mau Festival

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New Zealand
Wellington
Kia Mau Festival

2025
Te Upoko-o-te-ika-a-Māui
Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealanad

12/10/2025

Te utu o te aroha, ko te mamae.

Today we reflected on the art and impact that Rose not only had on us, but many of our whānau, who we know are grieving deeply. E rere ana nga mihi aroha ki te whānau pani i te wā nei. Ngā mihi arohanui ki a koutou ngā ringatoi o te motu nei.
We grieve with you.

Moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā e Rose.

01/10/2025

With the current government's latest announcement regarding Palestine we thought it important to reiterate where we stand. Christopher Luxon does not speak for us.

We will always stand against racism, genocide and imperialism!

We stand in solidarity with people who are subject to displacement, apartheid, genocide, ecocide, violence and harm in Palestine, Sudan, Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo and others all over the world.

30/09/2025

He mihi atu ana i te wā nei o Whiringa-ā-rangi!

Nau mai, haramai ki te hui-ā-tau o Kia Mau.
Welcome to our callout for our Annual General Meeting of Kia Mau Festival.

Join us from 6.30pm, Monday 13 October 2025, online.

This is the delayed AGM from April of this year, so will not include reporting on our most recent festival. We will be covering 2024.

This event will be online, if you'd like to attend please RSVP Link in BIO and we'll send you the link by midday, 13 October 2025.

We look forward to hosting you e te whānau!
Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa,

Kia Mau Festival

16/09/2025

Kia mau is a call to hold fast. Kia Mau is about us all. Here. Now.

As a contemporary tāngata whenua, tāngata moana + indigenous festival our artists bring works that speak to what is at the forefront for them right now, what stories need to be told right now - our programme is the result of this.

“It’s not about holding these people tight to us, it’s about going, ‘I’m gonna shine the light on you and you go away, and if you wanna come back, we treated you well, you will come back’,” says Kouka. “And we find a lot of the artists do wanna come back to us.”

20/08/2025

Sometimes you need to take a step back to see the full picture. 🌌
The set, the staging, the energy — Ka Mua Ka Muri holds the past, present and future in one breathtaking vision.

Presented as part of Kia Mau Festival’s He Ngaru Nui programme, Atamira Dance Company brings together choreographers Bianca Hyslop (Te Arawa) and Eddie Elliott (Ngāti Maniapoto) in this powerful double bill that honours whakapapa, uplifts mātauranga Māori, and shapes new futures.

📸 Roc + Photography

18/08/2025

Kia Mau Festival 2025 Opening Night ✨

Our people turned out!

5 shows opened our festival followed by a wee party at Circa Theatre.

Gorgeous people, gorgeous vibes 🙌

13/08/2025

Every year we grow 🌿

This year was no exception almost doubling our artist number from 2023.

With new and returning artists joining us each festival - our whānau expands, new relationships are forged and tangata whenua, tangata moana and indigenous artists deepen our global bonds.

"Kia Mau makes space for every collaborating artist to determine how they need - and want - to honour their own traditions now. By making space, we work to support artists to continue searching - understanding, learning from and innovating upon what has come before you," Mīria George, Artistic Director, Kia Mau Festival.

10/08/2025

💖 Closing Kia Mau Festival 2025 with a whole lotta LOVE 💖

Our 2025 finale was one for the books - a night of disco defiance, glitter, and groove. I Feel Love closed Kia Mau Festival with an unforgettable celebration of movement, music, and whānau on the dance floor.

Created by Hone Kouka and Maarire Brunning-Kouka, this He Ngaru Nui event brought together a fierce live band led by Louisa Williamson - reimagining disco anthems and homegrown classics with unmistakable Aotearoa soul.

🌟 Basslines thumped. Sequins shimmered. Voices soared.
🌈 We came dressed up, showed up, and felt the love.

Thank you for dancing with us, whānau. Until next time…
💃🏽 Love to Love You, Baby. 🪩

Images by Roc+ Photography

07/08/2025

✨ PUANA - A Celebration of Musical Legacy ✨

Ka Pae ‘Āina o Hawai‘i to Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Puana made its powerful Aotearoa premiere as part of He Ngaru Nui at Kia Mau Festival 2025.

Presented by Ka Papahana Hana Keaka Hawai‘i - University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Puana explores the sacred threads that connect mo‘opuna to their kūpuna through the resonant language of mele.

Rooted in ancestral knowledge and alive with poetic composition, Puana honours the haku mele, the pu‘ukani, and the enduring power of music to carry story, spirit, and legacy across generations.

🌊 E pua ana ka puana a e mau ho‘i ka puana a e lohe ‘ia.
The refrain blossoms, it continues, and it is heard.

📸 Swipe through to witness a rich celebration of Kānaka Maoli excellence on Kia Mau stages.

Images by Lora Nankivell

06/08/2025

Part of our Free Access | Performance Art Programme from Kia Mau Festival 2025 -Bronze/Birthright by Molly Friis 🔸

Bronze/Birthright explores the body as a site of transformation and cultural negotiation. Drawing from her Danish and Māori heritage, Molly reimagines the stories of Pānia o te Ākau (Pānia of the Reef) and Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid) - two iconic figures navigating identity, sacrifice, and survival within colonial frameworks.

Through live performance, Molly becomes a living bronze monument, embodying the tension between objectification and agency.

Linking statues to living bodies, the work challenges perceptions of femininity and autonomy, and invites reflection on cultural storytelling, representation, and the resilience of wāhine.

This is art that breathes, resists, and reclaims.

Images by Lora Nankivell

29/07/2025

KIA MAU FESTIVAL 2025 — NGĀ TATAURANGA
As the marama climbs and the energy of Ōuenuku rises, we reflect on what we’ve planted - and what’s begun to grow.
🌱 20,050 total audience
🌱 11,630 experienced the kaupapa through free access
🌱 8,420 attended our ticketed performances
These aren’t just numbers. They are seeds. Each one a moment of connection, celebration, resistance, and collective joy.
Ngā mihi maioha ki a koutou katoa - to every single person who joined us, held space, and uplifted our artists and stories.

24/07/2025

THE CIRCLE
By Shifting Centre
📸

Under the marama of Mutuwhenua, we pause. The cycle nears its close, inviting us into stillness - a moment to reflect, to honour where we’ve been, and to ready ourselves for what’s yet to come.

The Circle is a space of transformation.
A journey through collective becoming - where joy, resistance, support, and celebration all take their turn on the floor.

Ngā mihi nui to Shifting Centre for this offering.
For reminding us that liberation isn’t always loud - sometimes, it’s found in the quiet act of holding space for one another.

As this marama wanes, may we carry the echoes of this world into the next.

Address

Wellington
6010

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://kiamaufestival.org/

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