Touch tour performance | Tauranga Arts Festival 2026
Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival
Blind and low vision patrons will get the chance to engage in a “touch tour” before one of the Tauranga Art Festival performances.
To promote access at the festival, the touch tour will be held before the Tiri: Te Araroa Woman Far Walking performance at Baycourt on October 30.
The 6pm-6.30pm tour supports the live commentary offered by Audio Described Aotearoa for the 7.30pm show.
Those on the touch tour will get to explore the set, costumes and sensory elements of the Tiri show before being offered an audio description via earpiece, by audio describer Nicola Kāwana.
Tauranga Arts Festival director Megan Brown, who has worked with Nicola Owen and Paul Brown of Audio Described Aotearoa before, says she’s delighted with this opportunity, which is aligned with the festival’s intention to be inclusive in as many ways as possible. This touch tour and audio description is made possible thanks to the generous partnership and support of Baycourt Community and Arts Centre.
Audio Described Aotearoa was formed in 2014 to make it as easy as possible for organisations to offer audio description to benefit blind and low vision people. Over the years, they have described hundreds of performances, tours, and events, across the country and online, ranging from ballet and contemporary dance to seminars on architecture, street art and civic events. They audio described this bilingual retelling of Witi Ihimaera’s original play Woman for Walking for the Auckland Theatre Company season and are thrilled to be able to offer access to this amazing production for blind audiences in the Bay of Plenty region.
Those keen to book a Touch Tour or audio described performance can email baycourt@tauranga.govt.nz, call 07 577 7188 (option 2), or visit the Baycourt Box Office.
