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Tauranga Arts Festival

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  3. Tauranga Arts Festival
Phone 07) 928 6213
Email info@taurangafestival.co.nz
Website https://www.taurangafestival.co.nz/
Events from this organiser
Today

Featured

Obelisk Natura

Tauranga Waterfront The Strand, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Step into a luminous world where art, sound, and nature collide. We’re thrilled to present Obelisk Natura in the Festival Garden—a breathtaking large-scale installation by acclaimed creative studio Vesica. This striking work celebrates our deep connection to the natural world, bringing light, colour, and energy to Tauranga’s waterfront. Towering at...

Free
Featured

Cirque Bon Bon

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Prepare to be swept off your feet as the sell-out sensation Cirque Bon Bon bursts onto the stage with a high octane fusion of circus, dance and comedy. Hosted by the outrageously funny Mario, Queen of the Circus, this slick spectacular showcases world-class acrobats, contortionists, dancers and aerialists in a...

$53.25 – $89.62

Aro

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Aro’s uplifting performance is warm, original and unmistakably of Aotearoa. Aro’s work explores themes of kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga, caring for ourselves, one another, and the world around us. With a deep passion for the power of language and music to celebrate cultural identity, award-winning husband and wife duo of Charles...

Featured Cirque Bon Bon

Cirque Bon Bon

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Prepare to be swept off your feet as the sell-out sensation Cirque Bon Bon bursts onto the stage with a high-octane fusion of circus, dance and comedy.  Hosted by the outrageously funny Mario, Queen of the Circus, this slick spectacular showcases world-class acrobats, contortionists, dancers and aerialists in a non-stop...

$50 – $260
Featured

Morning People

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Cult morning rave experience Morning People is flipping the script on early starts, bringing their legendary pre-work dance party to the Tauranga Arts Festival for one very special morning. Since 2016, Morning People has been turning early risers into dance floor heroes—and now it’s Tauranga’s turn. We’re setting up inside...

$25 – $30
Featured Cirque Bon Bon

Cirque Bon Bon

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Prepare to be swept off your feet as the sell-out sensation Cirque Bon Bon bursts onto the stage with a high-octane fusion of circus, dance and comedy.  Hosted by the outrageously funny Mario, Queen of the Circus, this slick spectacular showcases world-class acrobats, contortionists, dancers and aerialists in a non-stop...

$50 – $260
Featured

Rhys Mathewson – 10th Rodeo

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Rhys Mathewson is side-splittingly funny and unflinchingly honest in this “sharp, smart, vulnerable, and surprisingly moving” (The Post) stand-up comedy performance about mistakes, addiction, compassion and how to live. Last year, Rhys Mathewson started to relapse after five years of sobriety. So now, in front of a room full of...

$40
Featured

Tami Neilson – Neon Cowgirl

Holy Trinity Tauranga Church Holy Trinity Anglican, 215 Devonport Rd, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Tami Neilson is back in Tauranga—fresh from her US performances with Willie Nelson & Family, Bob Dylan, and shows in Europe. 2025 has been a landmark year for Neilson, with invitations to perform at the Outlaw festivals, Merlefest, Willie’s Fourth of July Picnic, The Grand Ole Opry, a European tour,...

$79
Featured

Tangihanga

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Kristyl Neho masterfully embodies over 30 characters in this 75-minute drama-comedy centred around Jess, a loving daughter whose father Karanipa passes away prompting his whānau and friends to gather at the marae to mourn his loss. As tensions rise, family dynamics unravel and secrets are exposed. Tangihanga dives deep into...

$40
Featured

Queens of Disco

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Dust off your dancing shoes and get ready to boogie. The Carrus Crystal Palace will be transformed into a dazzling disco dream where the mirror ball spins, the beats are fierce, and the fashion is fabulous. Epic local DJ Ayesha teams up with powerhouse vocalist Lisa Tomlins to deliver a...

$30
Featured Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Imagine stumbling upon a baby grand piano in the most unexpected places—Mount Main Beach at sunrise, Tauranga’s waterfront and a city park. Undergrand will transform these local spaces into poetic stages, where music meets the landscape in moments of quiet wonder. This roaming, open-air musical experience invites you to pause,...

Free
Featured

Tauranga Zinefest

The Cargo Shed 5 Dive Crescent, Tauranga City 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Step into a world of independent publishing, radical self-expression, and handmade brilliance at Tauranga Zinefest—a free, highly visual, community event celebrating creativity. Whether you’re a seasoned zinester or simply zine-curious, this is your chance to explore a diverse array of zines (pronounced “zeen”) covering everything from politics to pop culture,...

Free
Featured Cirque Bon Bon

Cirque Bon Bon

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Prepare to be swept off your feet as the sell-out sensation Cirque Bon Bon bursts onto the stage with a high-octane fusion of circus, dance and comedy.  Hosted by the outrageously funny Mario, Queen of the Circus, this slick spectacular showcases world-class acrobats, contortionists, dancers and aerialists in a non-stop...

$50 – $260
Featured Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Imagine stumbling upon a baby grand piano in the most unexpected places—Mount Main Beach at sunrise, Tauranga’s waterfront and a city park. Undergrand will transform these local spaces into poetic stages, where music meets the landscape in moments of quiet wonder. This roaming, open-air musical experience invites you to pause,...

Free
Featured Cirque Bon Bon

Cirque Bon Bon

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Prepare to be swept off your feet as the sell-out sensation Cirque Bon Bon bursts onto the stage with a high-octane fusion of circus, dance and comedy.  Hosted by the outrageously funny Mario, Queen of the Circus, this slick spectacular showcases world-class acrobats, contortionists, dancers and aerialists in a non-stop...

$50 – $260
Featured

Battle Chorus

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Back by popular demand with a brand new song list of Greatest Hits, join this social sing along experience for an unforgettable night of iconic songs and sweet harmonies. Under the guidance of musical heavyweights Jason Te Mete and Rutene Spooner, audiences form two teams, learn some well-known anthems from...

$37.38
Featured Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Imagine stumbling upon a baby grand piano in the most unexpected places—Mount Main Beach at sunrise, Tauranga’s waterfront and a city park. Undergrand will transform these local spaces into poetic stages, where music meets the landscape in moments of quiet wonder. This roaming, open-air musical experience invites you to pause,...

Free
Featured

The Velvet Rebels

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Swing, swoon and sing with Rutene Spooner—the Māori Crooner—and Shea Kokaua in Aotearoa’s newest Vegas-style jazz tribute. Enjoy hits like Fly Me to the Moon, Luck Be a Lady, and local favourites like Poi E and Slice of Heaven. This cheeky duo channels the swing and swagger of the iconic...

$52.23
Featured Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Imagine stumbling upon a baby grand piano in the most unexpected places—Mount Main Beach at sunrise, Tauranga’s waterfront and a city park. Undergrand will transform these local spaces into poetic stages, where music meets the landscape in moments of quiet wonder. This roaming, open-air musical experience invites you to pause,...

Free
Featured Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Imagine stumbling upon a baby grand piano in the most unexpected places—Mount Main Beach at sunrise, Tauranga’s waterfront and a city park. Undergrand will transform these local spaces into poetic stages, where music meets the landscape in moments of quiet wonder. This roaming, open-air musical experience invites you to pause,...

Free
Featured Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Undergrand | A Piano in the Wild

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Imagine stumbling upon a baby grand piano in the most unexpected places—Mount Main Beach at sunrise, Tauranga’s waterfront and a city park. Undergrand will transform these local spaces into poetic stages, where music meets the landscape in moments of quiet wonder. This roaming, open-air musical experience invites you to pause,...

Free
Featured

Wham Bam Poetry Slam

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Slam is back for a fifth year! A high-energy, competitive poetry event where poets perform their original work. An exhilarating blend of poetry, performance, theatre and storytelling with an emphasis on authentic voice, feeling, and audience connection. Over three rounds, twelve local performance poets will try to win the hearts...

$18 – $25
Featured

Holding Ground

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Holding Ground brings together two dynamic works in sharp contrast—one grounded in place, the other in technology. Both explore how the body navigates pressure, imbalance, and the ongoing pull of change. Holding Ground unfolds within a confined space, where two dancers engage in a shifting exchange of tension and release....

$25 – $55
Featured

The Spirit of a Place: Sarah Ell

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Hidden in the centre of downtown Tauranga, The Elms | Te Papa Tauranga is one of New Zealand’s most significant heritage sites—a place where rich Māori history and early missionary settlement converge. Author Sarah Ell reveals its secrets in The Spirit of a Place, a new history which sheds light...

$16.38
Featured

The Griegol

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival A charming, moving, and wildly inventive work from Trick of the Light Theatre (Escape 2024’s Suitcase Show). After their grandmother passes away, a child suspects they are being pursued by the smoke demon shapeshifter of the old woman’s stories. The Griegol is a gorgeously rendered dark fantasy for older children...

$20 – $90
Featured

Anapela Polata’ivao

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Fresh off the success of her critically-acclaimed film Tinā, Samoan-New Zealand actress, director and storyteller Anapela joins us to share stories—from her journey from her roots in Samoa and South Auckland to gaining a host of accolades for her powerful performances and visionary artistry that have captivated audiences worldwide. Anapela’s...

Free – $16.38
Featured

Creation Creation

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival How did we get here? Are aliens real? Is it possible to lick your elbow? Your burning questions answered... sort of. Based on interviews with people aged between 8 and 102, Creation Creation is a comedy about life’s biggest questions. Two fearless creators step onto the stage and attempt to...

$20 – $90
Featured CAR-A-OKE!

CAR-A-OKE!

Tauranga Waterfront The Strand, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival CAR-A-OKE! is the opportunity to party with your friends and sing karaoke inside a parked van in the Festival Garden, and away from all your inhibitions. Step inside and be transported to this unique mobile karaoke party, packed with a full flashing light show and smoke machine! Hosted by our...

Free
Featured

C.W. Stoneking

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival After a string of sold out headline shows and festival performances, C.W. Stoneking makes his glorious return to New Zealand this October. With his unmistakable swagger, C.W. Stonekingg slips effortlessly between the red dust of Alice Springs and the deep sounds of the American South. Drawing on a wildly eclectic...

$58.38
Featured CAR-A-OKE!

CAR-A-OKE!

Tauranga Waterfront The Strand, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival CAR-A-OKE! is the opportunity to party with your friends and sing karaoke inside a parked van in the Festival Garden, and away from all your inhibitions. Step inside and be transported to this unique mobile karaoke party, packed with a full flashing light show and smoke machine! Hosted by our...

Free
Featured Te Radar’s Cookbookery

Te Radar’s Cookbookery

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Kiwi treasure, Te Radar, presents a comedic celebration of the beloved and bizarre cookbooks from New Zealand’s past, with a side of sumptuous vintage food photography. It’s a hilarious, heartwarming, and potentially stomach churning show. As well as revealing New Zealand’s rich—and very strange—home cooking heritage we’ll rediscover celebrity chefs...

$40
Featured Nicola Cheeseman is Back

Nicola Cheeseman is Back

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Nicola Cheeseman is sick of trying to do it all. Nicola’s husband has moved out, her ageing dad has moved in, and somewhere between raising kids and holding down a job, she’s lost her mojo—and her dreams of being a nouveau punk goddess. Now, armed with a chaotic vision board,...

$40 – $250

Featured

All The Things I Wish I Could Be

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Join the bumbling dad-duo of Jeff and Tom as they open the storybook of endless adventure journeying through time and space, from the moon to the jungle and everything in-between. A wild musical adventure about two lovable dads who dream of becoming everything from All Blacks to ballerinas, mad monkeys...

$15 – $59
Featured Opus Pocket Orchestra Concert

Opus Pocket Orchestra Concert

Tauranga Library 91 Willow Street, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Opus Pocket Orchestra and Tauranga Arts Festival are joining forces to bring live music into the heart of the community, with a special focus on little listeners. These free 30-minute concerts are designed especially for tamariki aged 2–6 and their whānau, offering a joyful, interactive introduction to orchestral music. Held...

Free
Featured

Chelsea Winter: Nourish!

The Cargo Shed 5 Dive Crescent, Tauranga City 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival We’re delighted to give a warm welcome to Aotearoa’s best-selling cookbook queen. Chelsea Winter is renowned for her accessible, delectable recipes. She describes her eighth book—Nourish—as her “most magical creation yet”. Inside the pages you’ll find utterly delicious, nutrient-dense recipes designed to help you and your family thrive. What inspires...

$48.12
Featured

Kiwi Country: Te Radar and Ruth Spencer

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Raconteur writers Te Radar and Ruth Spencer walk us through their new book—a hilarious exploration of rural life in Aotearoa through its artefacts, gadgets, and ephemera. Think Red Band gumboots, milk tankers, meat safes, mangles and ride-on mowers; Godfrey Bowen’s pink Long Johns, the Waimate White Horse, wartime tanks made...

$25
Featured

Full Circle: Jenny-May Clarkson

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Broadcaster, former Silver Fern and now published author, Jenny-May Clarkson (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Maniapoto) joins Tauranga Arts Festival to share her memoir, Full Circle: A personal story of reconnection. Clarkson talks with Ria Hall (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Pūkenga) about the ups and downs of life and how...

$27.12
Featured

Media Madness?

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Newsrooms are shrinking, AI is on the rapid ascent, print culture is gasping, and social media is the most popular news source. Seasoned journalists Jared Savage, Alisha Evans and Jenny-May Clarkson join Kristin Hall* to unpack and debate the media landscape of 2025 and what it means for global, national...

$27.12
Featured

The Good Mistress: Anne Tiernan

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Anne Tiernan is the internationally bestselling author of The Good Mistress, and The Last Days of Joy. In The Good Mistress, Tiernan explores what it means to be a “good” woman as she weaves the lives of Erica, Juliet and Maeve into an unputdownable, charming and at times wickedly funny...

$25
Featured Nicola Cheeseman is Back

Nicola Cheeseman is Back

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Nicola Cheeseman is sick of trying to do it all. Nicola’s husband has moved out, her ageing dad has moved in, and somewhere between raising kids and holding down a job, she’s lost her mojo—and her dreams of being a nouveau punk goddess. Now, armed with a chaotic vision board,...

$40 – $250
Featured Te Radar’s Cookbookery

Te Radar’s Cookbookery

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Kiwi treasure, Te Radar, presents a comedic celebration of the beloved and bizarre cookbooks from New Zealand’s past, with a side of sumptuous vintage food photography. It’s a hilarious, heartwarming, and potentially stomach churning show. As well as revealing New Zealand’s rich—and very strange—home cooking heritage we’ll rediscover celebrity chefs...

$40
Featured

Heartbreak Hotel

Baycourt Community & Arts Centre 38 Durham Street, Tauranga, Bay Of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival This one’s for the young hearts, the old hearts, and the broken hearts. Story, science and a synth combine in an exhilarating performance that examines what happens in our bodies when we’re bereft. From acclaimed New Zealand company EBKM (Yes Yes Yes), Heartbreak Hotel tracks a woman’s broken heart in...

$25 – $55
Featured Opus Pocket Orchestra Concert

Opus Pocket Orchestra Concert

Tauranga Library 91 Willow Street, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Opus Pocket Orchestra and Tauranga Arts Festival are joining forces to bring live music into the heart of the community, with a special focus on little listeners. These free 30-minute concerts are designed especially for tamariki aged 2–6 and their whānau, offering a joyful, interactive introduction to orchestral music. Held...

Free
Featured

Descending Fire: Remembering Sherryl Jordan

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Rocco, The Wednesday Wizard, The Juniper Game, Winter of Fire, Tanith… Tauranga resident Sherryl Jordan wrote some of Aotearoa’s most beloved novels for children and young adults.  Join Jordan fans Claire Mabey, Naomi Arnold and Debbie McCauley for a conversation about Jordan’s memoir, Descending Fire, and Jordan’s novels and their...

$27.12
Featured

Delirious: Damien Wilkins

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Damien Wilkins’ novel about ageing couple Mary and Pete won the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, in the Ockham Book Awards. The judges were unanimous in their praise for the depth and beauty of Wilkins’ prose and the fact that this is a story about older people—something we don’t...

$27.12
Featured

Northbound: Naomi Arnold

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Award-winning journalist Naomi Arnold’s account of spending nearly nine months walking the length of New Zealand on Te Araroa is riveting, at times heart-stopping and many times joyful. In this magnificent memoir, Arnold traverses mountains, rivers, cities and plains from summer to spring; walks through days of thick mud, blazing...

$27.12
Featured

The Book of Guilt: Catherine Chidgey

Carrus Crystal Palace Arts Festival, 38 Durham St, Tauranga, 3110, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Catherine Chidgey’s latest novel, The Book of Guilt, is the page-turning tale of three identical brothers and the women who look after them, Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night.  Chidgey talks to Sandra Simpson about the inspirations behind this magnificent and sinister story: why she chose to set it...

$27.12
Featured

Waiata Mai

Tauranga Waterfront The Strand, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand

Presented by: Tauranga Arts Festival Tuhia ki te rae Bring the whole whānau down to the Festival Garden and sing ‘til your heart’s content at Tauranga Arts Festival’s big community singalong, Waiata Mai. With the Tuatara Collective Choir at the helm and some very special local guest singers, this is a free event for the...

Free
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