30 MAY – 14 JUNE 2025

KAUPAPA

Tihei mauri ora!

Ka mihi ki ngā uri o te whenua o Te Upoko o te ika a Māui.

E ngā haukāinga o te rohe nei, Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Taranaki Whānui,

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa!

Kia Mau is a biennial, contemporary Tāngata Whenua, Tāngata Moana & Indigenous arts festival.

Returning to Te Upoko o te ika a Māui, Aotearoa New Zealand from 30 May – 14 June 2025.

Nau mai, haramai! Nau mai, hoki mai ki te hui ahurei o Kia Mau!

KIA MAU 2025

2025, Events

Kia Mau Festival 2025 After Party

As the final chords of I Feel Love echo into the night, the celebration doesn’t stop - it shifts. Join us for the official Kia Mau Festival 2025 After Party, soundtracked by none other than Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s own DJ collective, 6IXHAND.

2025, Events

Te Ara Tōrino

Artist Robin Slow’s luminous paintings begin to stir and take breath, beautifully brought to life in this moving image artwork. Te Ara Tōrino is an ara, or pathway of spirals, exploring duality and the interconnected nature of te Ao Māori.

2025, Events

Ka Rere Kā Kupu

Me he toroa e tau ana ki te au / Like the toroa resting on the current, five Kāi Tahu poets will land at Te Whanganui-a-Tara, bringing kupu from many places and gathering together.

2025, Events

THREE STRAND BRAID

In this contemplative performance work, Grace O’Brien weaves together identity, ancestry, and migration through ritual and embodiment. Three Strand Braid is an act of connection — a quiet offering to the lands that have shaped her, and the waters that both divide and unite them.

2025, Events

BRONZE/BIRTHRIGHT

Bronze/Birthright is a live performance that confronts the weight of lineage and identity through the ritualised shaping of the female body.

Events

A NIGHTIME TRAVESTY

Join this acclaimed motley crew on the last plane hurtling out of Earth. Who will survive this wild ride (and its unruly passengers)?

2025, Events

LOVE LETTERZ

A bold and beautiful night of cabaret-style performance, where poetry meets music, dance, and song. Curated by poet, composer & classical singer Cadence Chung.

Events

TŪĪ GIRLS

When Nan returns for her last days with her mokos before te rerenga wairua, the girls are thrilled and decide to throw her a fun-eral. As dawn approaches, the girls must come to terms with their loss.

Hibiscus Tupua-Wilson

2025, Events

WTF – WHAT THE FA’AFAFINE!?!

Written and performed by a powerful ensemble of fa’afafine and queer Pacific voices, this is an insight into the life of a fa'afafine and trans woman who competed in the Miss Teine Samoa pageant.

2025, Events

GATES TO MEMORY

A powerful performance embodying ancestral dreams, memories, creating new worlds through movement, sound, and storytelling. Honouring past and future generations.

Shifting Centre

2025, Events

THE CIRCLE

Shifting Centre return to Kia Mau with a new work exploring themes of support, celebration and what true liberation can look like for oneself and as a collective.

2025, Events

A MASTER OF NONE: BROWN FALA

A choral performance work that threads together the beauty of Samoan communal life with the weight of diaspora, displacement, and the danger of silence.

Events

ON GOD

Tensions rise as Nafanua, Goddess of War and Jesus, son of God, descend upon Earth and uproot the lives of an already fractured family in Wellington, Aotearoa.

2025, Events

HE INGOA

He aha te tikanga o te ingoa? Join us in this musical ritual of identity as we baptise ourselves beneath the petals of the rōhi and excavate the essence of ‘what’s in a name’ from emerging artist Raureti Ormond.

2025, Events

WAENGA

The new work Waenga from emerging mana whenua artists Hariata and Tamati Moriarty (Ngāti Toarangatira, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, Ngā Puhi Hokianga ki te Raki).

2025, Events

PUANA

As part of Kia Mau Festival’s He Ngaru Nui programme, Puana, takes its first international steps bringing the Aotearoa premiere from Mānoa, O‘ahu-a-Lua, Ka Pae ‘Āina o Hawai‘i

2025, Events

KA TITO AU

Explorer. Navigator. Legend. Multiple pūrākau thread together to celebrate Kupe’s discovery of Aotearoa.

National Film and Sound Archive of Australia

2025, Events

WINHANGANHA

WINHANGANHA - Wiradjuri language for remember, know, think – is a lyrical journey of archival footage and sound, poetry and original composition.

Tawata Productions

2025, Events

I FEEL LOVE

Feel the Groove. Feel the Bass. Feel the Love. The Closing Night of Kia Mau Festival 2025 created by Hone Kouka and Maarire Brunning-Kouka.

2025, Events

THE HANDLERS

A politically charged Aotearoa, where mana motuhake is rising, the Dawn Raids cast shadows, this is the story of women holding it down and handling more than most ever knew.

Touch Compass

2025, Events

AIGA

An exploration of identity, desire, family, and of being disabled and Pasifika, ground-breaking theatre told through the lens of Pacific Toa award-winner Lusi Faiva.

Events

DARK!DARK!DARK!

From the creative force of CONJAH (Jahra Wasasala and ooshcon), recipients of Kia Mau Festival’s inaugural innovative new initiative, He Toi Puaki, we present the world premiere of DARK!DARK!DARK!

Punctum Productions

2025, Events

A SHORT HISTORY OF ASIAN NEW ZEALAND THEATRE

An Asian performer is tasked with the mission to deliver a presentation on Asian New Zealand theatre history while riding a stationary bicycle.

Raven Spirit Dance

2025, Events

BRAIDING THE LAND

From xʷməθkʷəy̓əm , sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ First Nations, this repertoire is a testament to the work that has been created within the arms of Raven Spirit Dance for the past twenty years.

Sierra Sevilla

2025, Events

FOR THE LOVE OF SPAM

A multi-sensory, participatory one-woman show dedicated to two things: canned meat and colonialism. This work journeys to us from Guam and the United Kingdom.

2025, Events

THE AOTEAROANS

From Īhaka Martyn, a recipient of Kia Mau Festival’s inaugural innovative new initiative, He Toi Puaki, we present the World Premiere Season of The Aotearoans.