Te Ahurei Whakaari o Kōanga 2025
Celebrating new Māori storytelling at the time of Kōanga.
Ko Matariki te whetū o te rangi. He pua kōwhai ki te huapae. With Matariki in the sky, the nights are long and the days short; but the dawn of spring is on the horizon.
Kōanga is a time when te taiao comes to life with new growth. Kōanga Festival cultivates new ideas and shares the bounty of new narratives through Māori performing arts.
Join us this September as we gather for the hakari of new Māori stories.
Kōanga Festival returns over two packed weekends from 12 - 21 September 2025. Across the festival, Māori storytellers thrive as new plays are developed and shared for the very first time; and the community comes together on Whānau Day to hear stories from around the world. Mark your rātaka e te whānau.
See full Kōanga Festival 2025 Programme down below. We look forward to seeing you there!
Kōanga Festival 2025 Programme
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WHAT HAPPENED TO MARY-ANNE?
19 –– 21 SEPTEMBER
She didn’t just find her voice—she unleashed it.
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HARDCASE HORI HOUSIE
12 SEPTEMBER
The ultimate throwback to Aotearoa’s favourite community fundraiser: Housie
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WHĀNAU DAY
13 SEPTEMBER
A free day for whānau and tamariki to enjoy storytelling, kapa haka, performances, kēmu, kai and more.
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KIA POHEWATIA | RACHEL RUCKSTUHL-MANN
14 SEPTEMBER
Experience Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann’s development showing activating space through whakapapa, memory, and embodied storytelling.
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PLAY READINGS | PŌMERE
19 SEPTEMBER
Readings of new plays by Leigh Minarapa and Ngahiriwa Rauhina.
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KIA POHEWATIA | SAMARA REWETI
20 SEPTEMBER
Experience Samara Reweti's development showing exploring the politics of the gaze—investigating surveillance, intimacy, and perception.
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PLAY READINGS | PŌHOROI
20 SEPTEMBER
Readings of new plays by Lila Black and Zody Takurua.
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TE ARERO TOI
21 SEPTEMBER
Wānanga for Māori writers who are interested in writing whakaari i te reo Māori.
WHAKAPAPA | Kōanga Festival
2025 marks the 11th Kōanga Festival. As we move into double digits, we honour the journey taken to get to these special milestones. Last year marked the biggest festival to date, spanning three and a half weeks with 11+ events – it was our most extensive national programme of whakaari Māori.
This year, the festival will focus on supporting our kaituhi, as well as some exciting whakaari Māori for all. Kōanga Festival has supported 40 new whakaari, and 47 new kaituhi over the past decade.
Not only has the festival grown, so has the look and feel. Through a collaboration with the very talented Tyrone Ohia & team at Extended Whānau, we were able to wānanga all things Kōanga and together create the fresh new āhua that will see us into the next decade of Māori storytelling.
For our new look, Tyrone and the team at Extended Whānau wanted to whakamana our ingoa through waituhi, giving strong visual symbolism to the name Kōanga and the unfurling of Māori stories. We went bold with the kōwhai; embracing our festival whakapapa, the kōwhai flower, happiness, sunshine, warmth, creativity, energy, and fun – everything that we believe the festival represents.
This year, we hero te awa Opanuku. It flows from the Waitākere Ranges past Te Pou Theatre where it pools at Te Kōpua, Henderson. He puna waiora - connecting whenua, ngahere and maunga.
