Te Ahurei Whakaari o Kōanga 2026 | Celebrating new Māori storytelling at the time of Kōanga.
Mark your rātaka and save the date because our annual Kōanga Festival returns 10 – 20 September 2026! Come and celebrate Māori storytelling at the time of kōanga at Te Pou Theatre. New ideas are cultivated and developed by kaituhi Māori and theatre-makers from across Aotearoa These fresh narratives for the stage are shared aloud for the first time, Māori theatre takes centre stage while storytelling in all its forms is celebrated at our fun filled Whānau Day.
The full Kōanga Festival 2026 programme is coming very soon… stay tuned e te whānau.
WHAKAPAPA | Kōanga Festival
2026 marks the 12th annual Kōanga Festival. As we continue to move into double digits, we honour the journey taken to get to these special milestones. 2024 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. In 2025 we went intimate, intentional and intergenerational. Focussing on supporting upcoming artists and playwrights across theatre works, contemporary dance and music. As well as celebrating our kaumatua and programming some of our key Māori creatives from Te Ao Whakaari and beyond.
Kōanga Festival has supported 44 new whakaari, and 51 new kaituhi since its inception.
We mihi to the very talented Tyrone Ohia & team at Extended Whānau, who held us through wānanga to deliver the fresh āhua of Kōanga Festival that will see us into the future of Māori storytelling.
The Kōanga Festival look you see today sprouted from the want 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 Henga, black sands, rugged West Coast whenua and the crashing moana . We are grateful to have our whare stand on the whenua of Te Kawerau a Maki and have immense pride in residing in the West
