“I tell audiences that I’m Māori, right out of the gate, because in Wellington people can be noticeably afraid to laugh. Even about things that are very mild, or jokes about my experience, because they’re worried about offending people.” — Kipling DC, 2026 nominee for the Billy T Award.
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Arts “revolutions aren’t made at the Met, they’re made on marae and in towns like Te Kaha by people driven by a love of reo, whenua and whakapapa.” — Jamie Tahana, who produced the podcast series ‘Pūtātara: Revolutions in Māori Art’.
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“I would try hard to find jobs that ensured I’d have people around me who spoke te reo and encouraged it. I’ve been very deliberate and intentional about that.” — Hone Hurihanganui, teacher and composer of waiata and haka.
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‘Echoes from Hawaiki’ shows that “the voices of taonga pūoro echo the even more ancient musical traditions of northerly islands, and carry faint memories and distant songs of farewell.”
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“My wero is, if you want to bring folks together and magic them to feel something, anything, at a time where the government is tūtae-ing on our heads, maybe write a play about it?” — Dr Nicola Hyland.
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“When Government policy is enforcing an intensified focus on marketability as the primary criterion for arts funding, it is worth reviving a different kind of theatre.” — Barry King.
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“It is artists, and specifically Māori and other Indigenous artists, who have prompted me to always consider how I am as a visitor on other whenua, and how I must understand the impact of visitors and foreigners in the same way that I would for people to our whenua.” — Curator Matariki Williams.
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“Art, music, poetry — that’s how Indigenous people fight back. We don’t have weapons. We don’t want weapons. We have a voice. We have creativity. We have brightness and talent.” — Maungarongo Te Kawa.
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“After Talia passed, I started writing again. I realised I write because I have to, because it’s all I can do in those circumstances.” — Isla Huia, on her debut poetry collection, named after her best friend.
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“To show up in life, to be present, loving, unapologetically Māori and happy is a political statement. It pokes its tongue out at the expectations of others.” — Maungarongo Te Kawa.
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“I could manufacture in China and mass produce and chase the money. But there are old kuia in those factories, and there’s nothing less Māori than having a kuia paid $4 a day to make your kākahu.” — Designer Kharl WiRepa.
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“I write for us. I want to see people on stage and screen who I recognise, who are our people, having complex, diverse, amazingly difficult, fantastic lives.” — Maraea Rakuraku.
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“There’s the satisfaction of taking a lump straight from the earth and making something that you can fire and use to eat or drink out of, rather than going to the Warehouse or buying something that’s been made in China or wherever.” — Baye Riddell.
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“I’ve been fortunate enough to cook around the world, and in some flash restaurants too. But no one is doing hāngi — even though it’s the oldest dish in Aotearoa, it isn’t available.” — Rewi Spraggon.
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“They give us not only a glimpse into the customs, the language and beliefs of the time, but also an insight into our ancestors’ way of thinking and their emotions at the time of composing.” — Tenga Rangitauira.
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