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!
FULL KŌANGA FESTIVAL 2025 PROGRAMME
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WHAT HAPPENED TO MARY-ANNE?
A fierce play about being radically authentic
Friday 19 & Saturday 20 September, 8.30pm
Sunday 21 September, 4pm
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WHĀNAU DAY
A free day for whānau and tamariki to enjoy storytelling, kapa haka, performances, kēmu, kai and more.
Saturday 13 September, 10am - 3pm
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KIA POHEWATIA | RACHEL RUCKSTUHL-MANN
Experience Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann’s development showing activating space through whakapapa, memory, and embodied storytelling.
Sunday 14 September, 2pm
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PLAY READINGS | PŌMERE
Readings of new plays by Leigh Minarapa and Ngahiriwa Rauhina.
Friday 19 September, 6pm
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KIA POHEWATIA | SAMARA REWETI
Experience Samara Reweti's development showing exploring the politics of the gaze—investigating surveillance, intimacy, and perception.
Saturday 20 September, 3pm
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PLAY READINGS | PŌHOROI
Readings of new plays by Lila Black and Zody Takurua.
Saturday 20 September, 5pm
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TE ARERO TOI
Wānanga for Māori writers who are interested in writing whakaari i te reo Māori.
Sunday 21 September, 10am - 3pm
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.
