Spring has sprung, and with it comes an exceptional line-up of cultural events inspiring you to get out and about. From a festival of architecture to incredible theatrical events to exhibitions you won’t want to miss, our September Culture Guide is filled with everything you need to keep you happily busy this month.
The Aotearoa Festival of Architecture
When & Where: Monday 16th — Sunday 29th September, various locations country-wide
Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects has unveil this year’s Festival of Architecture programme — packed with inspiring events across the month of September. Not just about architecture, this unmissable event shines a spotlight on the capacity great design has to elevate life in Aotearoa, with a number of free open to all. Don’t miss the 2024 Resene Sir Ian Athfield Memorial Lecture, featuring Sebastián Irarrázaval — renowned architect and educator from Santiago, Chile, and the illuminating Architecture Women NZ Pecha Kucha presentation event, which celebrates the incredible contributions of female architects in Aotearoa. Dive into the details and secure your spot here.
Modern Women: Flight of Time
When & Where: From now until 23rd February 2025, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
This fascinating and thought-provoking exhibition explores the pivotal role of female artists in the shaping and development of New Zealand’s modern art, from 1920 to 1970, revealing new connections, previously hidden themes and revelling in the theatre of modern art.
Sandra Bushby
When & Where: From now until Saturday 14th September, Sumer Fine Art, Auckland
Sumer Gallery presents Pouring Light, an exhibition of new paintings by Sandra Bushby. Inspired by Joanna Margaret Paul, Bushby explores the intersection of poetry and painting through vivid colors, rhythmic forms, and spontaneous processes. Her work captures the dynamic interplay between emergence, erasure, and renewal in art.
In Other Words
When & Where: Tuesday 3rd — Sunday 15th September, Q Theatre, Auckland
For the first time, celebrated actors and partners in life, Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Michael Hurst perform together in In Other Words — a touching two-hander connected by Frank Sinatra’s music. This intimate love story explores the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and the power of music to connect us with the past, present, and future. Meet Arthur and Jane as they navigate love and illness in a production filled with life’s frustrations and humour.
Girls & Boys
When & Where: Tuesday 10th — Sunday 22nd September, ASB Waterfront Theatre, Auckland
Experience the pulse-pounding London sensation starring Beatriz Romilly in a tour-de-force performance. This shattering, solo drama by Tony Award-winning playwright Dennis Kelly begins with a chance encounter at a Naples airport and unravels a family’s dark secrets. Raw, passionate, and provocative, it explores gender politics and the shadowy side of love.
Auckland Fringe Festival
When & Where: From now until Sunday 22nd September, various locations across Auckland
After a year’s hiatus the festival that showcases the gloriously experimental and wildly innovative arts of Tāmaki is back. Featuring 56 acts across 14 performance spaces it’s time to celebrate with all of the wacky, political, funny and creative artists that will come together across the festival. This year’s programme is bursting with different genres and teeming with some clever, inspired and downright silly concepts. From burlesque to street dance, documentary theatre to comedy, and spoken word to music, this festival has it all. There’s even a magic show, a rain machine, and a human-sized fly.
New Zealand Opera’s Rigoletto by Verdi
When & Where: Thursday 19th — Wednesday 25th September, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Auckland
One of the greatest and most popular operas of all time, Verdi’s Rigoletto is set to be an unmissable performance. Set in 1950s Italy, this tragic tale of love, power, and revenge is a cornerstone of the operatic canon. Featuring iconic tunes like ‘La donna è mobile’ and a star-studded Kiwi and international cast, the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and the NZ Opera chorus, sung in Italian with English surtitles, this production is a bucket-list event.
Ngā Rorirori
When & Where: Thursday 12th September — Friday 4th October, various locations country-wide
Celebrating 20 years of Tawata Productions, the acclaimed company takes their genre-bending, groundbreaking work Ngā Rorirori on tour. Directed by Hone Kouka, this unique production blends contemporary dance, theatre, farcical storytelling, and digital recording, as it humorously explores one whānau’s relationship with their land and a brother’s quest to commercialise their coastline, in a fusion of theatre and dance reminiscent of a silent film.
Strings Under the Stars
When & Where: 19th — 21st & 26th — 28th September, Stardome Observatory and Planetarium
Music and space converge at Strings Under the Stars — an unmissable show presented by Stardome and Auckland Philharmonia. This stellar series offers a performance by a string quartet of Auckland Philharmonia musicians and a captivating journey through space, with selections from Holst’s iconic work, The Planets, and the premiere of a new piece by New Zealand composer Kirsten Strom, commissioned by Auckland Philharmonia, accompanied by a planetarium show that’s intricately designed to both complement and elevate the transcendent music.
World of Wearable Art
When & Where: Thursday 26th September — Sunday 13th October, TSB Arena, Wellington
Imagination becomes reality in the 2024 WOW show: Dream Awake. Explore six awe-inspiring realms, where the boundaries of theatrical spectacle, live music, dance, aerial choreography and wearable art are pushed to the extreme. Every night of the show season is a spectacular visual feast, offering a theatrical spectacle unmatched in both scale and impact.
