BABY MUTANTS

In his intimate hotel-room show, Biladurang, Joel Bray explores the remarkable tension of growing up as a gay Aboriginal boy in a white Pentecostal household and feeling like a ‘mutant’. But how do you find (and remain true to) yourself when you don’t have an anchor? And how does this change the way we think about family?

Join Joel Bray, Tanu Gago, Moe Laga, Kaan Hiini and David Farrier as they share their own experiences of forging new paths and finding their tribe.
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CULTURE VULTURE

“Great artists steal”, or so the refrain goes. But is all really fair in love and art? How do we navigate the blurry line between appreciating and appropriating a culture that isn't ours? Should artists have the right to tell stories that don't belong to them? And how do we celebrate now-problematic figures from history? 

Debating these questions are actor Rachel House (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok), Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival director Tama Waipara, writer and director Todd Karehana (The Spectacular Imagination of the Pōhara Brothers, Ahikāroa), Curator Mātauranga Māori at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Matariki Williams and filmmaker/producer Julie Zhu.
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DARK MAGIC

A year on from the Christchurch Terror Attacks and against a global backdrop of increasing division and violence, it feels like there are increasingly higher stakes in the art we create and consume. So where to from here? Tempo Dance Festival director Cat Ruka, theatremaker Ahi Karunaharan (Tea, A Fine Balance, My Heart Goes Thadak Thadak), poet Nida Fiazi and playwright Stanley Makuwe (The Dead Shall Rise Again, Black Lover) unpack the considerations they make when drawing on their own (and their communities') experiences, the art that has changed their lives, and the very idea of hope. This talk follows the screening of The Curry House Kid and is chaired by comedian James Roque (Boy Mestizo, Frickin Dangerous Bro).

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