Art & Culture

A group of senior dance students from Taupo-Nui-a-Tia College got the trip of a lifetime recently with a trip to Los Angeles and New York City.

“I cannot believe I am laughing at something that two minutes earlier was so dark.”

Director Sharon Shanks describes Centre Stage’s upcoming production ‘Hangmen’ as beautifully written “about such a dark or intense subject, but then the playwright puts intense comedy into it as well.”

A day of learning and then presenting five pieces of music to a packed Great Lake Centre hall. The 2025 incarnation of Taupō School of Music’s Big Music Day also included the participation of six members of the Royal New Zealand Navy Band with Leading Musician Pricilla Scanlan conducting one of the pieces.

The 10th annual Malcolm Flowers Insurances Taupō Winter Festival has been hailed a huge success again this year, not only delivering a vibrant programme enjoyed by thousands, but also generating funds that are now going back into the community.

A New Zealand postage stamp has sold for $260,000 - the highest amount ever paid.

Local photographer Dave Gallacher took more than a passing interest in the recent Blood Moon.

 One of Taupō District Council’s major strategic partnership initiatives which was awarded funding earlier this year is set to go public with its aim of supporting and growing the arts sector in the district. 

Four Taupō artworks have been added to the National Register of 20^th Century Public Art.

The Taupō School of Music’s Big Music Day is back again - this time with a naval twist.

Taupō Museum latest exhibition Inclusive opens on Saturday, September 6.

Students from both Tauhara and Taupō-nui-a-Tia College will present pieces at the September midday concert.

The new Tūwharetoa and Taupō District Council administration building – He Whare Hono o Tūwharetoa – is one of four regional winners in the Architectural Design Awards.

Student directed and acted play ‘I Know This For Sure’ has won through from the first round of Theatre New Zealand’s annual TheatreFest competition and will now compete at a regional competition.

The popular Te Papa exhibition Colossal Squid Ngu Tipua is coming to Taupō Museum next week.

It may sound like a fantastical amalgam of serpent stories but ‘Leonardo’s Dragon: Five Far-flung Dragon Tales’ – award-winning Taupō author Donovan Bixley’s latest book – has emerged from a historical nugget.

Taupō’s Peter Winkelmann headed for the bright lights and excitement of Los Angeles in 2020 because he wanted to “go to the source” to learn how to be a screen actor.

 Taupō Museum is set to unveil Punarua, possibly the largest piupiu ever created, in its Aotearoa debut following a standout international premiere at the prestigious 2024 Biennale of Sydney.

Young Taupō musicians are celebrating after winning both the band and solo categories at the Rotorua Regional Smokefreerockquest final.

Supposedly any publicity is good publicity.

The Taupō Concert Band will once again assume an evening spot in the midday concert series with several members reinvigorated from attendance at May’s Bay of Plenty Music School.

Talented youth from Taupō and Rotorua provide the performances at ‘Art in the House and Garden’, a June 8 concert raising money to support young classical musicians in the region.

Every day, I can’t help marvelling at this place.

It’s been a seven-year journey to get Riverside Park’s sculpture trail underway, but it started with a Boom Boom this week.

The funds have been raised, work commissioned, and public debate aired. Now, seven-metre-high sculpture Boom Boom is installed at Riverside Park

Taupō artists are bucking the trend when it comes to art sales and are now eyeing King’s Birthday Weekend and the increasingly popular Taupō Art Trail.

It’s the worldwide smash show that mashes the hits of ABBA into a story set on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi.

Organisers of the Bay of Plenty Music School (BOPMS) in Taupō were rapt with the numbers attending and the response to the final concert on Sunday afternoon.

Organisers are pushing for plenty of local participation in this year’s Bay of Plenty Music School in Taupō in May.

Two accomplished University of Auckland musicians will present the April Midday Concert ensuring Taupō audiences get a sneak preview of the duo’s appearances at the 2025 Whakatipu Music Festival.

Producers raided Taupō’s senior community for extras and moved into a local resort, to shoot a movie that is about to hit cinemas.