Welcome to the Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival

Nau mai, haere mai ki te Ahurei Toi o Te Matau a Maui

“You are the books you read, the films you watch, the music you listen to, the people you meet, the dreams you have, the conversations you engage in. You are what you take from these. You are the sound of the ocean, the breath of fresh air, the brightest light and the darkest corner. You are a collective of every experience you have had in your life. You are every single day. So drown yourself in a sea of knowledge and existence. Let the words run through your veins and let the colours fill your mind.”  Jac Vanek

These words by Jan Vanek and our theme this year “Be Open” is our aspiration for the Festival, to encourage our community to be open to ideas and experiences that delight, challenge and entertain. That collectively we are open and accepting of ideas and experiences that unite us and make us richer.

We are delighted to announce that despite a number of curve balls since the recent Delta outbreak, we are able to present a smaller, but perfectly formed Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival over a 10 day period. Starting on Wednesday 20 October with live music, theatre, circus and a great line up in our Readers & Writers programme including a couple of brand new additions, all delivered under the current Level 2 restrictions. This means masked up audiences, socially distanced with capped numbers in each venue, safely looked after by the great staff at our local venues.

You can view the updated schedule here. 

Any changes to scheduled shows will be communicated directly to ticket holders and will also be communicated when booking affected shows.  Any tickets purchased to shows that may be cancelled due to Covid-19 changes will be fully refunded.   

Alternatively keep returning to our website for any updates or call us on 06 6512487.

See you all in October for a celebration of theatre, music, dance, comedy, circus and literary delights. Kia pai te rā.