Wellington is undoubtedly the events capital of New Zealand. The capital hosts many major cultural and sporting events, particularly at the Westpac Stadium and the Wellington Events Centre, all year round.
World of WearableArt Show
This event combines fantastic costuming with lavish choreography, music and lighting. Founder Suzie Moncrieff’s unique concept of “taking art off the walls and adorning the body in wildly wonderful ways” has grown to a show that now involves 500 people.
Held each September, the World of WearableArt show includes 150 garments selected from hundreds of New Zealand and international entries competing for $100,000 in prizes.
International Rugby Sevens
For two days each February, Wellington is one big party with over 30,000 fans in town. The Westpac Stadium provides a great arena for the clash of 16 of the world’s top seven-a-side rugby teams vying for the IRB Sevens Cup.
International Festival of the Arts
This biannual event held in late summer (February and March) is one of the top international arts festivals in the world. It showcases a broad line-up of top New Zealand and international dance, music, theatre and visual arts.
NZ International Festival of the Arts website
International Film Festival
The director of the New Zealand Film Festival Trust has stated that no film festival in the world enjoys the per capita support that Wellington’s does. Held mid-winter, it provides the perfect excuse to spend hours in the warmth of the recently refurbished Embassy Theatre, and several other venues.
The festival showcases the best annual feature films, shorts and documentaries from around the world, as well as classic films from past eras.
International Film Festival website
Diwali Festival of Lights
Diwali is one of the most colourful of the Indian festivals and marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year in October. Diwali is celebrated here with free family entertainment, Bollywood dancing, traditional crafts, and good food. It attracts 30,000 people.
Diwali Festival - Asia NZ Foundation website
Summer City
This free outdoor entertainment festival keeps the city buzzing through the height of summer, from New Year’s Eve until late February. Events include: The Big Night Out, a New Year’s Eve concert, Gardens Magic, a concert series and lighting display at the Botanic Gardens, Teddy Bear’s Picnic, Chinese New Year, The Great ARTdoors, an outdoor art show, Body Rock, a hip hop festival, and a children’s pantomime.
Anzac Day
This is New Zealand’s annual war memorial day (April 25) and a public holiday. It commemorates the landings of New Zealand and Australian soldiers at Gallipoli, in Turkey in 1915 during World War I, an abortive campaign that served to forge a sense of nationhood in both countries.
Anzac Day now serves to honour all New Zealanders killed in war and those servicemen and women who returned. In Wellington, the day is marked with an official dawn service at the National War Memorial that is attended by thousands of people, and a parade through the city.
Matariki
Increasing numbers of New Zealanders celebrate Matariki, or the Māori New Year. Matariki is the Māori name for the group of stars also known as the Pleiades star cluster. The pre-dawn rise of Matariki can be seen in the last days of May, and the New Year is marked at the sighting of the next new moon, which occurs mid-June.
Traditionally, Matariki was the optimum time for Māori to plant new harvests. Today, it is celebrated with education, remembrance, outdoor concerts, parties and the planting of new trees and crops, signalling new beginnings.
Cuba Street Carnival
Every two years this lively street fiesta transforms inner city Wellington into a kaleidoscope of colour and sensation with live music, dance, street markets, roving entertainers, buskers, circus performers and the Carnival's highlight - the illuminated Night Parade. It attracts 100,000 people.
Toast Martinborough
Every November 10,000 people descend on one of New Zealand's most famous wine-making regions, Martinborough, one hour north of Wellington. Toast Martinborough is a one day wine, food and music festival staged in the vineyards themselves.
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