Nau mai, haere mai, and welcome to the Part Two of our 10th Anniversary season of the Asian Aotearoa Arts (AAA) programme!

Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts (CoCA) is once again proud to present our 2024 programme centering Asian Tauiwi arts, whakapapa, whanaungatanga and cultural wellness in our current times.

Part One of our anniversary programme (AAA2023) successfully ran from 25 Sep - 6 October 2023. Part Two (AAA2024) – and our final Asian Aotearoa Arts programme – will continue to respond to the programme’s theme of Past, Present and Futures, reflecting on and celebrating community connections that have developed over the past decade with free public events taking place in Pōneke Wellington between 14 April-10 May 2024.

Events include:

Sun 14 April, 11am – 8pm: A South Asian & South East Asian Solar New Year Celebration with our friends at Mabel’s Restaurant, 66 Tory Street. Mabel’s will be designing a custom menu and there will be special guest talks by Brannavan Gnanalingham and Rose Lu, dance performances by the Burmese Karen Community and others, DJs, family-friendly craft activities plus art and design works for sale by Otsu, Chills, Tanuki&Co and many more.
18 April- 10 May: New Illuminations: 10-years of Asian Aotearoa Arts, group exhibition at The Engine Room Gallery featuring Xin Cheng, Hanna Shim, Linda Lee, Tessa Ma’auga & Wai Ching Chan, Wailin Elliott, H Y Chai, Ant Sang, Emiko Sheehan, Kathryn Tsui and Robbie Handcock, responding to AAA2024’s anniversary theme of Past, Present and Futures.
Commissioned artworks by Marc Conaco, Tessa Ma’auga & Wai Ching Chan, Abhi Topiwala & Bhavesh Bhuthadia, who will once again collaborate with local legends, Great India Restaurant.
We are also thrilled to announce a new partnership for the 2024 programme with Urban Dream Brokerage (UDB). AAA will be in residence at UDB’s space at 115 Taranaki St during the programme, and holding a range of events and workshops in the space, commencing with a launch party on Saturday 20 April, from 6pm to celebrate and promote the new Satellites Aotearoa Asian arts archive in Pōneke.
We’ll be celebrating 7 Years of Migrant Zine Collective with an exhibition at Te Pikitanga Gallery at Massey Library.
A wānanga is also being planned at Te Rau Karamu Marae from 26-28 April.
We’ll be hosting a Chinese Typography documentary film screening and New Zealand Chinese identity design kōrero on Monday 29 April.
Plus a range of workshops from vocal expression, cooking and conversations with Soil of Cultures Collective, archiving, zine-making and more during this final season. Explore the full programme here.

Creatives from all genres, levels of experience and cultural backgrounds are warmly invited to participate in our exciting programme that will explore, celebrate, and showcase diverse Asian Aotearoa arts practices.

Our programme is free and open to everyone. Please spread the word. Those with Asian whakapapa are especially encouraged to join.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook. More details and announcements to come over the upcoming weeks!

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Huge thanks and appreciation to our funders, Massey University and Creative New Zealand in continuing to support our mahi. Thanks to Te Rewa o Puanga, School of Music and Screen Arts for technical support.

AAA 2024 Organising Team:

Kerry Ann Lee (Creative Director and Producer)
Herbert Bartley, Jon He, Bronwyn Holloway Smith, Gia Espelita
2024 Logo Design and feature illustration by H Y Chai