Information about events, exhibtions, workshops and more at Toi Pōneke.
Toi Pōneke is pleased to announce that writer Andi C. Buchanan has been awarded the d/Deaf and/or Disabled Artist Development Residency for 2026
voices notations distortion is the debut solo show by artist and musician Gemma Thompson at Toi Pōneke Gallery 17 Jan - 6 Feb 2026. Inspired by Pauline Oliveros' Sonic Meditations, the exhibition explores her soundwalking practice through graphic scores, realised as drawings, paintings, prints, and sonic compositions. Each mark resonates with its own energy – echoing, layering, and unfolding across the surface.
Join Gemma Thompson on a soundwalk from Toi Pōneke Gallery to Central Park in Aro Valley, finishing at Inverlochy House. Participants will draw inspired by sounds heard on the walk. These drawings will then be transformed into simple drypoint prints using recycled Tetra Pak.
Join artist and musician Gemma Thompson and drummer Sam Sherry as they perform as Tondo, responding live to the graphic scores in the exhibition voices notations distortion.
Exploring the potential of woven structures through textile making, the exhibition by Angela Kilford and Lisa Munnelly titled Under, Over and Across creates a dialogue between painting, raranga and hand-woven works.
Come along to this drop-in style workshop in the gallery with artists - Lisa Munnelly and Angela Kilford to make part of a collaborative raranga artwork. You’ll use off cuts from Lisa’s canvas paintings; that the artists will then teach you to weave, to create a new artwork that will hang in the gallery. This workshop is whānau friendly and would suit anyone interested in working with their hands in a creative way.
Join artists Lisa Munnelly and Angela Kilford as they chat with Caroline McQuarrie about the works in their exhibition Under, Over and Across. Together these artists will discuss techniques of painting and weaving and the interrelation between material, maker and making.
oroRUArangi is a brand new, exciting collaboration by Māori musicians Horomona Horo and Rameka Tamaki. Both artists are joining together to create a new composition for this performance.
Toi Takeaway 2025 - Pay and Take it away!
To coincide with her exhibition In Each Other’s Pockets, Kapeu artist-in-residence Louise Hill will be in conversation with fellow artist Keri-Mei Zagrobelna (Te Ati Awa, Whānau-a-Apanui).
Join contemporary jeweller Louise Hill for a relaxed, hands-on workshop where you’ll create your own cross-body pocket bag to carry your phone close.
In Each Other’s Pockets opens Friday 24 October 2025 at Toi Pōneke Gallery, Te Aro, Wellington.
Through her playful installation, contemporary jeweller Louise Hill interrogates the politics of pockets; the private spaces that shape how we move through the world, investigating what it means for some to be equipped with the tools they need, while others are not.
20 years at Abel Smith looks back on the tapestry of Toi Pōneke at Abel Smith Street and invites artists, friends, family and guest on a small stroll down memory lane in hopes to build an even stronger step forward into the future. Opens Friday 5:30 24 Oct and is on in the back gallery until Friday 21 Nov 2025.
Toi Pōneke Arts Centre and Pop Film are delighted to announce Elizabeth Hodgson who has been selected to be the Film/TV Producer Intern for the Write Room 2025 - 26.
Our panel of artists from Utu ā Matimati Takatāpui Art Collective will discuss elements of our kaupapa, inspired by our latest magazine. Topics of decolonizing mental health and art spaces within this modern world and society, the importance of our existence as takatāpui and how visibility and solidarity are integral to surviving in this political climate.
Join us for a hands-on wānanga where we’ll learn how to process, and create traditional paint using kōkōwai (earth pigment).
Toi Pōneke Art Centre, WIFT and Massey University are proud to host a special presentation from director Rob Sarkies (Out of the Blue, Pike River, Scarfies) and screenwriter Fiona Samuel (Piece of My Heart, Consent: The Louise Nicholas Story, Pike River) to launch the Wellington Write Room Screenwriter's Residency for 2026.
Toi Pōneke Arts Centre is pleased to announce the 2026 residency program for d/Deaf and/or disabled artists, with a call for submissions. Applications close 5pm Monday 17 November 2025
He Whare Mahana - a warm house, a full house, a cosy kainga to nurture your dreams and the infi nite queer possibilities. Tātou āhuru mōwai, nau mai, haere mai.
Come along to the opening celebration of Te Whare Mahana - A Takatāpui Exhibition. You are invited to our housewarming party, a celebration of queer indigenous love. It’s virgo season, spring is blooming, Mahuru Māori is here, all your queer Māori dreams are possible!
Toi Pōneke Arts Centre and Victoria University’s New Zealand School of Music —Te Kōkī (NZSM) are delighted to announce Daniel Beban as the 2025 Toi Pōneke/ NZSM Sonic Artist-in -Residence.
Join artist Katy Cottrell as she chats with academic researcher Matteo Collina and director of the Victoria University Coastal Ecology Lab – Alice Rogers. Alice and Matteo will talk about their work with marine reserves from a scientific perspective and how this has inspired the artworks by Katy Cottrell and Rick Allender for their exhibition Taputeranga: Above and Below.
Marquetry is the art of ‘drawing’ with wood veneers, cutting intricate jigsaws of imagery and inlaying in, or onto timbers. In three hours have a go at exploring the different veneers, get to know the chisels and knives, and create your own ‘take home’ block (or coaster) having discovered the fundamentals to take it further.
Artists Katy Cottrell and Rick Allender explore the connection between land and sea through intricate works crafted from natural wood veneers.
Toi Pōneke Arts Centre and POP Film are inviting applications for the Write Room Wellington Screenwriter Residency 2026 Applications due by 5pm, Mon 20 October 2025
Applications now open for the Write Room Film/TV Producer Internship 2025 -26
Deadline 5pm, Tues 16 Sept 2025
In the third of three artist’s talks about Azúcar/Sugar, the latest installation from With Lime, join Dr Miki Seifert and Dr Arini Loader at ‘The Colonisers’ Banquet Table’. Dr Seifert will talk about how sugar was transformed from an exotic luxury item into a global ubiquity. Dr Loader will use te reo Māori as a gateway to talk about sugar’s associated health and societal issues along with alcohol and other colonial introductions.
In the second of three artist’s talks about Azúcar/Sugar, the latest installation from With Lime, hear about Dr William Franco’s journey from travelling in Mexico to learn how to make Mexican sugar skulls for Dia de Muertos to exploring the connection between sugar and colonisation of the Americas to expanding the boundaries of this traditional method of sugar art.
Wellington City Council, through Toi Pōneke Arts Centre, is proud to announce a groundbreaking partnership with the internationally acclaimed theatre and film company THE CONCH, launching the city’s first dedicated Pasifika arts residency programme.
In the first of three artist’s talks about Azúcar/Sugar, the latest installation from With Lime, learn how Dr Miki Seifert used the concept of Wunderkammer to explore the connection between sugar, colonisation, global trade and climate change.
Dr Seifert will be joined by Dr April Henderson who will talk about the impact of sugar, colonisation and global trade in the Pacific.
Join us at Toi Pōneke for our second Wāhine Wānanga for artists. A presentation from wāhine toa Lynell Tuffery Huria about copyright and intellectual property in Te Āo Toi Māori (The World of Māori Arts).
Join us on Wednesday evenings for an intimate gathering with the artists behind Azúcar/Sugar. Meet artists William Franco and Miki Seifert and engage in fascinating discussions about their inspirations, techniques, and personal connections to the sweet subject matter that shapes this unique installation.
The Toi Pōneke/NZSM Sonic Artist-in-Residence is a 3-month part-time position (.6FTE) for an established Wellington-based sonic artist to develop a body of work that may include performances, installations, workshops and so forth. The position is funded by Toi Pōneke, with the NZSM and Toi Pōneke as host organisations. A studio space is provided by Toi Pōneke for the duration of the residency, and the Residency will culminate in a 4-week exhibition in March/April 2026 at Toi Pōneke Gallery.
What is the connection between sugar, colonisation, global trade and climate change?
Azucar/Sugar is an explorative gallery experience that uses sugar sculptures, videos and digital art to trace how European and US conquest terraformed the environment from a living entity that encompassed the living spirits of the land, water, plants, animals and humans into an inert repository of resources to be harvested and harnessed for profit. Azucar/Sugar is the latest installation from With Lime, the long-standing collaboration between William Franco and Miki Seifert.
Kieran Monaghan will be in the gallery performing with vegetable.machine.animal 'trio', which involves plants, a synthesiser and live drumming. Joining him on keyboards and fagufagu will be GUEST recording artist Andrew Faleatua.
Toi Pōneke Arts Centre are pleased to announce that Lîm Kado has been awarded the 2025 Visual Artist Residency.
Kieran Monaghan will be in the gallery performing with vegetable.machine.animal 'trio', which involves plants, a synthesiser and live drumming. Joining him on taonga pūoro will be Ruby Solly. Solly appears on the album GUEST.
![Lunchtime Concert with vegetable. machine. animal [Kieran Monaghan] and Andrew Faleatua](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/589a8c096a4963ad40f38d2f/1745813274033-JU5VNI7FSGVY458XCGG6/Kieran+Mongahan+and+Andrew+Faleatuea.png)
![Lunchtime Concert with vegetable. machine. animal [Kieran Monaghan] and Ruby Solly](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/589a8c096a4963ad40f38d2f/1745808462696-17RSVAPCUR0YU4T8LPW2/Kieran+Mongahan+and+Ruby+Solly+.png)