Nau mai, haere mai

ki te Ahurei Toi o Te Matau-a-Māui

Welcome to the Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival

Nearly 30,000 people experienced events across the 2023 Hawke’s Bay Arts Festival, making it one of the most attended Festivals in the event’s nine-year history.

The 2023 Festival met its promise of being one to remember, with its stacked programme boasting locally and internationally acclaimed acts that delighted audiences across Te Matau-a-Māui throughout October.

For 2023 only, standard tickets to most shows were $25 – half their usual cost. In addition, seven entirely free events were put on across the Festival, including headline act 360 ALLSTARS, which was enjoyed by almost 1,800 people across Hastings and Napier venues.

In addition, over 5,000 school children throughout Hawke’s Bay, from Mohaka to Waipukurau, were able to experience free performances as part of the Festival in Schools programme.

The wheels are already in motion for 2024's Festival, which will also mark our 10 year anniversary. It's going to be something... and we can't wait to see you back again! If you are a performer or artist and keen to be involved, you can express your interest here

But for now, we just want to say THANK YOU to every single person who made this Festival the magical event we just experienced, including our guests, volunteers, sponsors, patrons and of course the wonderful artists who shared their talents with aroha.

Thank you Hawke's Bay for sharing tears, joy and laughter and trusting us to bring you a very special Festival.

We gratefully acknowledge our Core Funders, Heretaunga Hastings District Council, and Creative New Zealand.

         

Thank you also to our Gold Sponsor JARDEN

 

The 2023 Hawke's Bay Arts Festival

Festival Stories

We’ll be sharing festival tips, the juice on different shows and artists, behind-the-scenes tales, video and audio content, along with coverage of the Festival as it happens in October.

See All

Join Us