Whau Arts Festival 2023

From gridlock to art-block!

Walk, run, bike, dance through the streets of Avondale as we reclaim our main street for a day of free community play!
Joining the worldwide ‘Open Streets’ phenomena, from NYC to Tāmaki, Whau Arts Festival Avondale Open Streets will have a uniquely Whau flow packed with music, art, and fantastic kai.

The Whau Arts Festival 2023 programme is free and includes something for all ages with music powerhouse MC King Kapisi, Basant Madhur Ensemble, the Waitakere Brass Band, rapper ¥oung Gho$t, the Maine Kweenz, Sau e Siva, Crescendo artists, flash mob and more.

Let your creative juices flow with a poetry pop-up station by Aiwa Pooamorn and Gemishka Chetty, there’s 'tagging' on our bouncy castle or perhaps take a ride on the Nomadic Tea Hut with Xin Cheng and Adam Ben-Dror offering hands-on play with locally foraged tea.

You can create a placard with Hoopla, what would you do if the streets were open? Come back to nature with Mana Rākau, visit the trees that line Avondale’s main street for a tree tour, tree care and you can also abseil on these taonga.

Put Your Earmuffs On featuring guest artist Ela Tukuhaukava with MĀPURA studios West Auckland art group. They have been creating in the All Goods space on a weekly basis for three years, and it’s time to share that working space on the street! First Safety Officer Tim Danko will be in attendance.

You can bike, walk and dance along Great North Road car free and soak up the local talent; get up close to artists Eva Fuemana and Siar267 completing a new mural, public artworks and exhibitions to explore using chatGPT (Sean Kerr) in collaboration with 'Men at Work'. Visit the festival HQ a limited edition artwork by Alex Scott and purchase a Festival t-shirt.

Take a seat and eat at the longest dining table Great North Road has ever seen! Try food from our local takeaways... ice creams (and henna tattoo) from the dairy, pork buns from Taste of Samoa as well as dumplings from Polynesian Food to name a few.
Don't leave without your family photo taken with Nia Vavao 'spdrtwnbby' at the fambam station and enjoy a pop up performance while you’re there.

We’re looking forward to seeing you!

~~ The road will be closed on Great North Road between Rosebank Road and Crayford Street West ~~

Full programme here:
www.whauthepeople.com