Otago Polyfest

04/09/2026

A friendly reminder from our venue, the car park will get busy, and we ask that you park in the designated areas. We will have kaimahi out to help direct you.

Remember to be careful of tamariki and please, please don't park in spaces reserved for people with disabilities or mobility restrictions unless this is applicable to you or those in your waka!

This includes being respectful of the neighbouring business driveways - we'd hate for anyone to be on the Waewae Express home because of careless parking 🙊

3 more sleeps till opening night!! See you all there! 🫶🫶🫶

Otago Polyfest is next week
We kindly ask that you DO NOT park over the neighbouring business drive ways, in the disabled car parks unless a valid permit, staff carparks or the walk ways. The car park will be monitored and you will be asked to move your vehicle if parked in any unauthorized parks or risk being towed.
ENTRANCE through Breeze Arena Arena doors
Otago Polyfest

04/09/2026

Our General Manager is chatting with Richard Knights live on OAR FM Dunedin - Community Access Media all about the whakapapa of Otago Polyfest and what to expect for our 2026 festival RIGHT NOW ❤️‍🔥 Jump on for a listen: https://oar.org.nz/listen-live/

We'll post the episode once it's uploaded later!

All of our locally produced shows are podcast, meaning you can listen online when and where you like. Discover OAR’s podcasts here

04/09/2026

All the practice and mahi that goes on behind the scenes to get our tamariki on the stage is about to pay off! We can't wait to cheer you on Wakari Kindergarten, thank you for being a part of our festival ❤

02/09/2026

🚨 2026 Evening Session Updates 🚨
Despite our funding news to kick off the season, Otago Polyfest continues to grow, and we're determined to make changes that will help sustain the festival into the future. We know our showcase evenings feature outstanding senior secondary school performances and attract large audiences from across the region, which means there are often lines, and then you need to make friends with the person beside you in the audience, so everyone can find a seat. This year, we're opening doors to the public and performers at 4.30 pm to ease some of this traffic. You can find your seat early or join us in the Village to take a look around our stalls.

From 2026, entry to our Wednesday and Thursday evening showcase sessions will be $5 per person. All other sessions remain $2. We know many of you already koha more than this so our hope is this small change keeps our festival accessible to all while helping to support the future of Otago Polyfest and the experience we provide for performers and communities. Ngā mihi nui for supporting our performers and our festival community this year and beyond 🛖🌺💙

01/09/2026

Look at those proud faces! We cannot wait to see Brockville Kindergarten perform on Friday for our last session of a massive week. Karawhiua tamariki mā! 🤩💙🌺

31/08/2026

🚨 2026 Stallholder Pānui!
Ngā mihi to all our stallholders who have registered this year and to our ever-growing waitlist! We cannot wait to see all your stalls come to life. Our compendium with all relevant information, including pack-in and H&S details, has gone out - please check your junk/spam inbox or email us if you haven't read through this information already.

This year The Village Stalls are open Tuesday - Friday. We have returning stalls, new stalls and the stalls we always get asked for - kai stalls - ready to interact with our community.

Come on down and make yourself at home for the week - nau mai, haere mai 🛖💙🌺

31/08/2026

We hope everyone is keeping warm out there today with this crazy weather! This time next week we'll be taking our seats for our Mihi Whakatau starting at 5.30 in The Breeze Arena, Edgar Centre Dunedin NZ 🫶

We've had a few people's availability change which means we still have a few gaps for kaimahi across almost all sessions! If you have any spare time next week Mon evening, Tues day or evening, Wed evening, Thursday day or evening or Friday day we would really love to hear from you.

You can let us know your availability through the form, follow the link to sign up:
🔗 https://forms.gle/5Ahqsw2Y8UhbYefAA 🔗

30/08/2026

ONE WEEK TO GO WHĀNAU! Our Whakapapa Pou have been working hard to schedule all the amazing rōpū that will stand on our stage for 2026. A lot of mahi goes into programming and we are grateful to all the kaiako and tutors who make our lives easier by filling in the registration forms and getting us all the relevant details about the performances

Check out this year's line up and let us know who you're coming to tautoko! Our full programme will be posted in The Star this week 📰

Join us for our Mihi Whakatau Monday 7th September and throughout the week. Nau mai, haere mai 🛖💙🌺

30/08/2026

With just over a week to go we are extremely excited to announce our friends from Jandalbroz.com Jandal Broz clothing are making the trip over to be a part of The Village 2026!

Originally from Ōtautahi Bryan knows Te Waipounamu and Ōtepoti well and is excited to be bringing his merch down to us. With the rise of AI we love to see our Māori and Pacific pakihi thriving with their original designs. Which of their heritage collections should Jandal Broz pack the most of whānau?!

Supporting you being you!

29/08/2026

Mōrena e te whānau 💛

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks as our leadership team works towards our 2026 Festival and our Governance group continues to navigate our funding space. In case you missed it, our Co-Chair, Ange Kiore, joined Breakfast to kōrero about the future of Otago Polyfest and why our festival means so much to our community.

We have been absolutely humbled by the outpouring of aroha from you all. From our young people wanting to fundraise to our long-term suppliers asking how they can help. Our community is coming together to find a way forward.

Many of you have also asked for our bank account details as a way to tautoko and we humbly share these with you as we know for a lot of people times are tough.

Account Name: Te Mana Ahua Ake Charitable Trust
Account Number: 03-1727-0093417-00
Reference 1: DONATION
Reference 2: Your Name / Organisation Name

We are a registered charity, so please email [email protected] if you require a receipt for tax purposes.

Ngā mihi nui to everyone who continues to stand with us and see you at this year's festival kicking off Monday evening 7th September ❤️