The popular Te Kiwa Nui Festival will once again rock Porirua’s Te Rauparaha Arena with colour and sound and plenty of school spirit.
The festival – formerly known as Polyfest – takes place on 5 and 8 August. It brings performers and spectators together from our school communities to create an environment where young people can express themselves and be confident in their Māori and Pacific culture, language, art and identity.
This year the host school is Bishop Viard College and, along with Porirua schools, performances will also take place from Newlands, Onslow and Tawa colleges. In 2024 more than 2100 students took to the stage, representing more than a dozen cultures in our city and beyond.
Porirua City Council’s General Manager Community & Partnerships, Reuben Friend, says the festival has been running, in one form or another, for the past 45 years, and has grown from humble beginnings in school halls to the incredible showpiece over two days we have now.
“The Arena is the only place in our city that can host a wonderful event like this, considering the sheer size of what it is now,” he says.
“It’s an amazing experience to behold, with vibrant, fun and skillful performances that show off the creativity of our young people and their superb teachers and leaders.
“There is so much energy and passion and I can’t wait to see what our schools will come up with this year as they tell the stories, and show the traditions, of our ancestors.
“It is ingrained in Porirua and is special, not just for young people and their whanau, but our city as a whole.”
Council showed its support of Te Kiwa Nui by locking in $50,000 funding per year for the festival for 2024-26.
More than 8000 spectators are expected to flood into the Arena, while many thousands more will watch the livestream.
In 2022, the Wellington Northern Region Polyfest Trust was created to ensure the festival could meet the modern hosting demands now and into the future.
Tickets are available from ticketspace.nz.
17 Jul 2025
