Let’s kick off Hamilton Pride Month with a bold after-dark celebration you won’t forget.
End Pride Week on a high note with food, entertainment, and a market that celebrates queer creativity.
“Inclusion and acceptance are paramount to me. I stand with our LGBTQIA+ Takataapuhi and Rainbow Community, ensuring support for all, regardless of ability, disability, culture, or background, both now and in the future.”
Curated to align with Hamilton Pride 2026, the exhibition showcases the work of ten queer and takataapui artists whose art engages with time. These range from recent NCAA winner Zena Elliott’s trans-microbot installation ‘Hinekahurangi AKL-780’ and choreographic artist val smith’s installation ‘TRUSS’, to Neke Moa’s works of adornment ‘Ko te aroha noa’ and ‘Ngāti’, to Shannon Novak’s AI-altered digital photographs (originally drawn from the Collection of Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery and painstakingly modified). Diana Lee-Gobbit, a Suffolk-born multimedia artist is represented by the earliest pieces in the exhibition, three works on paper with futuristic and science fiction themes created in the 1980s. Alongside local artist Elliott, other Kirikiriroa Hamilton artists include 2023 Te Tumu Toi Arts Foundation Springboard recipient Tia Barrett, as well as Kelly Joseph, Nadia Gush and Kahurangiariki Smith. Former Wintec lecturer Lisa Benson is also represented in the exhibition.
The exhibition is curated by Drs Cassandra Barnett, Zena Elliott, and Nadia Gush. It is open 9am - 4pm weekdays, at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts gallery, University of Waikato. An artist talk will be held on 15 April at 11am, and a taonga puoro performance will be held on 16 April 6pm. All are free to attend.
Kicking things off with Pride After Dark — a ticketed, community-friendly dance party (18+), held at the Cosmopolitan Club on April 10, from 7:00pm–12:00am.
More information about tickets coming soon.
An opportunity to hear queer and takataapui artists currently showing at the University of Waikato’s GAPA gallery, talk about their creative practice. Artists include Tia Barrett, Lisa Benson, Zena Elliott, Shannon Novak, Kahurangiariki Smith and val smith and the session will be chaired by Nadia Gush. The session, featuring locally and nationally significant artists, is free to attend, and you can see the exhibition while you are there. Join us in this celebration and exploration of LGBTQIATakataapuiMVPFAFF+ creativity - all welcome!
Oro Mauri is a collective of irawhiti pūoro sound-play musicians who channel the elemental voices of taiao (the natural world), atua (ancestral forces), and tūpuna (ancestors) into living soundscapes.
Through the deep resonance of taonga pūoro — traditional Māori and Pasifika instruments — interwoven with voice, Oro Mauri creates performances that are both ancient and immediate, ceremonial and contemporary.
Each gathering is unique: a dialogue between people, place, and spirit, where sound becomes a vessel for memory, healing, and connection. The audience is invited to listen deeply, to be carried into spaces of stillness, vibration, and renewal.
This event is free to attend, all welcome!
To close out the week, we return with our much-loved staple event, Pride in the Park, held at the Western Community Centre (Elliott Park) on April 19, from 11:00am–3:00pm. This is a free ticketed event, with a full afternoon of stalls, food, and entertainment for the whole community to enjoy.
We're returning!!!!
A social clubbing night for men and masculine presenting individuals of all shapes and sizes — a space to connect, talk, and dance all night.
This is an event where patrons are encouraged to express themselves. Wear your favourite harness, gear, pup hood, mesh, leather, latex, or whatever makes you feel confident on the dancefloor.
