Winter is here, with its blustery cold winds and grey skies - but instead of freezing alone at home, why not come out and enjoy the gas heaters at the Art Lounge, the Auckland Art gallery's newest venue for artists and writers?

Running every Saturday afternoon, from July through to August, the latest addition to the Gallery's public programme is Winter Warmers.

Over the last three weeks literature and performing arts lovers have enjoyed a cup of tea while listening to an inspiring range of speakers, from internationally-recognised NZ playwright Gary Henderson, to local musician and poet Anna Rugis.Winter Warmers is the idea of poets Anna-Kaye Forsyth and Renee Liang. "We wanted a space where there would be no boundaries between artist and audience," says Renee, and Anna adds, " - .and where everyone could enjoy tea, biscuits and brain stimulation!".

Supported by the Auckland Art gallery, which provides the venue free of charge, the two have created a programme that showcases emerging and established artists from disciplines as diverse as visual arts, dance, theatre, poetry and film.

International touring groups such as the Belfast Poets have already featured, and the programme also attracts prominent out-of-towners like Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, who will speak this Saturday (26th) about Arts and Cities, along with urban designer Richard Reid and arts facilitator Naomi McCleary.

Like most things Forsyth and Liang organise, the event is free of charge although a gold coin koha is requested to "feed the artists". Familiar too is the idea of crosslinking across different disciplines.

"The artists contribute their time and talent free of charge, because they want to contribute to our community," Liang says. "Still, we hope that people who come will be inspired to seek more of their favourite artist's work."

Discovery, networking and conversation are an important part of the whole event, she adds. "That's what the nice long tea breaks are for!"

Winter Warmers is at the Art Lounge, corner Lorne and Wellesley Sts (next to Pathfinders bookshop), every Saturday 2-4 pm until the end of August. Gold coin koha, tea and biscuits provided free. $4 all day parking vouchers for Victoria St Carpark.

MCs and organisers for the Winter Warmer series: Renee Liang and Anna Kaye Forsyth.

Programme for August:

August 2 - Poetry: Raewyn Alexander and Iain Britton. Join these two award-winning poets and writers as they talk about and read from their work.

August 9 - Spoken Word and Music: Ed Mecija, The Literatti. Ed has received acclaim for his unique blend of spoken word and music in his native LA. He will perform with his creative partner Samylka. The Literatti are a 6-person theatrical poetry band who have created a buzz in arts festivals around the country.

August 16 - Theatre: Oryza's Asian Tales Project, Thomas Sainsbury. Oryza is an organisation dedicated to promoting Asian performing arts. They will present and discuss material from Asian Tales, a set of 7 short Kiwi-Asian plays. Thomas Sainsbury is a prolific young writer and director whose plays are attracting a large following in Auckland.

August 23 - Filmmakers: Shuchi Kothari and Roseanne Liang. Shuchi is the co-writer for recent film festival hit Apron Strings, as well as many other films and TV shows. Roseanne is an emerging filmmaker and past SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year winner.

August 30 - Poetry: Riemke Ensing and Michael Steven
These two well-known Auckland poets will read from and discuss their work.

Each session will consist of a talk/demo by the featured artists, Q+A, with intervals for networking. Some sessions accompanied by short films from local filmmakers.