A number of Silver Scroll winners are back for another shot at the crown, with the shortlist for the prestigious songwriting award revealed.

Twenty songs have made the cut - a number that will be whittled down to 5 finalists by APRA’s New Zealand members - before the Silver Scroll is handed out on 29 October. What makes the Scrolls such a uniquely coveted award is it peer-focused - songwriters and industry professionals recognising songwriters not for the commercial value of their mahi, but for its artistry.

Reigning Scrolls champion Anna Coddington has put herself in contention to become the first artist to go back to back, combining with 2024 winning co-writer Ruth Smith, as well as Jol Mulholland, Michael Hall, and Fen Ikner to create Honey Black, which she performs with Troy Kingi - himself a Scrolls success story in 2021.

2018 Silver Scroll winner Marlon Williams has again made the top 20, with Aua Atu Rā (co-written by Te Pononga Tamati-Elliffe), while Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson is in the running to emulate his 2015 win through BOYS WITH THE CHARACTERISTICS OF WOLVES and 2012 Scroll recipient Steph Brown AKA Lips is nominated for The Wolf (featuring E from Eels), a song she co-wrote with partner Fen Ikner and Ro Bright. That gives Ikner two bites of the cherry in the same award - the only writer to do so this year.

There are number of experienced singer-songwriters returning to Scrolls contention, with the likes of Emily C. Browning (Goldfish), Aaradhna (Mango Tree - co-written by Chip Matthews, Jeremy Toy, and Jarrod Wood) There’s A Tuesday quartet Nat Hutton, Minnie Robberds, Joel Becker, and Angus Murray (Margo), Jessica Bourke AKA JessB (Power - co-written by  Sampa Tembo, Ophlin Russell,  Zaidoon Nasir, Mohamed Komba, and Andrew Clews) Deva Mahal (South Coast - co-written and performed with Estère Dalton) and Mohi Allen’s collaboration with Tawaroa Kawana AKA TAWAZ (Tātarakihi) all having experienced a top 20 nod before. 

Industry veteran Ladi6’s return to songwriting has yielded a Scrolls nod, as the real-life Karoline Park-Tamati combines with husband Brent Park-Tamati and fellow co-writer Brandon Haru for LIghtBulb, Nadia Reid’s Baby Bright and double winner at this year’s Aotearoa Music Awards Amelia Murray - better known as Fazerdaze - looks to continue her hot 2025 with Cherry Pie in the hunt (co-written by Gareth Thomas and Leroy Clampitt).

Other artists who are finding their groove as recording artist, with several albums or EPs under their belt, have joined these heavyweights in being singled out for the Top 20. Aimee Renata AKA Erny Belle is nominated for Boudoir (co-written by Semisi Ma’ia’i), Sarena Close/Mousey is up for Home Alone, Zaidoon Nasir/WHO SHOT SCOTT for The Data, Zoe Moon with The Letter, Hugh Ozumba/Mazbou Q for TORQUE (co-written with Emmanuel Chinonso Nwachukwu) and the Womb trio of Cello Forrester, Haz Forrester, and Georgette Brown for Only You.

And four-piece band Bub have landed a Scrolls Top 20 nod from their debut album with New Amsterdam, written by front woman Priya Sami.

The Maioha Award - celebrating songwriting in te reo Māori - has also announced a Top 10 list. Last year, Ruth Smith became the first songwriter to win both the Silver Scroll and the Maioha category in the same year (with seperate songs). She’s in contention to do so again, with the same co-writing team she’s been nominated for the 2025 Silver Scroll with (Coddington, Hall, Holland and Ikner) for Coddington’s Te Taumata Ike.

She’s not alone. Marlon Williams - who’s journey into writing his first te reo Māori album has been the subject of an excellent documentary - is backing up his Scroll nod with Korero Māori (again co-written with Tamati-Elliffe) while the TAWAZ X MOHI song Tātarakihi is the only song nominated for both awards, with Mohi Allen a previous Maioha winner.

Maarire Brunning Kouka - performing as MĀ - has two songwriting nominations in the Maioha Top 10 this year - combining with Hannah White for Pūhā me te Porohewa and a co-writer on REED’s Murimuri Aroha with Hona Black, Noema Te Hau III and Sasha Te Whare. That’s a distinction she shares with Matt Sadgrove. He has co-writer credits with 2015 Maioha winner Stan Walker’s Ki Taku Awa (along with Walker, Rio Panapa, Tawaroa Kawana, and Trojahn Tuna) and Haami’s Taku Kāenga, (with Haami Tuari and Earle Karini).

IA and Rei’s He Piko He Tuna (Moetu Smith, Callum McDougall, and Reti Hedley), Kei Whati Te Marama by Dillastrate (Henare Kaa, Tim Driver, Hemi Hoskins, and Rory Matao Noble), and Te Rawhitiroa Bosch - AKA Rawhitiroa - for Whakarongo Rā are also in contention.

APRA members have until 25 July to vote for their Top 5 Silver Scroll songs and Top 3 Maioha waiata.

Connect the Docs

The Doc Edge Festival is up and flying - and already the best on show have been highlighted.

24 prizes were handed out at their annual awards night that open the festival in Auckland, with Kiwi director Vanessa Wells having an evening to remember. Her film Mighty Indeed - about three women working in Antarctica across four decades, exploring science, climate, and survival in one of the world’s harshest environments - claimed Best New Zealand Feature and landed her Best Director.

She told The Lowdown “I feel deeply honoured both personally and professionally. Mighty Indeed has been such a labour of love. To have it recognised with two awards is incredibly validating. It feels like a quiet, beautiful ‘yes’ after a long journey. More than anything, it feels like a celebration of the women at the heart of the story... their courage, their science and their legacy on the ice.”  

Winning the Best NZ feature prize means it now goes into Oscar consideration - an opportunity that Wells finds “Surreal.” 

She explains “When we were out in Antarctica filming in crazy conditions, and in the edit suite for months and months, the Oscars were the furthest thing from our minds. But to now be in that conversation, even loosely, is a huge honour! It’s exciting not just for our team, but for the visibility of science storytelling, and for the stories of women who’ve quietly shaped the history of the ice.”

On the audience reaction to her film so far, Wells shares “The response has been quite overwhelming. People have come up to us afterwards, sent us emails, and told us it moved them in surprising ways - some to tears!. There’s been laughter too, which is always welcome in a doco. Audiences have been blown away at the footage we have, and they are really connecting with our story - which is so rewarding for us as filmmakers.”

Also now in the Oscar conversation is Little Potato, directed by Chen Chen, after winning Best New Zealand Short.

Chen told The Lowdown “Honestly, I never imagined this when we started making this short. It opens the door to a much wider conversation around the film, and what it stands for. It’s about the possibility of more people seeing the work, engaging in it, and maybe even being moved by it. 

“At the screening I attended last Saturday, many people in the audience opened up about their own experiences with family members diagnosed with dementia. The documentary reminded them of intimate, personal moments they had shared with loved ones. It sparked conversations, which is exactly what we had hoped for, creating a space where people feel seen, heard, and connected through shared experience.

“This win is incredibly meaningful. It’s not just important for me and the crew, but also for everyone whose lives are touched by dementia, whose experiences are reflected in the film. Doc Edge has always celebrated bold, honest, and well-crafted documentaries, so to be recognised here is a huge honour. 

“On a practical level, I’m currently working on my next short, a virtual production project, and this award gives me the encouragement to keep going. It also creates an opportunity to connect with amazing collaborators who share the same passion for filmmaking.” 

New Zealanders were also celebrated on different ends of the experience spectrum. Caleb Young was highlighted as the Best New Zealand Emerging Filmmaker for Nothing is Impossible: The Primanavia Story, while Julia Parnell was recognised as the inaugural Raye Freedman Legacy Award winner.

Young told The Lowdown “Making the first step on my filmmaker journey is a nerve wracking, exhilarating experience filled with uncertainty and self-doubt. So being acknowledged with the best emerging filmmaker award at this year's DocEdge Festival means so incredibly much to me. 

“To me, it speaks to the value of the stories that I am telling and is the encouragement and motivation I need to push me forward to continue on this filmmaking journey.

"I am so grateful to Doc Edge for the way that they support and encourage documentary filmmakers.”

Parnell explains her award “was such a surprise and a profound honour. It’s a moment that makes me pause and remember that true vocation is a long, imperfect conversation — a willingness to venture into the unknown, to keep hoping that your work might matter. This award feels like a gentle nudge to stop, breathe, and see that perhaps it does. 

“Documentary storytelling feels more vital than ever. With all our dedication, I believe documentaries can survive and thrive in these times, when stories led by truth are precisely what the world needs.”

Among the other New Zealanders to share in the award limelight, Wildboy by Brando Yelavich and Toby Schmutzler received Best Editing and Best Cinematography, Three Days in February - directed by Serena Stevenson - was awarded Best Sound and University of Canterbury Student Evienne Jones won Best Tertiary Film for Ally. 

Australian film The Pool is also in Academy Award consideration after claiming Best International Feature among its three awards, while On Healing Land, Birds Perch (USA/Vietnam) joins the conversation too by winning Best International Short.

Doc Edge Fest continues in Auckland until Sunday (13 July), before heading to Wellington and Christchurch (16-27 July), and online (28 July-24 August).

Word on the street

WORD Christchurch has dropped its 2025 programme (27-31 August) - with another cracking line-up  of over 100 creative minds that we’ve come to expect from the South Island’s best known writers event.

Programme Director Kiran Dass told The Lowdown “Championing and celebrating local writers is key to WORD's kaupapa. The programme is jam-packed with so many brilliant local writers, thinkers and performers and I am excited about every single one that we have joining us. 

“Dame Anne Salmond is a vital voice, Catherine Chidgey is unquestionably the writer of the moment in both a local and international context and will be joining us hot on the heels of a UK book tour promoting The Book of Guilt. 

“Damien Wilkins hasn't been our way in a while so it will be lovely to have him at WORD fresh from his prestigious 2025 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction win. And it's a privilege for us to be able to have the rare actual garments from the fabulous Eden Hore high-fashion couture collection for a session that celebrates this compelling piece of Aotearoa New Zealand's social, cultural and fashion history.”

Also among the talent on show are New Zealand’s newly minted Reading Ambassador and Cantab born-and-bred Kate de Goldi and a celebration of treasured Ōtautahi author and illustrator Gavin Bishop. Bestselling author Becky Manawatu will be performing spoken word poetry, while creatives whose mahi is focus on tamariki and rangatahi feature strongly, including authors Rachel Clare, Kiri Lightfoot, David Riley, Rachael King and Juliette MacIver - and Christchurch locals Loopy Tunes, fresh off their trifecta at the Aotearoa Children’s Music Awards.

When asked what the biggest challenge of organising the event, Dass declares “Squeezing everyone into the programme. The quality of writing in Aotearoa is constantly going from strength to strength and so much is being published. So it can be hard to fit everything in, especially when resources are limited. But it's also about curation and balance and how participants fit into the wider jigsaw of the programme as a whole.“

The festival’s also been able to attract some top notch Australian talent in Booker Prize shortlister Charlotte Wood as well asFirst Nations poet and spoken word performer Dominic Guererra.

“WORD is for anyone with a curious mind and a sense of fun,” Executive Director Steph Walker states. “This year we’re offering a bold mix of more than 50 vibrant events, with over 22 percent of the programme free and selected sessions pay-what-you-can, thanks to the support of our partners.” 

Indy heavyweights heading our way

Another August event is starting to take shape - designed to help artists, managers, and music professionals take their mahi overseas.

Independent Music NZ (IMNZ) has announced its first round of international speakers for the Going Global Music Summit 2025 (28-29 August) at Tāmaki Makaurau’s Q Theatre, with delegates from some of the world’s most coveted festivals and organisations attending.

“We’re really looking forward to welcoming people from the global music community,” says IMNZ General Manager, Dylan Pellett, “giving them a chance to engage with our local music people, and experience some top-flight musical mavericks from Aotearoa.”

There are some heavy hitters in the international indy music scene making their way here like SXSW Senior Music Programmer Dev Sherlock from of the States, DARK MOFO Festival Booker Kimberley Galceran out of Australia, UK festival The Great Escape’s Programmer Adam Ryan and booking agents Rebecca Young (Collective Artists, Australia) and Lucy Pitkethly (Eat Your Own Ears, UK). Boyan Pinter from Spike Bulgarian Festival & Showcase and Co-Founder of Indonesia’s AXEAN Festival Satria Ramadhan will also be able to broaden the horizons of Aotearoa artists looking pathways to find new audiences.

The event has a proven track record in that area, with connections leading to overseas bookings, festival slots, and career-making opportunities. 2024 saw several NZ acts go on to be offered showcases at key events, secure international representation, and expand their global reach. That includes one of last year’s Going Global showcase artists Phoebe Rings, who impressed Australia delegate Max Thomas with their performance and was signed to his management roster.

The 2025 showcasing artists - and the full line-up of international speakers and delegates - will be announced in the coming weeks.

Fest success

Those who have their festivals already in the books for 2025 are reflecting on their successes.

Pacific Dance NZ had a number of sell-out shows and full houses in a season that organisers state “reconnected communities, revitalised live performance, and reaffirmed the powerful role of Pacific stories on Aotearoa’s stages” after “years of instability.”

More than 1,300 people engaged with the fesitival’s free activations, including dance pop-ups in the Auckland Art Gallery foyer, a Sunday event at the Auckland Museum, and a short film activation showcasing Pacific dance on screen, with the event reaching more than 417,000 people on social media.

Audience surveys confirmed that families want to see more content they can enjoy together. Intergenerational audiences expressed great appreciation for the chance to share Pacific cultural stories outside formal education systems that often omit or marginalise these narratives. Essentially, audiences felt seen and heard.

“We’ve learned over the years that success isn’t about doing more — it’s about doing it right,” states Festival Director Iosefa Enarii .“We now know how to match story, location, cast, price, and platform to reach our audience where they are. The data confirms it. The people confirm it. It’s time to keep going.”

From South Auckland to the South Island, and the Wānaka Festival of Colour have released some of the stats from its 2025 edition, with more than 20 years of programming under its belt.

Boasting an audience satisfaction rate of 9/10 - there were 8,624 tickets sold as an estimated 16,500 people attended 84 events over nine days, 28 of them free-of-charge.

Over 300 artists and performers from the Upper Clutha, across Aotearoa, and overseas were featured for an audience that was made up of 17% first-time attendees and 40% attending six or more festival events. Approximately 2,230 tamariki and rangatahi took part in the Festival’s Schools Programme - including Makarora School and community for the first time - and more than 230,000 people engaged with their digital content.

More alofa

Sāmoan writer and performer Nafanua Purcell Kersel has landed the International Institute of Modern Letters (IIML) Emerging Pasifika Writer in Residence for 2025. 

As well as a welcome $15,000 stipend, Kersel will use the three-month residency at Victoria University of Wellington to work on a stage adaptation of her debut poetry collection Black Sugarcane, as well as a new book of poems. She will also work with a mentor during that time.

The IIML Masters in Creative Writing graduate and 2022 Biggs Family Prize in Poetry winner states “I admire each of the previous recipients, and feel humbled to have been chosen to follow on from them.  

“My wish is to write work which offers an insight into the complexity of community and the subtle work of shared stories, through my own experiences, dreams, and observations. My goal for the residency is to produce work which is mana-enhancing and unapologetic in its cultural depth. Fa’afetai, fa’afetai, fa’afetai tele lava mo le avanoa.” 

The Heretaunga-based writer’s aspiration is to create work that creates more. “More alofa, more creativity, more understanding in our communities and worlds.”  

Kersel has a background in facilitation and community storytelling, including her role with Nevertheless NZ, where she leads the storytelling programme and runs creative writing workshops with Māori, Pasifika, and Rainbow+ communities. 

Freedom to take risks

A pair of creatives will get the opportunity to work on their craft in Ōamaru, with Paula Collier and Zac Whiteside selected for the Crucible Artist Residency in September.

The 12-week residency comes with a $650 per week stipend, accomodation in the Historic Precinct of Ōamaru, 20 hours of technician support, and a subsidy for foundry materials utilised. It’s designed to provide the artists the chance to develop their creative practices and develop new work in the Waitaki arts community.

A visual artist originally from Ōtautahi, now based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Collier’s practice spans installation, sculpture and photography.  She describes her approach as an artist to be a facilitator or conduit and uses her experience working as a textile artist in the film industry to incorporate repurposed or waste materials into her artwork. 

She told The Lowdown “This residency is an amazing opportunity to explore an industrial material and process and incorporate it into my sculptural practice. I am particularly interested in relating the work to the historical architecture of places of industry in Ōamaru, and the memory these buildings retain.” 

Whiteside is an Ōtepoti-based artist, freelance videographer, and photographer working across sculpture, performance, and installation - as well as being co-director and curator of Pond Gallery, an artist-run space supporting early-career artists. His residency project will focus on using iron to recontextualise a familiar piece of pop culture into a satirical, large-scale performance work.

Whiteside told The Lowdown he’s looking forward to having the freedom to take creative risks. “The Crucible Residency gives me the rare opportunity to bring to life a concept I've been carrying for a long time — one that wouldn’t be possible without the space, time, and resources the residency offers. 

“Since my final year of art school, I’ve been balancing my practice with commercial video and photography work. This residency allows me to step back, refocus on sculpture, and invest in more experimental and creative approaches to art video. It’s a chance to fully immerse myself in making, and to realise a vision that has, until now, had to sit on the back burner. 

“I’m incredibly excited and deeply grateful for the opportunity — it feels like exactly the right moment to take this leap." 

All gas for Jensen

London’s calling for Abigail Aroha Jensen, becoming the ninth New Zealand Artist to be awarded a three-month, fully funded Gasworks residency.

With nearly 80 high quality applications, Ngāruawāhia resident Jensen was given the green light to take her practice to the UK where she plans to spend time developing her research around mauri, collecting materials, foraging for new flora and fauna and sketching in the studio. She will also visit and document sites of interest to compose the score for her first film, NZ Forever.  

With a studio practice involving harvesting and weaving with harakeke (flax) and other found materials, rope making, drawing, painting, screen printing, sound, installation and improvisation - Jensen’s work has been exhibited at a sites across Aotearoa like Christchurch Art Gallery, The Dowse, Hastings Art Gallery and The Physics Room - and overseas Germany in South Korea at the Busan.

The Gasworks residency - put together with the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust and the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa - is targeted at early/mid-career artists, creating opportunities for self-led professional development, artistic exchange and experimentation and development of new international networks. 

It comes with return flights to London, 24/7-access to a private studio space in the Gasworks building, accommodation in a house shared with three or four other international artists in residence with Gasworks, plus living and materials allowance. 

Cotton on

A museum move for Liz Cotton - announced as MOTAT’s next Director of Museum Experience, taking over from Sally Manuireva, who has overseen several award-winning projects. 

Cotton is currently the Director of Museum & Arts at Te Whare Taonga o Waikato Museum & Gallery and states “I am thrilled to be joining MOTAT at this time. Coming off the internationally recognised success of Te Puawānanga Science and Technology Centre, I look forward to working with the MOTAT Team, partners and communities to further realise the potential of the museum experience at this unique and important cultural institution.

“Personally, it is something of a coming home for me, returning to Auckland where I grew up in the West, and to MOTAT where I worked with collections as a young museum professional in 2005/2006. There are exciting times ahead.”

MOTAT Chief Executive / Museum Director Craig Hickman-Goodall adds “I am delighted that Liz will join our Executive Leadership Team as Director Museum Experience. Liz brings to MOTAT a track record of transformational leadership in the cultural sector and the breadth of experience and leadership she will bring to the team is exciting for MOTAT and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.”