Acamdemic by day, musician by night. And on this particular night, Tiopira McDowell is top of the Aotearoa music industry.

The Head of School of Māori and Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland - better known by his stage name MOKOTRON - has claimed the highly coveted Taite Music Prize at Tuesday's (15 April) awards night in Auckland, in front of his industry peers.

He's overcome a classy field to claim the $12,500 main prize for his breakthrough album WAEREA. The Awards described it as "a bold and uncompromising statement—reclaiming space through sound by intertwining whakapapa with contemporary narratives. This work not only confronts present-day realities but also expands the horizons of bass music in Aotearoa." 

Or as MOKOTRON puts it “Whānau, when I write music, I want people to know that it could only come from one place in the world — Aotearoa.”

Across the music sector, there are awards for most sales, for most airplay and other mainstream measurements - and they all have their place. What makes the Taite so special is it places the artistry involved in an album above all. 

Independent Music NZ’s Pippa Ryan-Kidd addressed the 460 industry professionals in attendance  "By recognising and celebrating the most creative and talented musicians, these Awards help to elevate music as an art form and highlight its importance within our culture.

“It is our job to inform and remind the rest of the nation - how important Aotearoa Music is to them."

It's a boom period for MOKOTRON's career. Next month, he'll also be up for Best Album, Best Solo Artist and Best Electronic Artist at the Aotearoa Music Awards.

Also announced at the event, The Auckland Live Best Independent Debut award was presented to Byllie-Jean for her debut album Filter. 

In her acceptance speech, Byllie-Jean exclaimed “Well, this is going to take a young minute to process — thank you! For me, this is a win for all wāhine Māori. Congratulations, wāhine Māori! No matter what happens, we just keep holding it down.” 

​Founder of K'Road institution The Wine Cellar Rohan Evans was honoured with the Independent Spirit Award  for his two decades of championing emerging artists, while Chris Schulz's in-depth Substack Boiler Room has seen him win the Outstanding Music Journalism Award.

Doing it for the kids

Some of the top names in New Zealand music are among the dozen music industry pros gearing up to help encourage the next generation - signing on as judges for Play It Strange's 2025 Songwriting Competitions.

Play It Strange Founder Mike Chunn - who left the organisation in a formal basis last year - is back for more. No one loves this gig more - he's every single Play It Strange submission – more than 6500 songs over the last 21 years.

"With time passing, the volume of entries and recordings of finalist songs is extraordinary, and it is joy to witness.”

He's joined by a couple of Play It Strange alumni on the Junior Songwriting (Years 9-11) judging panels with singers Louis Baker and CHAII cutting their teeth on this very stage. Throw in Georgia Lines and it's an incredible selection of contemporary success stories.

Talented songwriters and performers Josh Fountain and Rebel Reid combine with Universal Music's Matt Kidd to help choose the National Secondary School (Years 9-13) Songwriting winner.

The Peace Song Competition will be judged by some highly decorated award-winning artists themselves in Bic Runga, Villany's Dave Johnston and Hall of Famer Dianne Swann, while the Waiata Māori Competition is under the expert guidance of Dame Hinewehi Mohi and Kings.

Play It Strange receives more than 720 original songs from secondary school students in their national songwriting competitions, with the judges then selecting the top 165 finalists who will have their songs recorded in professional studios across the motu and released onto digital albums later this year.

“Bringing together this panel means every song is listened to with greater insight and perspective,” states Play It Strange CEO Stephanie Brown. “It ensures every young songwriter is heard by industry professionals from a wide range of musical backgrounds in Aotearoa - from different genres, generations, and areas of expertise."

While it's aspirational to list the names that have gone on to careers as professional musicians from this important programme, it's just as important to note it also inspires rangatahi to become music teachers and therapists and generally improve their confidence, wellbeing or connection to creativity. Sure winners will be crowned, but it will absolutely be win-win for anyone giving it a go.

Sophie's the choice

From one Sophie to another - the selection process for Silo Theatre's next Artistic Director has been a thorough one but in the end, they didn't need to look far.

Nine months after Sophie Roberts announced she was calling time on her stint with the Tāmaki Makaurau theatre company, the Silo Trust Board has announced Sophie Henderson will fill the role and work as co-leader alongside Executive Director Tim Blake from July.

It won't be a difficult transition - Henderson has been part of Silo since making her professional debut in 2007's The Ensemble Project. 

“I love Silo - its artists, its work, its audiences. Silo has shaped my practice and career in ways I deeply value, instilling in me a drive for artistic excellence. Silo gave me my first job out of drama school, and I’m grateful for the chance to give back to a company that has given me so much.

“Silo has always been about great stories told well - ambitious, distinctive, and unafraid. It’s an honour to follow in the footsteps of Shane Bosher and Sophie Roberts, championing brilliant storytelling and outstanding artists. 

"Original work will be at the heart of my programming, alongside stories and performances that insist on being seen and shared.”

Henderson's proven track record as a theatre-maker and actor - as well as leadership experience having programmed Basement theatre for five years - has her well placed for success.  Throw in her acclaim as a screenwriter (Fantail, Baby Done, The Justice of Bunny King) and time as a script editor, dramaturg and Script to Screen board member - and you get the feeling Silo is in good hands.

Indigenous line-up locked in

Indigenous arts festival Kia Mau is taking shape - with the full line-up announced for the 30 May –14 June event in Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui.

In all - more than 26 shows and a full visual arts programme has been laid out, with works from contemporary Tāngata Whenua and Tāngata Moana artists, as well as some travelling from Hawai’i, Australia and Canada.

Co-founder Mīria George told The Lowdown "Kia Mau stands out because of the breadth and deep of Indigenous artists featured through the festival programme. The multiplicity of tangata whenua, tangata moana voice and identity is shared with all of those who gather in Te Upoko o te ika a Māui at this time. Kia Mau is the future of the creative and cultural landscape.

"In many ways, the festival programme will be a medicine for the world around us - vital, vibrant, necessary, Kia Mau has continued to thrive because of the imagination and commitment of our artists. And of us to them."

The 2025 edition will include eight world premieres from local artists like Cadence Chung's poetry-inspired art variety show Love Letterz, multi-disciplinary work Gates to Memory from Ella Williams and Stela Dara, Indigenous dance collective Shifting Centre's The Circle, playwright Michaella Steel's heartfelt Tūī Girls, ON GOD by Kaisa Fa’atui and Raureti Ormond’s He Ingoa.

There are also a couple of family affairs, with mana whenua artists Hariata and Tamati Moriarty introducing new play Waenga and Festival Director Hone Kouka combining with daughter Maarire Brunning-Kouka to put on the Kia Mau's closing event I Feel Love.

Kouka details "What excites me most about the 2025 programme is the diversity, dynamic energy and the understanding from the artists that these are urgent times. Indigenous story telling is embraced and acknowledged as it is the beginning and the centre of what we are as Indigenous peoples and none of our storytelling could exist without our traditions."

Happy trails

An extended Easter treat for art lovers in Tāmaki Makaurau - with a new public art initiative sure to help introduce many others to a series of large-scale works from some of the country's leading sculptors.

Auckland's Viaduct Harbour has begun a four week stint as an open-air art gallery with the debut of the Aotearoa Art Fair Sculpture Trail – a curated outdoor exhibition running from 16 April-14 May.

There are a number of newly commissioned works from Aotearoa contemporary artists on the trail - including Anton Forde, Gregor Kregar, Oliver Stretton-Pow, Ben Pearce and the timeless David McCracken (featured below in The Big Idea's video series).

There's also new work from Tongan artist Sēmesi Fetokai Potauaine, plus some well-regarded pieces from Arts Laureate Lonnie Hutchinson and Seung Yul Oh.

But perhaps one of the biggest coups, the iconic Lisa Reihana's Te Wheke-a-Muturangi - a 15-metre wide floating cephalopoda - will be on display in the habour, sure to wow many with its scale and visual allurement.  

The initiative is put on by Aotearoa Art Fair - who are also counting down to its established four day programme inside the Viaduct Events Centre (1-4 May) - in partnership with the likes of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and leading public art biennial event Sculpture on the Gulf.

Fair Director Sue Waymouth notes that the event's vision "has always extended beyond the walls of the main event.”

She adds “While the Fair serves as a vital commercial event for galleries and artists, we’re equally committed to building cultural experiences that engage the wider public. The Sculpture Trail – made possible through the generous support of Viaduct Harbour – reflects that ambition. 

"It’s about breaking down barriers to art and creating opportunities for all Aucklanders and visitors to experience the richness of contemporary practice in their everyday surroundings.”

Ladies leading the way

There are a number of talented wāhine artists rising through the ranks of ngā toi Māori - as demonstrated by the finalists for the 2025 Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award. 

The 41 art works selected for the biennial New Zealand Portrait Gallery annual exhibition (and in the running for the $20,000 main prize) have been revealed, with emerging Māori artists aged 35 and under with whakapapa connections to the depicted tūpuna eligible to enter.

Of those finalists, 70% are female - four of them returning finalists in Karaitiana Akroyd (2023), Emiko Sheehan, Tina Walker-Ferguson and Kataraina Poi (2021).

Shannon Te Rangihaeata Clamp (2021) is another back in the final selection - with 36 participating for the first time. It's a big opportunity for these creatives, showing at both at Shed 11 in Wellington's waterfront from 22 May-17 August and their work touring the country over the next two years.

Any visual medium is allowed and that's seen a broad range of portrait interpretations from video to stop-motion puppetry, ceramics with paua inlay, oil paintings on glass, digital animation, handcrafted earth pigments on canvas, and textiles made from linen, cotton, and glass beads.

Jaenine Parkinson, Director of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery states "The quality of entries was outstanding, with each artist showing deep respect for their tūpuna through various mediums. It's incredibly inspiring to see the innovative ways emerging Māori artists are expressing their whakapapa. 

"This award is a vital platform for young artists to share their stories on a national stage while preserving the legacy of their ancestors.”

The shortlisted artworks were chosen by a distinguished panel of judges, including contemporary Māori artist Dr. Areta Wilkinson (Ngāi Tahu), Head Carver for Waikato-Tainui Renta Te Wiata (Waikato-Ngāti Māhuta, Te Arawa - Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara), and leading painter John Walsh (Aitanga a Hauiti). The winners will be announced at the exhibition opening on 21 May.

Work digs deep

Benjamin Work's set to call Auckland War Memorial Museum home for the next three months, named as the inaugural Matafatafa Aho Pacific Artist in Residence.

Selected from a strong field of Pacific creatives across Aotearoa and the wider Pacific, the residency is an opportunity to create new work inspired by the Museum’s Documentary Heritage collections - consiting of manuscript, ephemera, oral history, photographic and works on paper from the 18th century to today. 

Tāmaki Makaurau Work's practice draws from Tongan cultural history, Indigenous mark-making, and visual language systems. His work spans painting, installation, and large-scale murals, often exploring themes of identity, narrative, and cultural memory.

“I'm really interested in stories that reconnect Aotearoa back with our Moana homelands. Whether the stories are found embedded in oral traditions or written history, they all play a part in shedding light on what connects us rather than what separates us. I've had access to our physical treasures within the Pacific collection but this an honour to be selected for this unique opportunity."

Wanda Ieremia-Allan, Associate Curator Documentary Heritage (Pacific Collections) at Auckland Museum, says, “This residency is about creating space for Pacific artists to work with collections that reflect their own histories, cultures and knowledge systems. Benjamin brings a deep and considered practice to this inaugural residency, and we eagerly anticipate seeing how his work brings new life and perspective to the stories held in our Documentary Heritage collections.”