Te Papa is celebrating its 10th birthday with a 12 hour festival of music, dance, workshops and floor talks on Saturday 16 February from 10am – 10pm. All events are free and a full programme is attached.
Te Papa will swing into the celebrations with a range of acts and activities throughout the building including the City of Wellington Pipe Band, Dutch Street Organ, Cook Island drummers, kapa haka, weaving demonstrations and hula workshops.
Festival highlights include the reprisal of Gareth Farr’s composition Te Papa, performed by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and guest singers, celebrated Indonesian dancer Didik Nini Thowok performing with the Gamelan Orchestra, a special kung fu performance by the world-renowned Shaolin Monks and Te Papa curators showcasing precious objects from the collection.
At 12noon, visitors will be able to sample a piece of Te Papa’s birthday cake – a massive 20m long chocolate lamington in Te Papa’s Oceania function room on Level 3. It will take the chefs almost 20 hours of continuous baking and 12 hours of preparation to ensure the cake is ready for the celebration. A Super Sausage Sizzle will also be on sale throughout the day in the Amphitheatre.
There will be plenty to keep the kids entertained with Discovery Centre craft activities, face painting by the fabulous BodyFX team, roaming costumes characters and Cadbury’s will be giving away free chocolate fish from 11am – 5pm.
The evening will see performances by Wellington Ukulele Orchestra and the Real Hot Bitches comedy dance troupe and Julia Deans of Fur Patrol before the fabulously lavish Queen of the Whole Universe pageant is staged in the Wellington Foyer. Fireworks by Te Papa’s waterfront will conclude the day.
> See the detailed programme and artists' biographies
Download a printable version (pdf, 83 kB)