The Program Has Been Announced for LATE at the Museum 2016

Auckland War Memorial Museum ushers in another season of their popular LATE at the Museum curated event series. Presented in association with Metro magazine, the events frame 'smart talks' against live performance, food, drinks and late night exhibition openings. Always on the pulse of current and forthcoming local issues, each LATE event hosts special guests to contribute and ponder on a central theme.

From August until November, the series invites various experts in their field for a panel discussion on diverse topics: He Mana, He Wahine, the intricacies of feminism in New Zealand and the everyday search for equality; #Slacktivism to Activism, transforming awareness into action in a time of heightened social participation; The Taste of Inequality, explores the varying local access to life's necessities, 'food deserts' and the role of food and community; The Music Machine, music as a shared experience, and how the relationship between musician, audience and critic can shape the creative output.

First out the gate, He Mana, He Wahine talks mana wahine theory, sex, activism and equality in New Zealand. Joining the panel is Courtney Sina Meredith award-winning poet, playwright, fiction writer, musician and author of the much-lauded collection of poems, Brown Girls in Bright Red Lipstick; Annah Pickering, regional co-ordinator of the New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC) Auckland Branch and policy advocate for sex workers in Aotearoa and the wider Pacific region. Dr Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, extensively published leader in the field of culture, gender and sexuality and warrior for women's and LGBT rights; Dr Pala Molisa, Victoria Business School lecturer, researcher in the radical concept of social and critical accounting and life long protester for gender justice and Pacific development. Accompanying the talk will be a live performance by Okareka Dance Company. The all-female work draws on the true story of heroine Te Aokapurangi of Mokoia Island to translate the life force of women into fluidity, dance and movement.

The following panel discussions promise audiences a portal into the minds of outstanding individuals, contributing to New Zealand culture, politics and society via diverse routes and mediums. With a lineup to look forward too, future panelists include Toby Morris, writer and illustrator of non-fiction comic 'The Pencilsword' – Morris' noteworthy attempt to engage everyday citizens with political and social issues that effect our wider communities but can be easily overlooked; Dame Diane Robertson, the former fearless leader of Auckland City Mission and catalyst for the Family 100 Research Project, a food bank study that has since been used to inform NZ policy development; Laura O'Connell Rapira, director of campaigns at ActionStation and co-founder of RockEnrol, a volunteer organization which aims to mobilise the political power of youth through popular culture and grassroots community.

Check out the LATE at the Museum event page for further details on the upcoming events. Full price tickets to each LATE are $20, or $10 for Museum Institute members and students with valid ID.