Whau the People proudly presents Sound Bites, a free event series to warm up the month of June with good food, live music and creative making each Friday evening at All Goods.
Enjoy performances by inspiring musicians while having a bite to eat, before washing down those good vibes with a chaser of creative workshops led by a rotation of brilliant artists. Bring the whānau, all are welcome.
Tautoko to Auckland Unlimited for supporting these events, Crescendo for curating the music line up and I Love Avondale for the #FreshPerspectiveAD exhibition hook up.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
wtp x
Live Music by LAVENDER
Comic Drawing with TIM DANKO
A bit more about this week’s artists:
LAVENDER
20-year-old Auckland singer-songwriter Lavender started her musical journey by busking on the wild streets of St Heliers. She bravely faced the weather, the locals, and having to keep asking her mum to drop her off and pick her up (thanks, Mum).
She has reached the finals in competitions like the Smokefreerockquest, Play it Strange, Let’s Talk About It, WordUp and much more. Lavender has shared the stage with some of Auckland’s most promising, emerging artists at the Corbans Estate Arts Festival, performed for The Spinoff in 2019 at Te Oro and, during lockdown life in 2020, The ‘Virtual Jam Cellar.’ She has also performed at Youth Arts New Zealand events such as busking during the America’s Cup racing in 2021, and performed at the 2021 Auckland Arts Festival.
TIM DANKO
Tim has been producing comics and exhibiting for over 30 years in Melbourne and Auckland and has had his work published in Australia, New Zealand, France, and Canada. His comics have been acquired in the print collection of the Australian National Gallery in Canberra. Tim has run comic and printmaking workshops for all ages in Australia and New Zealand, has been a tutor in digital animation and design at Natcoll, and is currently an art tutor at Mapura Studios. Tim has been a founding and contributing member of the Silent Army Comic Art Collective in Melbourne and has a continuing publishing relationship with The Hoochie Coochie and Adverse comic imprints in France.
Live Music by MAHAANI MAIAVA
Learn to weave with AHI NYX
A bit more about this week’s artists:
MAHAANI MAIAVA (he / him)
Born and raised in South Auckland Manurewa and Northland’s Kaikohe, Māori-Samoan Singer-Songwriter and Producer, Mahaani Maiava brings to you his sweet and ruff style of Soul, Hiphop, and Roots music
With over 5 years of experience in the live band scene in Auckland, Mahaani Maiava the artist steps back into the songwriters chair and immerses himself into his own world
AHI NYX
A Māori weaver and activist is the creator of Ahi Raranga and the infamous Ahi Hoops – harakeke hoop earrings covered in karakia of strength and protection.
My wānanga focuses on helping tauira feel a connection to harakeke rongoā, the healing powers of harvesting, and working with an indigenous and easily sourced native plant of Aotearoa. My mahi helps decolonise myself, my life and the world around me.
Live Music by KATIE LEE
Poetry with COURTNEY SINA MEREDITH
A bit more about this week’s artists:
Katie Lee (they / them)
Katie-Lee is a 17 year old artist from Tāmaki Makaurau who is constantly inspired by the world around them. After releasing their debut single “Lonely Hearts Club” in 2021, they have spent time truly honing in on their craft.
Courtney Sina Meredith
Courtney Sina Meredith, The University of Auckland’s Young Alumna of The Year 2021, is a distinguished cultural leader and author whose work delves into issues such as racism, sexism and poverty, and draws on her Samoan roots. Courtney has been awarded prestigious creative opportunities around the globe.
Cited by the Guardian as a potential future Booker Prize Winner and by the BBC as a poet of ‘sparkling eloquence’, her writing has taken her from mountain top villages in Indonesia, to The House of Lords in London, to the gardens of Frida Kahlo in Mexico City.
Live Music by DEAN CHURCH
Celebrate Tanabata with AKIKO DIEGEL
A bit more about this week’s artists:
Dean Church
Inspired by artists such as Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Ed Sheeran to name a few. Dean is a Multi-Instrumentalist Singer/Songwriter, playing a dynamic range of covers from Rock, Blues, Reggae, R&B, & more. Equipped with a strong rhythmic proficiency on Stompbox & Guitar, combined with his vocal range there is no doubt Dean makes a big sound, solo or with the band.
West Auckland Musician, Dean cut his teeth busking around his local, later taking all the opportunities to become a well-studied Musician. Dean continues to study, learn & immerse himself in all aspects of the music industry, & since quarantine, Dean has performed across a number of live venues & functions across Auckland.
Akiko Diegel
Akiko Diegel was born in Japan and has lived in Japan, Middle east, North America, Europe and many years of her life in New Zealand. After living in several countries, She moved to new Zealand and graduated with Master in Fine Arts at Elam School of fine Arts, University of Auckland in 2008.
Since 2005, Diegel was selected to exhibit in a number of significant group and solo exhibitions in Gus Fisher Gallery, Hastings city art gallery, Stark White Gallery, Tauranga Art Gallery, The New Dowse Gallery, Wallace art Trust in New Zealand, New York and Sweden. Akiko Diegel’s work is held in public and private collection in New Zealand and world wide.
In this Workshop, we will learn about the Tanabata festival that is celebrated every year, on the 7th day of the 7th Month of the year in Japan.
Tanabata is based on a legend and has a history of over 700 years. The celebration is considered to be a magical night when dreams come true! Learners will make the decoration that is used for the celebration, and include their own wishes in their creation.
Fresh Perspectives is an exhibition of photographs by Ofaira Taito, Helena Cocker-Valu, Rebecca Ronald and Rajeev Nedumaran who have captured Avondale through their eyes, there’s familiarity and the overlooked in what they see!
Thanks to I Love Avondale for curating the Fresh Perspective series on their Instagram page, we are stoked to be able to bring these artists photographs from digital to print! #freshperspectivead
We are excited to have limited edition posters to give away at our Friday events! These won’t last long, so make sure you get along.
OFAIRA TAITO
Ofaira Taito: “Talofa Lava, I am a 23-year-old female. I was born and raised in Western Samoa. My Āiga moved to New Zealand in 2011 and we stayed in Avondale for 9 years. My siblings and I attended Avondale College. We still consider Avondale our hood even though we’ve moved out. What I love about Avondale Community the most is how individuals acknowledge the importance of cultural diversity in schools, churches, and the neighbourhood. Avondale brings their different knowledge, background, experience and interest for the benefit of their diverse community. Avondale will always be our neighbourhood.”
HELENA COCKER-VALU
“My family and I moved from Ponsonby into Avondale, Christmas of 2006. Moving from a heavily gentrified area, to one that’s now slowly in its own process of change; has been quite telling in the way my own perception of the world is now.
Avondale has kept me grounded over the years I’ve grown into my adulthood. Attending a predominantly white school on the North shore, it was always nice knowing my commute home by bus and train would lead me back into the heart of 828. When I use to leave Akl city and return back, I would never say ‘it’s good to be back home’ until our car took the loop of the Avondale roundabout.
The community here is strong, I’ve only just realised that in recent months having finally built up the courage to start volunteering in local initiatives – it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve made. My feelings are mixed atm to seeing new shops and restaurants popping up that you’d usually only see in central akl.. but I guess that’s the pacific in me talking who’s weary of seeing forced change where it does not necessarily need to be made at that moment.
Nonetheless, I’ve loved being able to call Avondale my home for the past 15 or so years – hoping this new progress we’re headed into, continues to see the light of those who walked the grounds of 8ight2wenty8ight before them.
Ofa atu 
”
RAJEEV NEDUMARAN
“The Avondale community has always supported my creative endeavours. From my introduction to photography podcasts to doing photo walks through the main street, it is always been fun expressing myself here. When I found the all goods art space, I found a group of like-minded folks to support my art. When you walk through Avondale’s main street and see all the vibrant indigenous businesses, you are so reminded of where you come from. This is what I have tried to capture in these photographs. The things that remind me of home. That’s what Avondale is all about for me.”
REBECCA RONALD
“I’m from rural NZ and have been living in Avondale since 2013. I love the colour in our community – bright clothes, roadside flowers, multi-hued sunsets over the Waitakeres, people of all ages and backgrounds mixing it up in our homes and streets. There’s quite a creative vibe in the town centre at the moment, and a groundswell of sustainability awareness helping us appreciate our environment. I love walking and cycling the hidden paths of Avondale, discovering bridges and creeks and muddy mangroves with their wealth of biodiversity. I enjoy finding beauty in unexpected places – a plant growing out of a crack in the pavement, a shining dewy spider web, a random smile :)”
