Pōneke Finds Collective Joy At Cubadupa 2025

On the weekend of 29-30 March, CubaDupa 2025 lit up Pōneke’s Cuba Quarter, filling the colourful streets and parks that define the district with a staggering array of music, dance, theatre, visual arts, market stands, food stalls, and spontaneous street performances. Over 19 hours of programmed events, 275 acts and groups (1,219 individual artists) presented over 324 performances and six commissioned works across the festival’s 41 stages and creative zones, bringing cheer and good spirits to the city from morning to night.

CubaDupa 2025 marked another year of street festivities in one of the most popular zones in Pōneke, Cuba Quarter. Over the last decade, the annual two-day free, family-friendly street festival has become a marquee event in the capital’s calendar, presenting several successive generations of emerging and established creative talent to sprawling audiences.

Festival Director, Bianca Bailey says: “There is lots of CubaDupa magic to be celebrating this week. I can’t believe it’s over. Arohanui to the CubaDupa team, all of our artists, performers, crew, partners, supporters, suppliers and local businesses who make it all possible!”

This year, CubaDupa’s theme was ‘communal joy.’ This energy was present throughout the festival’s diverse entertainment programme, but what really helped take things to the next level was the enthusiasm of the countless retail and hospitality businesses that inhabit the Cuba Quarter, many of whom hosted pop-up parties throughout the weekend. Whether you were at one of CubaDupa’s main stages, taking a break in a nearby cafe or bar, or simply strolling Cuba Street, fun, merriment, and connection were close at hand! If summer has to end, as it always must, this was the perfect way for Pōneke to send the warmest season off.

After a mihi whakatau and powerful performance by Hiwa, the weekend tunes began to ramp up on the Wellington Airport Ngā Taniwha Stage with the New Zealand School Of Music’s Te Kōkī Big Band One. Led by Daniel Hayles, the band showed off the next generation of local jazz talent in a swinging, brassy jazz-funk style. Over at Glover Park stage, Danse Macabre warmed things up with their gothic trip-hop beats, followed soon after by Groove Council’s improvisational jazz collective—that even included appearances from local councillors such as Her Worship Tory Whanau. Lila and Crystal Chen took to the Ngā Toi O Te Aro Stage and Wellington Airport Ngā Taniwha Stage respectively bringing Pasifika jazz-gospel and modern lounge sounds to audiences.

On the first day of CubaDupa 2025, Her Worship the Mayor, Tory Whanau said: “CubaDupa has barely begun and it’s already spectacular! The sun is shining, the streets are full of people and Wellington is being its fabulous self! CubaDupa is such a fantastic investment in our cultural capital and showcases the best of our city. We need more of this.”

As Cuba Street bustled and heaved, crowds headed off the main strip to check out the delights offered elsewhere across the festival. At the Garage Project Wild Workshop Stage off Marion Street, Flowerstream conjured up a mystical world of sound, and Romi Wrights & The Commotions threw down some throwback soul and funk. Around the corner, DJs like Dusty and Goldtooth spun lush dub, beats, and upfront club tunes on the Valhalla Carpark Stage, while a new generation of hip-hop artists rocked inside the Valhalla venue. On upper Cuba Street, the Laundry x Wellington Seamarket Yard Party DJs kept the open-air dance floor grooving, and the Colossal Container Stage contributed to the shenanigans with circus and cabaret performances, as well as the odd daredevil stunt.

By the time the evening hit, the vibes were picking up all around. It was fantastic to have emerging artists such as A.R.T, Jade Merematira, and Jola Burns, alongside established New Zealand acts like Mā & The Fly Hunnies, Chelsea Jade and Silver Scroll 2024 winner Anna Coddington, who rocked receptive audiences with hip-hop/soul, synth-pop, and Te Reo Māori funk. The party and the collective joy didn’t play out in one location though, it happened everywhere. Whether it was the thrill of watching teenage DJs play for the first time at the Aotearoa DJ Academy Stage on Manners Street, watching jazz bands in Hannahs Courtyard, stumbling through parades, or the numerous pop-up parties going down all over the city, the vibe was collective and electric. Some highlights from the final hours of the evening included Birdparty lighting up the Garage Project Wild Workshop Stage with their industrial post-punk energy before BBYFACEKILLA sealed the deal with a percussive party DJ set.

Back at the Valhalla Carpark Stage, Caru had the punters bouncing to his 90s/Y2K remixes, while Galactic funksters Black Comet and the Central Auckland rap star Diggy Dupé had the Ngā Toi O Te Aro Stage and the Glover Park Stage moving. Those who had to go home went home, and those who didn’t kept the night alive at afterparties across Pōneke.

Sunday at CubaDupa saw an influx of whānau groups, a cruise-ship stopover crowd, and both new and returning audiences from the previous day. By lunchtime, the Cuba Quarter had come back to life for the festival. As the kid's music band Fun & Funner, fronted by Karen O’Leary (celebrity officer of Wellington Paranormal) and Orchestra Wellington opened up the Wellington Airport Ngā Taniwha Stage, the smell of freshly cooked street food and the promise of further fun drifted through the city. On the Ngā Toi O Te Aro Stage, Te KuraHuia shared her joyfully exquisite Māori-Pasifika R&B music. Down at the Glover Park Stage, the alt-rock/power-pop group Dateline reminded us that even in the face of a major moment for DJ culture, rock isn’t dead. However, if you headed up Cuba Street to the Laundry x Wellington Seamarket Yard Party, Pōneke house DJ duo Mi Casa Su Casa made an equally strong case for dance music.

The streets were treated to Mass Frevo Orchestra, a huge performance led by multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, composer and arranger Bryn van Vliet in collaboration with Brazilian music specialist Darryn Sigley. Inspired by the vibrant and energetic music style from northern Brazil, the orchestra spread infectious rhythms as it paraded down the street for a final performance at the Wellington Airport Ngā Taniwha stage. Van Vliet led a chant that encompassed a collective pride for the festival: “Viva! Viva! Viva, CubaDupa!” Just through Swan Lane bordering the stage, was the Sunday Market led by Foxtail Events. The market was stocked with treasures from local small businesses and offered time-out from the heaving crowds as well as face-painting and tarot readings.

As two days of blue skies and bright sun turned golden, CubaDupa 2025 wrapped up on the Wellington Airport Ngā Taniwha Stage with a rare Pōneke appearance from the Tāmaki Makaurau-based spiritual jazz big band, The Circling Sun. Wowing the most committed of festival attendees with extravagant and soaring instrumentals, the work of many became bigger than the sum of its individual parts. Considering the 2025 theme of collective joy, it was a fitting conclusion to the huge weekend.

CubaDupa was held as a free event on Saturday March 29 and Sunday March 30, in Pōneke’s fully pedestrianised Cuba Quarter. This free-to-the-public event was possible because of ongoing support from the Wellington City Council and numerous sponsors and partners of CubaDupa and its umbrella organisation, Creative Capital Arts Trust.

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