CubaDupa Festival Returning next year!

Sound the trumpets! Te Whanganui-a-Tara's CubaDupa community extravaganza finally returns after a year-long pause (due to Covid disruptions), bringing the party back to Cuba Street precinct over two days in March 2023. Family-friendly and absolutely free, CubaDupa is much more than just a music festival, activating the streets with "diverse curated performances, interactive installations, extraordinary cultural experiences, roaming dance and music ensembles, entire street take-overs and just general good vibes". An annual tradition in the capital, to give you some idea of the iconic event's scale, the 2020 edition included the Cubasonic "mass musical interruption" involving "over 300 musicians lining the street, twelve conductors above the crowd, a custom-made overhead sound system" (check out footage below). The multi-venue, multi-stage festival's first lineup will be revealed at the end of January, but everyone can now confidently save the date and get the whānau together for 25th and 26th March 2023.

“After a huge festival in 2021, we can’t wait to put CubaDupa back on the streets. The 2023 programme for CubaDupa has been two years in the making and will blow people away with a massive dose of creativity. The portal theme plays with the idea of transformation of people and streets, exploring the CubaDupa universe. With over 28 stages and creative zones there will be a multitude of worlds to choose from. Save the date!” — Drew James, Chief Executive of Creative Capital Arts Trust and producer of CubaDupa