Auckland Pride Festival 2025

The 2025 Programme

The Queer Bears Booknic | Albert Park (between the rotunda and the fountain) | 9th Feb, 1pm-4pm | Free

The Central City Library is hosting the First Annual Queer Bears Booknic! This is going to be a light fun meet up for our queer book worms. There'll be snacks, games and book recommendations from your lovely local queer librarians and bookish ceremonies!

Feel free to bring

- Your favorite picnic treat to share

- a cushion or blanket to sit on

- Your favorite books to talk about!

- Your library card (if you want to issue any of the books recommended by our wonderful librarians)

Please note if the weather is looking grim, the event will be moved indoors to a space in the Central City Library. Updates will be sent to confirmed attendees as well as posted on the Central City Library Facebook page!

Dress With Pride | Waitākere Room, Aotea Centre | 1st March, 10.30 AM - 12 PM | Free, but booking required

RainbowYOUTH welcomes you to ‘Dress with Pride’, a time for you to ‘get ready with us’ for the annual Auckland Pride March.

Pick out some clothes and makeup and even get a cute haircut. After that, eat some yummy kai and make some signs and badges with your friends to get you in the mood for the Auckland Pride March ahead! So, bring your crew through to prepare for the march in unity!

Booking required.

GALS: Open Rehearsal and Performance | Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki | 22 Feb 2025

GALS Auckland Rainbow Choir returns to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki for an uplifting afternoon concert! 

This outstanding community choir will share its musical highlights from last year’s concerts in the magnificent Te Ātea | North Atrium. A performance by GALS never fails to fill the Gallery and lift the roof, so come early to get a good seat! It’s a great chance to celebrate community, voice, music and choir. 

This event is part of the 2025 Auckland Pride Festival. Entry is free, however visitor capacity is limited. Please note that seating will be on a first-come-first-served basis. 12–1pm: Open Rehearsal 2–3pm: Performance

Queer Comedy | Basement Theatre | 13th-15th Feb, 9.30pm | $18-$20

No Homo is BACK for Auckland Pride, after a sold out season last year! Join regular host James Mustapic, alongside a fabulous lineup of the best queer comedians in Aotearoa for a gorge night of giggles in Basement Theatre!

Queer Voices Zine Launch | Central City Library | 12th Feb, 5.30pm | Free

This collaborative zine highlights ‘Queer Voices’ through the process of healing, representation, and creativity – ranging across the silly, challenging, and awkward moments of being a young Queer person.

This publication looks at not only the experience but as an opportunity of representation, to give a foot in the door to a range of Queer creatives and their own expressions and stories of Queerness and Pride.

This launch spotlights and celebrates this collaboration and offers a sneak preview of the zine prior to its distribution at Big Gay Out 2025.

Funny, Furry & Fierce | The Classic Comedy Club | 6th Feb 8:00 pm | $30

Funny, Furry & Fierce is back for 2025! Get ready to laugh your furry tits off! Don’t leave getting your ticket too late for this laughter-filled comedy show hosted by Neil D’Bear Thornton, joined by the nation’s furriest and fierce lineup of the best LGBTQ+ and allied comedians as they take to the stage for a night of entertainment.

Every year it’s a sell-out show! Grab your tickets and spread the word to your fellow bears – it’s going to be a night of belly laughs.

We also have Queer Beers at The Comedy Club from 6pm, join us for a drink and a nibble or two before the show

Board Gaymes | Dice & Fork | 8th Feb 1:00 pm | Free Entry

Join The Bears for an afternoon of laughter, strategy, and friendly competition at Board Game Night! Whether you’re a board game aficionado or just looking for a great time, this event is the perfect chance to connect with friends old and new over a mix of classic and modern games.

Hosted at Dice & Fork, the venue offers a fantastic selection catering to all interests and skill levels. From fast-paced card games to immersive strategy classics, there’s something for everyone. While this is a free event, please note that food and/or drink purchases are required to play the games—so treat yourself and dive into the fun!

Polaroid Wall of Pride | Ellen Melville Centre | All February

During the festival, visitors, rainbow allies, and the queer community are invited to have their portrait taken by a staff member and pinned to Ellen Melville’s evolving display board. This simple installation showcases the diversity, integration, and support within our community, creating a visual celebration of acceptance and belonging.

Smiles and dynamic profiles, fun snapshots that require no props, just your authentic self, will serve as a growing exhibition for visitors to enjoy throughout the festival. Each interaction fosters a personal connection between participants and the centre, encouraging a sense of familiarity and comfort.

At the festival's conclusion, the wall will be carefully archived, preserving this heartfelt celebration of Tāmaki Makaurau's vibrant rainbow and ally communities. Join in and leave your mark on the Polaroid Wall of Pride!

Samesame But Different | Studio One Toi Tū & Ellen Melville Centre | 12 - 15 Feb | Free Entry

Join us in 2025 to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Samesame But Different, the only festival of its kind in Aotearoa. A highlight of the literary year, Samesame will have an eclectic programme of panel discussion, book readings, poetry evenings and more! Now in its 10th year, the festival provides a space to uphold queer authors and literature with a diverse programme of panels and presentations. There is an ongoing need for spaces that champion queer literature and there is value in capturing our histories, and to reflect on the past decade.

Queer Storytime: Rere Atu Taku Poi - Let My Poi Fly With Tanagaroa Paul | Ellen Melville Centre | Feb 15th, 10am-11am | Free entry

Tangaroa Paul reads their incredible 2020 book for children of all ages, Rere Atu Taku Poi! / Let My Poi Fly!

A beautiful story about gender fluidity in a school setting. Tangaroa (Te Whare Tawhito o Muriwhenua), is a poi expert, a lecturer at AUT, and was the first non-binary person to perform in the poi section at Te Matatini. This is a free event as part of the Samesame But Different literary festival, and will include a Q&A with the author.

Free Dance Workshops with PROWL | Kinetic Dance Studios | 22nd Feb | Free

Prowl Productions, New Zealand's premiere waacking and street dance company offers FREE dance workshops. Following their successful season at Auckland Fringe with the award-winning street dance theatre show 'PROWL', the company is now offering three free dance workshops on 22 Feb 12:30-5:30 at Kinetic Dance studios, Auckland. The dance styles that will be taught during these workshops are Waacking, Vogue and Open choreography. These classes are open to 15 and up age range, with the class level described as open (not too basic, not too advanced). 
Prowl Productions have become a fixture on the New Zealand street dance theatre circuit, performing for Best of Both Worlds Showcase for Projekt Feel Good 2024, at the Future Ancestors showcase for Bad Apple Gay 2024, Auckland Pride Festival 2024 and for Pacific Dance Festival Moana showcase 2023. Don’t miss your chance to train with the Prowl Productions dancers – register your interest at prowlproductionsnz@gmail.com.

RAINBOW WALLS | Ellen Melville Centre | 15th Feb, 3pm-6pm | Free

This funky, free event invites you to immerse yourself in the artistry and activism of graffiti. Join in for a relaxed and creative afternoon as talented graffiti artist REKSO brings the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride Flag to life in a striking freestyle mural.

The event begins at the Ellen Melville Centre, where cold drinks and ice cream set the mood for a laid-back gathering. From there, we’ll take a short stroll to the mural site, where we’ll watch as the design evolves layer by layer, the artist adding his own aesthetic twist!

The Progress Pride Flag highlights inclusivity, with its arrow design symbolising the ongoing journey for BIPOC, trans, and intersex rights. This is more than just a demonstration, ask questions, learn about graffiti as a tool for protest and expression, and even try your hand at spray painting under expert guidance. Don’t miss this opportunity to chill, connect, and make your mark on Pride Festival 2025!

Queer Asian Arts Market | Ellen Melville Centre | 21st Feb, 4pm-8pm

A vibrant evening dedicated to celebrating the creativity of queer Asian artists! From 4 - 8pm in the indoor-outdoor flow of the Helen Clark Lounge. This special event features great vibes and an array of artworks, including illustrations, zines, ceramics, and more. QAAM fosters a safe, supportive space where marginalised voices can shine.

Enjoy the relaxed atmosphere with a live DJ until 9pm with cozy beanbags and deckchairs for lounging. Open to all, this event is a celebration of art, culture, and community, empowering Takatāpui and Rainbow creatives.

He Piko He Taniwha | Freyburg Steps and Studio One Toi Tū | 1st February

'He Piko He Taniwha' is a public art installation across the Freyburg Steps and facade 'drips' at Studio One Toi Tū for the duration of Pride Month.

This work explores taniwha, a being both monstrous and healing, residing in the waterways, awa and moana of this whenua, whose tail whips into our daily lives. Kahurangiariki Smith’s whakapapa to Ngāti Rangiwewehi connects her to two taniwha, Pekehaua and Hinerua. Since living back alongside te awa o Waikato, she has been working towards articulating this daily relationship with taniwha.

Kahurangiariki continues her haerenga with taniwha as ancient kaitiaki, healers, and skux best friend in this design.

Having it all all all | Gus Fisher Gallery | 21st Feb-10th May | Free Entry

Having it all all all is an exhibition of select video and performance art by international artists associated with the activism and identity politics of second-wave Feminism and its legacies. At a time when the autonomy of women’s bodies continue to be debated and co-opted as a tool for oppressive political agendas, we hope to probe consideration into these topics through a reflection of key artists and works that contribute to a dialogue of reclamation and empowerment through an intersectional Feminist lens. 

Featuring seminal works by Ana Mendieta (Cuba/USA), Howardena Pindell (USA), Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland), Martha Rosler (USA), Christa Schadt (Canada), Janice Tanaka (USA), Hannah Wilke (USA), Nil Yalter (Turkey) and more.

Accompanying the exhibition, Gus Fisher Gallery will deliver a dynamic and free public programme including bespoke performances, practical workshops and panel discussions.