Fancy a trip to space? Destination Mars has been launched and is open to Te Papa.

Destination March

Te Papa Tongarewa, until March 20, $ 25

Take the whole family to space at Destination March. The theatrical and interactive space mission is part of the Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts. Tickets: ticketmaster

Live Blues Gala and more

Mayfair Cafe, Upper Hutt, December 14, 7:30 p.m. $ 15

Mainly Acoustic Music Club got a rare appearance with singer blues guitarist Bob Cooper-Grundy and Neil Billington on blues harp harmonica. The full concert consists of three main acts with Helen Dorothy, top acoustic folk, and Cindy Muggeridge and Kate Marshall – a boogie blues duo filling the lineup.

Classical music: a celebration of Christmas

St Andrew’s on the Terrace, December 15, 12:15 p.m., koha

The final concert in the 2021 lunch series concludes with a fantastic time of song and song over the holiday season – led by conductor Mark Stamper. The celebration will feature traditional Christmas carols and light, familiar holiday songs. You will also discover the choral mix of the Wellington Male Voice Choir and some other surprises. Vaccine passes are required for this location.

NZ Trio: Dramatic Skies: Cirrus

St Andrew’s on the Terrace, December 17, 9 p.m., $ 22.50 to $ 43

Cirrus takes us to the heights of Schubert’s musical charm, plunging us into Rachel Clement’s glass sound universe. Panufnik takes us through passionate mood swings and succulent melodies reminiscent of the last French romantics; we are then transported into the nebulous cloud glow of Aotearoa in our new commission from Dame Gillian Whitehead. Tickets: eventfinda

The nest

BATS Theater, December 14-18, season ticket $ 60

The week-long festival features original works by three solo artists who will bring the street styles of Hip Hop, Krump, Vogue, Animation and Waacking from the streets of Te Whanganui-a-Tara to the BATS Theater floor. Join us for a week of solo performances, talanoa panels, dance figures, photo exhibitions and celebrations from our local street dance artists. Tickets: bats.co.nz

ROXY: a new Hollywood cabaret

WITCH Theater Company, Te Auaha, until December 18, 7:30 p.m.,

Promising to transform the theater space into a cabaret with an elevated stage and a block-seating catwalk, audiences can look forward to a Hollywood-inspired adventure. Tickets: iticket.co.nz

Hole

Circa 2 Theater: until December 18, 7:30 p.m., $ 25- $ 52

Stella, a New Zealand scientist, Ioane, a US Navy SEAL from American Samoa, and Bonny, a Greenpeace activist, meet over an Antarctic summer. What is unfolding is as dark, funny and monumental as the discovery of the ozone hole itself. Tickets: circa.co.nz

The Little Mermaid – The Pantomime

Circa Theater, until Dec 23, $ 18 – $ 52 Family pass (2 adults 2 children) $ 122

The Little Mermaid provides a lot of fun for the whole family and includes the familiar traditions of booing the bad guy, innuendo and audience participation together. Tickets: circa.co.nz

Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings

City Gallery, December 4 March 27, 10 am-5pm, $ 5- $ 22.50

To discover Secret paintings by Swedish artist and mystic Hilma af Klint whose groundbreaking work changed the course of art history. This unique exhibition of af Klint’s work in Aotearoa. Tickets: ticketmaster

Mercury Pages

City Gallery, December 4 March 27, 10 am-5pm, entry included with ticket for Hilma af Klint

The celestial art of Rita Angus, Andrew Beck and Séraphine Pick appears in Mercury Pages, the complementary exhibition of the City Gallery at Hilma af Klint: The Secret Paintings.

Eden Hore: Haute Couture / High Country

The Dowse, Lower Hutt, until March 20 10 am-5pm, Tue-Sunday, free

Escape to the glamorous and unexpected world of Eden Hore, a visionary farmer who collected over 200 couture dresses in 1970s Aotearoa. This exhibition brings together some of her most glamorous dresses with new images, taken in stunning landscapes of central Otago.

Face Time: Portraits of the 80s

The New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata, Queens Wharf, until February 13, 10 am-4:30pm, free

Face Time: Portraits of the 1980s is all about that “Big Eighties Energy” that we have come to associate with the Decade. Hair, clothes and faces are recognizable at this time. Face time is also going through some of the social, political and economic tectonic changes that have occurred over the decade.

Malice makers

Pātaka Art + Museum, Porirua, until February 6

A new exhibition that celebrates the fun and disruptive side of Maori and Moana artistic practices. Counter stereotypes, Malice makers explores works of humor and absurdity to suggest that playful and cheeky strategies have a long Indigenous history.