Banff Mountain Film Festival
We're bringing the epic adventure of the Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival to you!

We wanted to provide a curated program of free Festival films that are available online for you to watch at home with your family.

Bricks for Kids: Build, learn and connect with Lego
An online programme is designed to facilitate children’s need to connect socially from the safety and comfort of their homes.

This 1-hour fun programme is guided by our friendly teacher and gives children the opportunity to express and present their ideas and creativity in LEGO model building and speech presentation.

Student Age: 5-6, 7-9
Class Duration: 60 mins
Price: $18 / Class

Auckland philharmonic orchestra - virtual play in orchestra
Calling instrumentalists of all ages and skill levels who love orchestral music! This is your chance to join the APO with our virtual community play along.

For this special event, participants will appear in a video playing with APO counterparts to create a mass online community orchestra performing Radetsky March by Johann Strauss Sr. Music has been specially arranged so that everyone can join in.

Submissions closed. The final video release date will be announced soon.

Show Me Shorts International Film Festival
It’s a strange and anxiety inducing time in the world right now. We need good vibes more than ever! I feel confident that the resilient spirit of our people in Aotearoa New Zealand will see us through the period of rāhui by staying at home and looking after each other. To help you stay positive and entertained through lock-down limbo I’ve picked three uplifting and fun short films for the latest edition of our Screening Room. The following shorts will help put a smile on your dial as people – and animals – sort out their differences and come together to celebrate life.

Home-made Poetry
Tauranga Arts Festival presents poems by New Zealand authors read by ordinary New Zealanders. 

Two videos posted every Monday at midday.

Stroppy Women: Escape!
Tauranga Arts Festival presents audio recordings from Escape! 2018. 

Talking to Michele A'Court are Stroppy Women writer Tracey Slaughter, former MP Sue Bradford and former Tauranga City Councillor Mary Dillon.

The NZ Project: Escape!
Tauranga Arts Festival presents audio recordings from Escape! 2018.  

Max Harris talks about his second chance at life and his vision for a kinder way of running politics.

Scents of a Landscape: Escape!
Tauranga Arts Festival presents audio recordings from Escape! 2018.  

Novelist Laurence Fearnley and Harold Jones, co-director of Queenstown Natural Perfumiers, discuss the importance of scent in our lives and how a walk outside can be enhanced by switching on our sense of smell.

Things That Matter: Escape!
Tauranga Arts Festival presents audio recordings from Escape! 2018.  

David Galler, intensive care specialist at Middlemore Hospital, and youth worker, poet and GP Glenn Colquhoun talk to medical student Emma Espiner about the language of caring, our broken health system, and the pain and pleasure of working with people at their lowest ebb.

Te Araroa: Escape!
Tauranga Arts Festival presents audio recordings from Escape! 2018.

Geoff Chapple, founder of Te Araroa , takes us on a virtual tour of the walkway that stretches the length of New Zealand.

Escape at Home: Escapade
Looking for something fun to do while in isolation? Our expert escape game developers have been busy creating two unique games for you… we are bringing our escape room fun to you at home.

How we Met: Escape!
Comedian and author Michele A’Court talks about the relationship stories, and the science behind them, that she collected for her 2018 book, ‘How We Met’.

Creative Sparks: Escape!
Enjoy the sparks that fly when five Tauranga creatives meet objects from Tauranga’s Heritage Collection. Following an introduction by Tauranga Museum curator Fiona Kean, are David Tauranga (stereoscope); Marion Arts (World War 1 commemorative medallion); Simon Taylor (locally invented hot-water cylinder); Angie Belcher (Eastman Kodak Graflex Press camera); and Que Bidois (image of his ancestor Raukawa Te Mete).

Home-made Poetry Part 2
NZ poems read by New Zealanders, making a DIY video. This posting has Phillips Garage owner Sandra Phillips reading 'Little Red Car' by Elizabeth Smither; and Brother Andrew McKean, chaplain at Waikato University, read 'Evensong' by Leonard Lambert. 

Home-made Poetry Part 3
NZ poetry read by New Zealanders in DIY videos. This posting features retired Tauranga Girls' College drama teacher Debby Meldrum reading 'Blatant Resistance' by Bub Bridger; and Scots-born Tauranga resident Doug Hendry reading 'Keep it Up' by Brian Turner.

Teen Writer's Group
If you’re 13-18 and love creative writing, Tauranga City Libraries has a Google Classroom you can join at www.classroom.google.com – click the link, simply enter the join class code 'l467lfm' to participate in writing activities and chat. BYO snacks! If you'd like to check out other free online resources from Libraries, check out Bubble Life, a weekly e-magazine with tons of fun and interactive activities for kids, families and grownups!

Book Club
If reading is your happy place and you are aged between 5-18, we have Tauranga City Libraries virtual book club. Anyone around the world can join, which makes it even more enjoyable! There are links to podcasts, bookish activities, recipes, art and crafts and book discussions. Head to our google classroom - click the link and then click to "join" classroom. The code is "qbz5fd4". If you'd like to check out other free online resources from Libraries, check out Bubble Life, a weekly e-magazine with tons of fun and interactive activities for kids, families and grownups!

Toddler Time
Exciting news! Our Toddler Time sessions are back in digital form. Sing, dance and listen along to our librarians with all your favourites and learn some new song as well. Great way to start the morning! we will be live-streaming on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30am. Simply visit our Facebook page to join in the fun. If you'd like to check out other free online resources from Libraries, check out Bubble Life, a weekly e-magazine with tons of fun and interactive activities for kids, families and grownups!

Land of Opportunity: Escape!
Financial journalist Bernard Hickey, medical student and writer Emma Espiner (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Porou) and Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller talk to Max Harris (author of ‘The New Zealand Project’) about the shape of this country’s future. Replay from Escape! 2018.

On the Barricades: Escape!
Former Green MP and long-time activist Sue Bradford talks about her life and why protest has mattered to her since the age of 15. Replay from Escape! 2018.

Home-made Poetry Part 4
This posting features former Māori All Black captain Errol Brain reading 'The Sportsman Drops a Goal' by James Norcliffe; and former Tauranga Arts Festival staffer (and now director of Verb Wellington) Claire Mabey reading 'Child, 5.30am'' by Alison Wong.

Home-made Poetry Part 5
This posting features incredible edibles co-owner Fiona Boylan, of Katikati, reading 'The feijoas are falling from the trees' by Louise Wallace; and Mt Maunganui landscape architect Richard Hart reading 'In a town garden' by Jan Hutchison.

Engage at Home: An Instrumental Voyage Pae Tawhiti, Pae Tata
An orchestral journey through the history of New Zealand from pre-European times.  

You can watch this concert along with other concerts online at nzso.co.nz/live and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's Youtube channel.

Mini Mauis
Maritime Museum has a kids club with fun activities.

Sign up to the NZ Maritime Museum’s kids club and receive a quarterly activity pack + a complimentary annual sailing pass for your child on their birthday!

CityRail Link - Primary school artwork for Aotea Station
CityRail Link (CRL) is calling on all primary school-aged kids from across New Zealand to paint and draw images that will then be fired onto ceramic tiles and used to decorate our new CRL Aotea underground station. If you’re between the ages of five and 11 and live in New Zealand CRL need your help!

CRL is looking for artwork from you showing where you’d want to go on a train once the new underground rail project is built. They have some awesome pictures already – from taking a journey to a neighbourhood dairy, to under the sea, to the moon, and even the Eiffel tower.

Home-made Poetry: Finale!
Tauranga Arts Festival presents poems by New Zealand authors read by New Zealanders. We go out with a special edition - three videos instead of two. Final posting features Tauranga-raised London-resident actor Niamh Blackman reading 'Iceland Poppies' by Ruth Dallas; Tauranga-raised, Melbourne-based dancer and choreographer Michael Ralph reading ' Poem to a mouse about to be caught in a trap' by Elizabeth Smither; and Katharine Blackman of Tauranga reading 'When I am in doubt' by Glenn Colquhoun.

Songs for Aotearoa New Zealand: Escape!
Poet Glenn Colquhoun shares some of his song-poems and their stories . Glenn Colquhoun has explored Māori and Pakeha forms of oral poetry to create his own ‘songs for Pakeha to sing’, some inspired by real figures from New Zealand’s history, as well as some mythical figures. Our final audio replay from Escape! 2018.