Areta Wilkinson, Aberrant pendants I - VII, 2011, cast silver. Courtesy of the artist and Bartley + Company Art.

A special Auckland Arts Festival commission, Douglas Wright's 11th full-length work, rapt, was performed on The Civic stage by a company featuring some of New Zealand's finest international dancers.|Visit the Douglas Wright website

Wild Creations Residency 2011, Lake Tarawera, Madeleine Child and Philip Jarvis

Winners of the 2011 Prime Minister’s Awards For Literary Achievement: James Belich (non-fiction), Dame Fiona Kidman (fiction) and Peter Bland (poetry)

Graphic designer and carving restorer Tai Kerekere is a Te Waka Toi 2011 scholarship winner.

Stills from S J Ramir's film Cold Clay, Emptiness. The film has screened in international festivals, including the Venice Biennale

In their first outing since 2009 Fly My Pretties performed at Hagley Park, Christchurch in October 2011 with funding from a Creative New Zealand Earthquake Assistance Grant. Courtesy of Fly My Pretties and Loop.

Michel Tuffery – Sydney Festival. Photo: Mick Richards, Brisbane. |More on international opportunities

Venus Is... combines physical and aerial theatre with dance and song to recreate the intimacy and sensuality embodied in the erotic literature of authors such as James Joyce, EE Cummings, Anias Nin, and Shakespeare. Q Theatre. Part of the Erupt Lake Taupo Festival.|www.erupt.co.nz

Michael James Manaia, NZ International Arts Festival 2012, courtesy of Taki Rua Theatre

What Colour is the sacred by installation artist Tiffany Singh, the current Creative New Zealand and the National University of Samoa Artist-in-Residence.