Full season of Monica Brewster Evening speakers announced for 2026

Speakers at the Monica Brewster Evening series at NPDC’s Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre will guide audiences in exploring different perspectives on visionary dreaming in their conversations this year.

The 2026 programme for the popular monthly speaker series, titled Visionary Dreams, kicks off on 10 March and will feature Maria Lind, Tusiata Avia, Toeolesulusulu Damon Salesa, Vince Ropitini, Leki Jackson-Bourke, Katie Wolfe, Kimberley Moulton and Nathan Taare.

Together, these influential artists, writers, thinkers and cultural leaders will deliver a year of conversations exploring how visionary dreaming can be grounded in place, ancestry, community and creative practice.

“This year, we’re thinking about visionary dreams not as distant ideals, but as layered conversations shaped by place, ancestry, lived experience and the work of imagining otherwise,” says Elaine Rollins, Public Programs and Learning Officer at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre.

“Each speaker brings a distinct perspective on what emerges when communities, artists, thinkers and leaders choose to dream with clarity, courage and care. Across the series, audiences are invited to consider how dreaming can be relational, grounded and deeply local – as well as expansive enough to hold global entanglements,” says Elaine.

Public Programs and Learning Lead Lleah Smith says “These conversations illuminate what becomes possible when we listen to where we stand, and to one another.”

2026 Speakers:

• 10 March: Maria Lind
  International curator exploring what it means to “dig where we stand”, drawing on creative practice shaped by the Swedish Arctic.
• 14 April: Tusiata Avia
  Award-winning poet and performer reflecting on truth-telling, vulnerability and the power of language to challenge and transform.
• 12 May: Toeolesulusulu Damon Salesa
  Scholar and AUT Vice Chancellor examining the Moana as a site of deep history, identity and visionary future-making.
• 9 June: Vince Ropitini (Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāruahinerangi me Whakatōhea)
  Emerging Māori fashion designer exploring how Te Ao Māori worldview reshapes global fashion narratives.
• 14 July: Leki Jackson-Bourke and Lalaga Youth Ambassadors
  A conservation on rangatahi leadership, Pasifika identity and their landmark creative journey to ASB Polyfest 2026.
• 11 August: Katie Wolfe (Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Toa Rangatira)
  Acclaimed storyteller discussing empathy, difficult histories and the risks and responsibilities of truthful, emotionally grounded art.
• 8 September: Kimberley Moulton (Yorta Yorta)
  Yorta Yorta curator reimagining museums as places of care, cultural continuity and Indigenous resurgence.
• 13 October: Nathan Taare (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Tama)
  Multidisciplinary scent artist exploring fragrance as whakapapa, memory and intimate lived experience.

Events take place on the second Tuesday of each month at 6–7.30pm. Tickets available from the Gallery’s reception or online at Tickets – Govett-Brewster Shop.

Continuing a legacy established in 1999, the Monica Brewster Evenings honour the forward-thinking spirit of the Gallery’s founding donor, Monica Brewster, whose commitment to contemporary art laid the groundwork for bringing bold ideas to Ngāmotu/New Plymouth.

Monica Brewster Evenings are generously supported by Govett Quilliam the Lawyers, with event support from L’Epicure catering and Michael Radich Winemerchant.

At a glance:

• The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery opened in 1970, funded by a bequest from local woman Monica Brewster (nee Govett).
• Launched in 1999, the Monica Brewster Evening series delivers monthly public talks featuring creative thinkers, artists and cultural practitioners.