Heads up for Wellington's CubaDupa Festival 2016

Over the weekend of 19 and 20 March 2016, Wellington’s most iconic street is transformed to a magical interactive playground of delight, sound and taste.

Building on the success of the inaugural CubaDupa in 2015, we will be bringing an exciting range of new acts and returning some of the favorites performed by hundreds of artists and enjoyed by thousands.

CubaDupa is Wellington’s vibrant street festival revering the creative spirit of Cuba Street and the Wellington community - "Wellingtonians and visitors love the unique charm of Cuba Street as a backdrop to the marvellous performances of CubaDupa," says Mayor Celia Wade-Brown.

CubaDupa brings all walks of life together in an immersive experience to ‘Get On Up’ during the day or ‘Get On Down’ in the evening – restaurants and cafes will spill into the streets to create a culinary cacophony; people will flow through the streets and lane-ways, exploring the myriad of spaces filled with activity, music, dance, circus, theatre, and installation.

 The CubaDupa office is full of outlandish ideas, fabulous music and exciting plans as we create CubaDupa 2016 – here’s some of what we can tell you!

●      We’re adding a costuming element for CubaDupa 2016 – Head Dressing! Hats, headbands, wigs, make-up, art – we welcome YOU to get your heads together to plot a delightful adornment for your noggin!

●      Back by popular demand, The Swan Dance Hall will present a fun, interactive line up of dance performances and workshops for people to get on down and learn a multitude of dance moves.

●      The Mass Cuba St. Orchestra will return with Adam Page composing and conducting another fantastic line-up of stellar Wellington professional musicians.

●      Joining us for 2016 we are excited to welcome Taikoza and Kodama Taiko Japanese Drummers to parade through the streets, while Batucada groups from across NZ and Australia will be returning to battle it out for the most impressive costumes and performances filling the streets with Latin beats to get people dancing in the streets. 

●      The highly popular Street Food Festival is back, bringing the smorgasbord of flavours available in the Cuba Street area out onto the streets for your gastronomic enjoyment. 

●      The whole site – especially our three CubaDupa Stages, will be brimming with music  - promising something for everyone - Latin American, Balkan, Afro beats, New Orleans, Gypsy, Motown, Rock, Opera, Orchestra, and more.

“Artists from Wellington, New Zealand and the world will present extraordinary music to make you move, theatre and circus to entertain and visually exciting art that will make for a fantastic free cultural event.” - CubaDupa Artistic Director, Drew James

CubaDupa is also proud to announce we are now part of the Sustainable Business Network - our aim is to make CubaDupa an eco friendly street festival and we need your help to make this happen! We’ll be encouraging walking, cycling and public transport where possible, and we’re starting with strong recycling kaupapa, encouraging retail  and hospitality businesses to think more sustainably about their use of rubbish and packaging. We are proud to be following the amazing work and achievements made by Newtown Festival in this area.

So join us on Cuba Street 19 and 20 March 2016 - Get On Up and Get On Down at CubaDupa!

Visit CubaDupa.co.nz