23 March – 4 May 2025

tuku 25 whakatū

Six weeks of events to share (tuku) Nelson’s unique stories of people and place.

Yes that’s right, we are all looking forward to the next Tuku festival!

Tuku 25 Programme release: March 2025

Submissions for event listings and grants for Tuku 25 are now closed.

We have had an amazing response with over 100 submissions to work though. Thank you to all who put forward ideas.

The Tuku 25 Programme will be released on this website in March 2025.

all Tuku festival events work on the same principle:

passionate “event hosts” create the events that deliver all those magic moments for the festival goers. 

Nelson City Council is immensely proud that each year, over 80% of all the festival events are delivered not by its staff, but ‘by the community, for the community’.

How Tuku 25 Whakatū supports you

Tuku 25 is a well-resourced platform to launch your heritage themed event and benefit from our $25,000 marketing campaign, to share it with the community.

We also offer $25,000 of community grants to those that need a little extra support. Grants generally range from $500 to $2000. Grants aim to subsidise event costs to keep charges for attendance down (ideally free). In this way, you can help the whole community access your activity. See our advice and the criteria for receiving a grant in our information pack.

Tuku 24 Whakatū was a blast!

Tuku 24 Whakatū delivered 120 events that were enjoyed by an estimated 18,000 people.

The cultural diversity of events rose for the fifth year running, making Tuku the most culturally diverse council-led Heritage Festival in New Zealand.

Click here to see how the festival is tracking.

Programmes & reports