The river running through the festival site flows from a watershed that’s now under real threat. Just 5km up the Cobb Valley lies Sam’s Creek, a treasured awa and the proposed site of a gold mine currently under exploration. If it proceeds, the impacts will be devastating. Habitat loss, heavy machinery, acid mine drainage, and—most serious—the high arsenic levels in the mined rock. Arsenic doesn’t break down. It could poison the Takaka River and the sacredTe Waikoropupū Springs downstream forever. 

Join Water Protectors Tim Firkin and Verena Maeder for a grounded kōrero about what’s happening at Sam’s Creek, how this community is mobilising, and why your voice matters. This is a chance to connect, learn what’s at stake, and co-create a collective message from the festival: Cobb Valley & Sam’s Awa — Ours Not Mine.

Help the cause, you can sign the petition here: https://www.saveoursprings.nz/
Find out more on the facebook: www.facebook.com/saveourspringsnz

Protect the Cobb Valley from toxic Arsenic Mining

Step into a space where sound and movement meet.

Guided by Bridie Munro, the session begins with simple somatic movements to help settle into the body and space. The class then builds toward exploring more active, playful shapes through accessible variations of familiar flows. It winds down with longer-held stretches, restorative poses, and a restful savasana to close the practice.

Jack Hooker compliments the session with a live, continuous musical soundscape that blends meditative fingerstyle acoustic guitar and ambient textures. His performance evolves throughout the session and is directly shaped by the breath, presence, and energy of the participants. Together, the music and movement create an immersive exploration of sound and body that supports a deep, contemplative, and moving holistic experience.

No prior experience is required. Participants are welcome to move with the guidance or simply rest/riff and let the music support them — just showing up and being present is enough.

Bridie Munro is a compassionate yoga teacher and registered massage therapist passionate about bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and embodied experience. She specialises in adapting yoga and bodywork for people with diverse physical needs, from injury recovery to chronic pain and medical conditions. ​

Jack Hooker is a musician who creates atmospheric electronic and acoustic guitar music. His creative output spans solo acoustic guitar, electro-doom duo The Shocking and Stunning, soundscape duo Ambient Ousìa, and international music collaborations across Indonesia, the Philippines, Greece and beyond.

Together, Bridie and Jack offer a grounded and genuine experience where sound and movement meet — inviting presence, playfulness, and connection without pressure.

You can find more from Bridie and Jack on their websites: www.bridiemunro.com/ & www.jackhooker.co.nz/

Sound in Motion - Yoga and Live Music with Bridie Munro and Jack Hooker ​

Kahurangi National Park is a biodiversity hotspot and is home to at least 9 species of wētā and 14 species of cave wētā - a level of diversity that is found nowhere else in New Zealand. 

Some of these species are common, others are critically endangered. 

Come along to learn about the local wētā biodiversity and the threats faced by these unique and treasured species. 

You can find out more at: www. wetaconservation.org.nz 

Wētā of Kahurangi National Park and their conservation

Step into a beginner-friendly workshop where we explore how modern AI tools are transforming the way software is created. In the past, coding was something that felt out of reach for many - requiring years of study before you could bring even the simplest ideas to life. Today, with AI at your side, those barriers are breaking down. What once seemed impossible is now accessible, intuitive, and astonishingly fast.
This workshop is about showcasing that shift. You’ll see how anyone - even those with no prior coding experience - can turn ideas into working apps in minutes. You’ll also get a taste of how more advanced “agentic workflows” can guide AI to build, extend, and refine systems alongside you, as if you had a team of co-developers working in the background.


This isn’t a coding bootcamp, and it’s not about overwhelming you with jargon. It’s about showing what’s possible right now. You’ll leave with inspiration, clarity, and practical next steps - whether that means tinkering with your first AI-assisted app or rethinking how you approach bigger projects.
The focus is on awe and wonder at what can be achieved when the right tools are properly harnessed. 
It's reasonably absurd what is possible nowadays. The entire landscape of AI driven software development has been entirely transformed in just the past 6 months with the advent of agent-driven workflows becoming so commonplace and easy to access - this workshop is a chance to see that firsthand.





AI-Agent Assisted Software Development - Summoning Software in the age of AI

Music is an incredibly widespread, ubiquitous phenomenon. In fact, there have been no recorded encounters with any culture, society, or group of people without music. Why is music everywhere? Why is it so important to us? Why does it affect us in such powerful, transformative ways? 


The focus of this talk: discovering the true depth of music's innate nature. Showcasing how music is universal across all cultures and and eras of our shared history. This presentation will speak from an evolutionary standpoint, discussing how we have adaptively evolved music, why it has remained such a prominent aspect of life, how this greatly influences our social and sexual lives, and why the intrinsic nature of music means that EVERY ONE OF US can innately create music - in fact, we have ALL been musicians our entire life. 
Topics covered include: Musilanguage - how the early evolution of language actually began with music; Baby-talk and infant-directed-speech - how even as infants, we begin our learning of language through simple rhythm, melody and intonation; Physical rhythmicality - walking, breathing, and your heartbeat; Socio-musical influences and WHY you like the genres of music you like; Exploring the concept of tension and release, build ups, drops, and the bizarre psychological mechanisms we all experience when listening to music. Food for thought as you go forward into your Twisted Frequency experience! 


This presentation is designed to both captivate and inspire you. You are a born a natural creator, and music is an entirely natural, innate feature of consciousness. A feature so ancient and ingrained that we each unconsciously engage with it daily - every time you speak, you are improvising through the musical medium of sound. Come and experience some of the fascinating journey that has led us to this amazing place - being blessed in 2023 with a near infinite diversity of musical experiences right at hand - a wonder that our ancestors could never have predicted.


Drawing from years of professional experience and deep study as a jazz musician, John Sned has taken improvised music and brought it into alignment with the limitless possibilities of modern music production technology.
Since completing his Bachelor of Music at the Christchurch Jazz School in 2010, John has been performing as a multi-instrumental musician and electronic producer in numerous bands & projects across a great diversity of genres, in both New Zealand and Australia.

You can find more from John Sned at his insta & website - @snedmusic & https://www.snedmusic.com/


Music as a Biological Function in Humans - Exploring the Innate Nature of Music

A facilitated conversation on the guiding principles and practice of relational anarchy. Exploring our interpersonal relationships as foundational spaces for social change and navigating an expansive vision of and community 

Relationship Anarchy

This mat based workshop offers you the opportunity to experience a slow, focused restorative breath and movement session. The only requirement is to arrive with an open mind and bringing with you self compassion and curiosity.

The session is informed by Pilates movement principles such as alignment, elongation, breath and stability via our deepest muscle systems.  The teaching is trauma informed and largely somatic. Tap into your sensory awareness to release, lengthen and relax muscle tension, soften and open joint spaces, sense and enjoy the bliss of the undoing, reducing stresses stored in the body and creating a sense of calm, rejuvenation and harmony.

No previous experience of Pilates or Somatic practices is required, this session is open to all. Come and enjoy the journey.

Please bring a mat and a large towel (or something that can be  rolled into a bolster).

A little about me: I have been studying and teaching Restorative Pilates Classes and 1:1 Exercise Therapy for 30 years here in NZ and the UK. I am currently presenting my sessions in beautiful Otaki on the Kapiti Coast.

I am open to offer personal sessions, ie; postural assessment and reorganisation, corrective or restorative exercise techniques,  deep core stabilisation techniques, pelvic floor and diaphragmatic breathing practices. 

Restorative Pilates Movement

Artivism is the practice of opening inner portals—stepping into the ritual of becoming art in action.

In a world where beauty and brutality coexist, we are called back into our bodies to embody freedom, justice, love, and truth. We stand between life’s exquisite artistry and the deep pain we witness inside and around us.

How do we begin to transform our energy—and why does it matter?

Join Rana Hamida—singer, artistic director, musician, actor, and human rights advocate—for a curious and grounded journey into art and activism. Rana recently returned from an international humanitarian mission with The Global Sumūd Flotilla, working to break the illegal siege on Gaza and open a humanitarian corridor for life-saving aid.

Come as you are. This is the moment to begin.

Find more of Rana on her insta: @ranafreesoul & @djrana_official

Artivism ( Embodied awakening ) 

Crochet club- learn the basic crochet stiches, tips and tricks about crochet or develop your skills. We will learn hot to make easy gloves- for the winter or festival season ;-) 

Crochet Club

Love a dancefloor but feel like you want more moves in your kete? Want music that isn't doof doof? Welcome!  Banana Boogie is high-energy dance workshop led by comedian, choreographer and vibeologist Banana Jolie. DJ BJ has gathered a playlist of favourite dance bangers across various styles - hip hop, pop, disco, rock, Latin, 80's, and more. This workshop is designed to give you movements you can rip out to any genre. Plus, it's hilarious, with names such as "titties in the wind" and "follow your dreams." Shake off shyness, discover your stylez and confidence. For all levels. 

Find more of Banana Jolie on insta & Facebook: @banana_jolie 

Banana Boogie 

Freedom of expression is directly alike to freedom of money. Without independent control over ownership, assets and money, extreme control can be enacted. How can Cryptocurrency empower individuals and communities to take back control of their financial freedom and how can we utilise these technologies to create more community led spaces. 

Decentralised technologies empowering local communities

This yoga/movement workshop combines somatic tools, yogic teachings, and ecological psychology to facilitate a deepening into our physical beingness and our connection with the more than human world.  With full permission to colour outside the lines and journey into free movement, this workshop is an invitation to ground, connect, express and reset during the hype of the festival.

Home Body Yoga

Feeling disenfranchised and angry with the current government? Me too. Not sure how to constructively channel this energy? Come to this workshop!

It’s no secret that the law is pretty cooked. Whether you think it's boring or the machinery which facilitated the colonisation of Aotearoa, it’s usually not all that fun to think about let alone engage with. But the inaccessibility of law is by design. The powers that be don’t want you to engage with it; the more people with legal literacy, the less they can get away with. 

The Regulatory Standards Bill is a textbook example of this insidious behaviour. Never heard of it? Fair enough. The Bill opened for submissions when we were all hungover just after Twisted last year. Coming right off the back of the infamous Treaty Principles Bill and framed as a dry procedural amendment, it received relatively little attention. Unfortunately for New Zealand, however, it’s perhaps the biggest undemocratic constitutional change in the last 100 years. The Bill requires law-makers to assess the consistency of all proposed and existing law with the set of principles defined in the bill. The principles, set out by none other than David Seymour, elevates private property and individual rights, while subordinating the environment and Te Tiriti. The effect of this is that laws designed to protect te taiao, achieve our emissions reduction targets and provide equitable outcomes for Māori, among many other things, may be slowed down, weakened and challenged in Court. Shits cooked. And this is not the first time, nor will it be the last time that this government tries to sneak its morally bankrupt agenda through without people kicking up too much of a fuss. So let's kick up a fuss. 

Submissions are a critical part of the legal process before bills become law. Anyone can write a submission and it can be anywhere from 5 words to 5,000+. This workshop is designed to give some background to some of the shit fuckery that has been going on in Parliament of late and provide you with the skills to fight back.

I don’t claim to be an expert in all things law. But five years of legal studies, plenty of submission writing and a background in activism and environmental advocacy has taught me a few things. This government has offered us a challenge and it’s never too late to rise to it.  Whether or not you know anything about the legal system, if you care about anything from the environment, Te Tiriti to human rights come to this workshop and upskill. 

Check out Climate Clinic - student run environmental law advcoacy organisation (we take litigation too!). Insta: @climateclinicvuw Website: http://climateclinic.org.nz/

How to write an effective submission

This interactive workshop explores how playfulness can transform your intimate connections and enhance your sex life. 

Sex often becomes weighed down by expectations, performance pressure, and "shoulds" – losing the lightness, laughter and free expression that is so essential for good intimacy.

This workshop creates a safe space to experiment with different aspects of playfulness in intimacy. 

Starting with essential consent foundations, we'll then dive into awakening your inner playful child, release inhibitions, embrace silliness, awkwardness and imperfection - and discover how much deeper intimacy can feel when built on genuine playfulness. 

Expect belly laughs, moments of beautiful awkwardness, and the freedom to be genuinely silly. Perfect for individuals and couples looking to rediscover the fun in intimacy, release performance anxiety, and cultivate deeper connections through authentic play. 

This workshop is created and led by Somatic Sexologist and Sex Educator, Ilil Lunkry. Ilil brings a practice-based approach to sex education that focuses on embodied learning and the connection between mind, body, and sexuality.

You can find more from Ilil on her website: ilil-lunkry.com

Playful Intimacy: Bringing Joy & Silliness to Sex

This interactive workshop explores embodied consent – learning to recognize and trust our bodies responses that tell us something feels like a yes, no, or maybe. We'll discover how our bodies communicate boundaries before our minds do, and practice translating these signals into clear and kind communication.

Through guided exercises and partner practice, participants will explore how to tune into their internal compass, recognize the difference between excitement and anxiety, and notice when something feels aligned or off. We'll cover practical skills for expressing boundaries with kindness and receiving others' boundaries with grace and respect.

Tailored specifically for festival environments, this workshop addresses consent in all interactions – from intimate connections to casual touch, group activities, and navigating the unique energy of festival spaces where normal social boundaries may shift.

You'll leave with tools for authentic self-advocacy, compassionate boundary-setting, and deeper trust in your body's wisdom. Perfect for creating more genuine connections and safer experiences throughout your festival journey.

You can find more from Ilil on her website: ilil-lunkry.com

Embodied Consent, Communication & Boundaries in Practice

Take a breath, slow down, and connect with yourself and others. This workshop offers simple tools for grounding through breath work, stretching, guided meditation, and gentle movement. Together we’ll explore practices that calm the nervous system, deepen presence, and prepare the body and mind for performance and for life. Using exercises and practices from theatre, we’ll discover how grounding ourselves creates safety, focus, and openness. Leave feeling more centred, connected, and ready to meet the world with presence. This workshop is 1 of 3 workshops presented by Ruckus Theatre. 

You can find them on insta: @ruckus_theatre

Grounding Yourself for Performance and Beyond

Step into your playful side and rediscover the joy of being a little silly. In this workshop, we’ll explore how theatre and improvisation can help us release inhibitions, build confidence, and live fully in the moment. Together, we’ll laugh, move, and connect through games all designed to quiet self-consciousness and invite joy. By the end, you’ll feel lighter, more open, and ready to create from a place of freedom. This workshop is 1 of 3 workshops presented by Ruckus Theatre. 

You can find them on insta: @ruckus_theatre

Finding your Inner Play

Come move, stretch, and celebrate the joy of dancing together. In this workshop we’ll explore how dancing together creates connection, safety, and freedom of expression, whether we’re moving in sync or finding our own rhythm. We’ll warm up with stretches, play with movement, and reflect on how collective dance can bring us together and into presence. We’ll finish by learning and performing a dance together to the iconic Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush. This workshop is 1 of 3 workshops presented by Ruckus Theatre.

You can find them on insta: @ruckus_theatre

The Joy of Dancing Together

This hands-on zine-making workshop will guide folks through the full creative process—from the intimidating blank page to a completed, unique mini-publication.

We'll explore some zine inspiration, and how to physically create and fold a zine using simple tools.

A relaxed and easygoing workshop, the focus will be on creative expression over perfection. 

No previous art or writing experience needed—just a willingness to dive in and make something real. 

WORKSHOPS2026 LINEUP

Keynote Speakers & Presentations

Protect the Cobb Valley from toxic Arsenic Mining

Sound in Motion - Yoga and Live Music with Bridie Munro and Jack Hooker

Wētā of Kahurangi National Park and their conservation

Music as a Biological Function in Humans - Exploring the Innate Nature of Music

Artivism ( Embodied awakening )

How to write an effective submission

Embodied Consent, Communication & Boundaries in Practice

Other Workshops

AI-Agent Assisted Software Development - Summoning Software in the age of AI

Relationship Anarchy

Restorative Pilates Movement

Crochet Club

Banana Boogie

Decentralised technologies empowering local communities

Home Body Yoga

Grounding Yourself for Performance and Beyond

Finding your Inner Play

The Joy of Dancing Together

From Blank Page to Zine: Turning Inspiration into Creation

WORKSHOPS2026 LINEUP

Keynote Speakers & Presentations

Protect the Cobb Valley from toxic Arsenic Mining

Sound in Motion - Yoga and Live Music with Bridie Munro and Jack Hooker ​

Wētā of Kahurangi National Park and their conservation

Music as a Biological Function in Humans - Exploring the Innate Nature of Music

Artivism ( Embodied awakening )

How to write an effective submission

Embodied Consent, Communication & Boundaries in Practice

Other Workshops

AI-Agent Assisted Software Development - Summoning Software in the age of AI

Relationship Anarchy

Restorative Pilates Movement

Crochet Club

Banana Boogie

Decentralised technologies empowering local communities

Home Body Yoga

Grounding Yourself for Performance and Beyond

Finding your Inner Play

The Joy of Dancing Together

From Blank Page to Zine: Turning Inspiration into Creation

Sound in Motion - Yoga and Live Music with Bridie Munro and Jack Hooker