Taranaki Arts Festival Trust

What Taranaki Arts Festival Trust does

Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (TAFT) is a New Zealand-based charitable trust headquartered in New Plymouth that presents a portfolio of six arts festivals across the Taranaki region. Established in 1991, the organization operates Womad Aotearoa (world music, arts and dance), Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, Right Royal Cabaret Festival, ReImagine Festival, Winter Fest, and Spiegel Fest. In 2019, TAFT restructured from a single biennial festival into four niche festivals, becoming the first New Zealand trust to present a specialized festival series in this format. The organization is governed by a board chaired by Glen Brebner and led operationally by CEO Suzanne Porter and Artistic Director Josie Hunter-Annand, supported by a 6-person staff team.

TAFT's revenue model combines transactional ticket sales across its festival portfolio with a subscription-based patron programme at tiered Gold (32 tickets), Silver (16 tickets), and Bronze (8 tickets) levels under multi-year commitments. The patron programme is described as central to the organization's creative and economic strength. Ticketing is distributed through venue box offices and digital channels, supported by venue partnerships with TSB Showplace's Theatre Royal and Puke Ariki landing. The technology stack is modest: WordPress CMS for the website, Mailchimp for email marketing automation, and Jotform for artist application and patron registration forms.

The organization serves festival attendees (general public seeking cultural entertainment), artists and performers (curated programmes across dance, theatre, cabaret, music, comedy), arts patrons and supporters (philanthropic individuals), and the broader Taranaki community through cultural tourism stimulation. Marketing is conducted through in-house PR, newsletter campaigns, social media, and community volunteer networks. TAFT has positioned itself as the primary arts festival organization in the Taranaki region, with deep community roots and 30+ years of operational history.

Name

Taranaki Arts Festival Trust

Legal name

Taranaki Arts Festival Trust

Website

https://taft.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Taranaki Arts Festival Trust is a New Zealand charitable trust presenting six arts festivals (Womad, Garden Festival, Cabaret, ReImagine, Winter Fest, Spiegel Fest) across the Taranaki region, serving festival attendees, artists, and patrons through ticket sales and tiered patron subscriptions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts Festival Production and Cultural Event Services

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (71131), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Cultural Festivals & Events Organizations (BPAGAHAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Arts, Culture, Entertainment & Fan Conventions Organizers (THAHABAN), Community Theatre & Storytelling Festivals (MPAGAEAI), Performing Arts & Cultural Event Venues (Theaters, Museums) (THAHAAAG), Cultural & Heritage Entertainment Booking (Traditional/Folk Acts) (HSACAHAG)

Keywords

• Arts festival management
• Cultural event production
• Live performance programming
• Patron programme services
• Festival ticketing

Headquarters

HQ city

New Plymouth

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: Revenue generated from ticket sales to festival performances and events across multiple festivals including Womad Aotearoa, Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, Right Royal Cabaret Festival, ReImagine, Winter Fest, and Spiegel Fest.
2. Patron Programme: Philanthropic support from patrons at tiered levels (Gold, Silver, Bronze) providing benefits including complimentary tickets, priority seating, and exclusive events. The patron programme is described as key to the festival's creative and economic strength.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (TAFT) curates, produces, and presents a portfolio of world-class arts festivals and cultural events across the Taranaki region of New Zealand. Its offering includes six distinct festivals (Womad Aotearoa, Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival, Right Royal Cabaret Festival, ReImagine, Winter Fest, and Spiegel Fest) featuring dance, theatre, cabaret, music, comedy, circus, literary, and horticultural programming. The organization also operates a tiered Patron Programme selling philanthropic subscriptions that include complimentary tickets, priority seating, and exclusive patron functions.

Product overview

Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (TAFT) operates as an arts festival organization presenting multiple distinct festivals throughout the year. The portfolio includes six major festivals: Womad Aotearoa (world music, arts and dance), Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival (gardens), Right Royal Cabaret Festival (cabaret and performance), ReImagine Festival (multi-disciplinary arts), Winter Fest (literary and performing arts), and Spiegel Fest (Spiegeltent entertainment). In 2019, the original biennial Taranaki Arts Festival was restructured into these four unique niche festivals, making TAFT the first organization in New Zealand to present a series of specialized festivals under one trust.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Spiegel Fest: A ten-day festival featuring music, comedy, circus, and theatre held at Puke Ariki landing in New Plymouth's CBD
• Right Royal Cabaret Festival
• Reimagine Festival
• Winter Fest
• Womad Aotearoa
• Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival

Products and services

• Womad Aotearoa World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) festival presented in Taranaki, featuring international and local musical performances and cultural experiences for festival attendees.
• Centuria Taranaki Garden Festival Annual garden festival showcasing gardens throughout the Taranaki region, celebrating horticulture and landscape design for visitors and garden enthusiasts.
• Right Royal Cabaret Festival Four-day winter cabaret festival held in June, transforming TSB Showplace's Theatre Royal into a Cabaret Club with performances of cabaret, comedy, theatre, and music.
• ReImagine Festival Ten-day arts festival celebrating international, New Zealand, and Taranaki artists, inviting attendees to reimagine arts in new places with unexpected experiences across multiple venues.
• Winter Fest Ten-day winter festival featuring a literary programme showcasing authors, alongside theatre, music, dance, and comedy performances celebrating storytelling.
• Spiegel Fest Ten-day festival held at the Spiegeltent at Puke Ariki landing, featuring music, comedy, circus, and theatre performances in New Plymouth's CBD.
• TAFT Patron Programme Multi-year philanthropic subscription programme offering Gold (32 tickets), Silver (16 tickets), and Bronze (8 tickets) tiers, with benefits including priority seating, special patron functions, and recognition in festival programmes.

Quantifiable outcome

• 500 artists and 150 shows in inaugural 1991 festival, establishing the region's cultural reputation
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance): Global multi-stage world music and arts festival organization; TAFT presents WOMAD Aotearoa under license, making the parent WOMAD a natural incumbent peer for festival programming and operational benchmarks.
• Perth Festival: Australia's longest-running annual international arts festival presenting theatre, music, dance, film, and visual arts — comparable in curated international programming approach and patron development model.
• Sydney Festival: Major Australian summer arts festival featuring international and Australian programming across theatre, music, dance, and circus — comparable in artistic ambition and patron/ticketing model, though at significantly larger scale.
• Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Largest arts festival globally, presenting theatre, comedy, dance, and physical theatre — the global benchmark for arts festival programming models that TAFT's curated multi-festival approach aspires toward.

Direct peers

• New Zealand Festival: Wellington-based biennial international arts festival also delivering multi-disciplinary programming (theatre, music, dance, visual arts) — directly comparable in scope and audience model to TAFT's festival portfolio.
• Christchurch Arts Festival: South Island New Zealand arts festival presenting multi-disciplinary programming — comparable regional festival operator serving a similarly-sized population base in a different geographic market.
• Auckland Arts Festival: Major Auckland-based international arts festival offering theatre, music, dance, and circus programming — comparable festival product targeting similar New Zealand arts audiences, though operating at larger scale.

Emerging players

• MONA FOMA (Museum of Old and New Art Festival): Tasmania's summer arts festival featuring cutting-edge music, art, and performance — comparable as a regionally-anchored, programming-led arts festival with strong tourism catalyst positioning similar to TAFT.

Regional players

• Dunedin Festival of the Arts: Dunedin-based multi-disciplinary arts festival — comparable regional festival operator in a similarly-sized South Island city, serving as a benchmark for TAFT's regional festival model.
• Toi Poneke Arts Centre: Wellington-based arts programming and venue operator — a regional peer offering comparable community arts programming and venue-based festival/performance activity, though in a different New Zealand market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/taranaki-arts-festival-trust

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Taranaki Arts Festival Trust