What is it

Short+Sweet Festival New Zealand brings you performing arts festivals that celebrate the 10-minute performance format across theatre, dance, song (musical) and cabaret. Dubbed the world’s biggest little festival, it originates out of Sydney, with satellite city festivals all over the world including every major city in Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Philippines, UAE and USA.

Held annually in Auckland since 2009 and in Wellington since 2015, it provides a platform for actors, dancers, singers, writers, choreographers, musos and directors to create high quality new work in a professional theatre environment reflecting each Festival city.

Every annual rendition of the Festival in New Zealand is a collaboration by over 400 performers and creatives, all volunteering their time, passion and creativity in the celebration of short format story telling.

A night at Short+Sweet consists of up to ten dynamic 10-minute works and the audience is presented with a feast of styles and subjects. Each performance concludes with the audience being invited to vote for their favourite work to help determine the top productions that make it to the Gala Final of each genre.

The first season of Short+Sweet in New Zealand was presented in January of 2010 starting out with a two week season of Short+Sweet Theatre. Since then the festival has grown to include Short+Sweet Dance, Short+Sweet Song & Short+Sweet Cabaret and has become an annual fixture in Auckland’s performing arts calendar.

Short+Sweet Theatre is the oldest component of the Short+Sweet Festival New Zealand hosted in both Auckland and Wellington and is made up of bite sized plays, never more than 10-minutes long. From comedy to physical theatre, deep drama to superheroes, we’ve got it all and perfectly packaged to keep you interested. And it’s only ever minutes to the next one! To date, the Festival has produced hundreds of the best 10-minute plays from across the globe staged by some of New Zealand’s most talented emerging and professional actors and directors. As a platform, Short+Sweet has helps launch the careers of many actors, writers and directors and some of its award winning plays have gone on to become bigger and better works.

Short+Sweet Theatre has expanded and now includes musical theatre and cabaret works to give audiences a taste of both performance styles in one sitting!

Short+Sweet Dance presents short works across contemporary, hip hop, cultural, dance theatre, belly dancing, burlesque and much more. Offering a taste of some of Auckland’s best dancing talent, it offers audiences a test of multiple genres, styles, abilities. Fast-paced and incredibly dynamic, Short+Sweet is dance with a difference!

Our Points Of Difference

The Short+Sweet platform is open access and culturally inclusive. The objective of its 10-minute format in all genres is to return ownership of that vital story telling ability back to the city it is hosted in. As such, it is a highly democratic approach to the making and presenting of art. It does not distinguish between the emerging and the professional, welcoming both to its ranks and using the skills and experience of one to inform the enthusiasm of the other, while harnessing the passion of both.

The formula is simple. The 10-minute format is constant. Public solicitation of work ensures a huge response and broad representation, in whatever genre, in whatever society. The selection process is devolved to regional and local decision-making. Within global artistic guidelines local forms and local sensibilities can flourish. However, the international network allows a broader vision and practice. The self-produced shows are always the building blocks. No aesthetic is imposed other than simplicity and the logistics of the physical situation. Telling the story, in whatever art form, is the paramount consideration.