We are excited to announce that the BNZ Auckland Diwali Festival will be returning to Aotea Square and Queen Street on Saturday 11 – Sunday 12 October 2025.
This year’s festival will showcase vibrant stage programming across multiple stages on Queen Street and in Aotea Square, complemented by a diverse array of food, retail, and information stalls, as well as captivating performances.
The BNZ Auckland Diwali Festival performances are always a highlight of the annual event and showcase a mix of established and up-and-coming talent.
Each year, the BNZ Auckland Diwali Festival brings together more than 1,000 performers, showcasing the incredible talent and diversity of our communities. Performers have the opportunity to take the stage across four vibrant performance areas, each offering a unique platform:
• Aotea Stage (performance troupe/sub-troupes and schools)
• Auckland Town Hall (live instruments, singers)
• Street Zone (performance troupe/sub-troupes and schools)
• Queen Street Stage (DJ Sets, Singers)
In addition to this, the highly contested Bollywood competition is returning to BNZ Auckland Diwali Festival 2025. Performers can also apply for this competition through the link.
The deadline for performer applications is Sunday, 6 July 2025.
To help us assess and select performers, all applicants are required to attend a performers workshop in August. This workshop will be an opportunity to discuss details of each performance, the technical requirements, and the performance’s eligibility and fit for the festival.
Performers who attend the workshop will be given priority for performance slots. Performers who do not attend the workshop will be automatically waitlisted for performance slots.
