Splore festival will end for good in 2026
The long-time curator of the Auckland arts and music festival says it's due to low ticket sales.
Splore music and arts festival organisers have announced that next year's will be the last as they struggle to sell enough tickets to keep it going.
Splore curator John Minty said he'd been thinking about pulling the pin on the festival for the last couple of years, and finally had to make the "tough call".
After 18 years of financial viability the festival first hit headwinds with Covid postponements and cancellations. Then the cost of living crisis led to low ticket sales for the 2024 event.
AJHONEYSUCKLE and Dylan Biscuit playing the Crystal Palace stage at Splore.
Sigrid Yiakmis
Splore took a break in 2025, at the time telling RNZ it was on the back of a "challenging" season the year before.
"We took a year off last year hoping things would pick up, but ticket sales haven't been tracking where we need them to be to sort of feel confident that it's financially sustainable going into the future," Minty told RNZ's Morning Report on the back of Tuesday's announcement.
"I always hoped that it would carry on forever long after I'd gone, but it's a tough market."
Minty said the questionable future of festivals was a problem around the world.
"You've got a whole generation of young people that during Covid never sort of went camping or went to festivals. So maybe the market has changed.
"We have three generations come to Splore and it's quite a big decision to commit to three days camping and the cost of tickets et cetera. So I think a lot of it is just cost of living pressures at the moment.
"It may change but I know worldwide festivals are struggling in Europe, England and Australia."
The festival was declined an injection from the government's $70 million Event Boost Fund, Minty said.
"I have been involved with Splore at Tāpapakanga for 20 years and I feel now is a time to move on," he said in a statement.
".... It's becoming more difficult to sustain a festival of Splore's quality and depth so rather than diluting it I'd rather it finish with a bang."
Splore began in Kariotahi in 1998 and was Aoteroa's longest-running music, arts and camping festival.
The last installment of the three-day music and arts festival will go down at Auckland's Tāpapakanga Regional Park from 20-22 February, 2026.
The bill included Sister Nancy, Nightmares on Wax, Mind Enterprises, General Levy, Tami Neilson, Miss Kaninna, Parson James, Illustrious Blacks, Beatles Dub Club, Coco Solid, Christoph El Truento, Te KuraHuia, Romi Wrights, Jess B, Franca, Dick Move, Estere and Half Queen.
