Dunedin Midwinter Celebrations

The Dunedin Midwinter Carnival event is a much loved celebration of winter in Dunedin. We use the wonderful creative talents of our arts community to create a beautiful event in the heart of the city. Established in 1997 this event has grown into a large and unique regional event that attracts over 20,000 people.

In addition to this event, the organising Trust presents installations in historic buildings and other spaces. These events have been popular with the public and help showcase some of the beautiful creations from our Art Team in the context of Dunedin's beautiful heritage environment.

Dunedin Midwinter Celebrations Trust is a small non profit organisation that relies heavily on volunteer support and the generosity of the arts community. Over 150 volunteers are required each year to make our events work. Our team of artists have been hugely generous over the years, donating their time above and beyond what we can afford to pay them.

Presenting a free event in the centre of our city is incredibly challenging. We are fortunate to have the support of the Dunedin City Council and many other funders and businesses. But our funding does not cover all our expenses and so donations are still a very important part of our events viability.

Over time we hope to make our events more financially viable through sponsorship and other partnerships. We are also working towards developing a permanent display of our lanterns and costumes for the public to enjoy. Our vision is to have both a display space for our giant lanterns, costumes and a work space for our Art Team and to share that space with other artists and/or organisations.