B-side Stories

David spoke with Arihia Latham – writer, educator and rongoā Māori practitioner based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Find our more – https://linktr.ee/Arihia

Ruth talks to Perrine about her life as a musician and teacher in the lead-up to the Wellington jazz festival [poor quality audio is only for first minute]

"There's a deep sense of satisfaction...manipulating things in the universe into useful harmony...and then the working together, the social aspect and feeling part of a loving community. You come away feeling replenished". Debbie McGill, Simon Cosgrove, and Derek McDonald tell Sadie Coe about the flourishing community at Granville Flats, where The Fixery empowers tenants to fix broken items and to create new things, from artworks to face masks to jam and relish.

Seamus Johnson from Wellington band Sea Mouse chats to Perrine and performs some wicked songs live in the studio - including a possible new B Sides theme song!

Perrine talks to Nicky Boughtwood from Kaibosh about their mammoth efforts to redistribute food for social justice. We catch up on how COVID has changed their work, hear about the cool places that the kai goes to, and chat about their important role Kaibosh have in keeping Wellington tick!

Ash Holwell talks to Perrine about community-building in central downtown Wellington, based around new collaborative space two/fiftyseven

"New Zealand has given me a massive opportunity to be something completely different". Mount Vic Hub coordinator Patricia Given came to Wellington with decades of experience in the fashion industry, and swiftly became a hugely respected community leader. Trish is passionate about making things happen in the community and last year was awarded an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian Award for her contribution to a long list of organisations including Cycle Wellington, Wellington Irish, the Innermost Gardens, Predator Free Wellington, and many more. She's often seen around town on her bike Olive, towing the hublet: a mobile community centre. Here she chats in the studio with B-Sides host Sadie Coe and City Councillor Laurie Foon.

"Amazing Wellingtonians doing incredible things". B-Sides founder and Wellington City Councillor Laurie Foon talks about why she became a councillor, her vision for the city, and what the key decisions are facing us in the long term plan, in conversation with Patricia Given and Sadie Coe. ...And why is poo so central to all this?

Home Ground creates space for women in the justice system to pause, nurture hope, activate social change and create better lives for themselves and future generations. On a Home Ground project, artists (inside and outside of prison) make creative works using dance, performance, photography, writing, painting and music to address the issues women and whānau face in the justice system. Jacqui and Hazel came onto B-Side Stories to talk to Sadie Coe about the collective strength of women honouring the wisdom of their lived experience, and the power of creativity. https://www.homegroundnz.com/ Photo credit: PM with support from Fraser Crichton B-Side Stories is broadcast with help from NZ on Air.

Julia Marshall of Gecko Press is a children's book publisher and advocate for the magic of reading. She spoke with David about how it takes a village to make a book https://geckopress.com

Helen and Trish talk to Perrine about Crip the Lit, a group of great local writers who identify as disabled.

Ben talks to Perrine about the work Unions Wellington do to support working people in Pōneke, the links between unions and activism, and how the union movement changes with the times

Housewitches by B-Side Stories

Laura interviews Lily Lewis from Make it 16 NZ - the incredible youth-led organisation advocating for a lower voting age in Aotearoa. They've taken their case all the way to the High Court of New Zealand.

Laura's full unedited conversation with Abe Gray about the history of the movement to legalise cannabis in Aotearoa. Abe is botanist, a science communicator and an activist, who has been fighting for nearly 20 years to make cannabis legal. Visit www.yeswecannabis.org.nz to join the calls for legalisation in 2020. Or if you need to read more, Abe recommends the Office of the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor: https://www.pmcsa.ac.nz/topics/cannabis/

There was going to be a School Strike 4 Climate march event in September, but new Covid-19 uncertainty has led to its cancellation. Laura spoke to The Wellington Regional Secretary for SS4C, Rhiannon Mackie, about why the climate movement is still so important and what it's like to be involved in SS4C.

Playcentre is a unique parent cooperative model of early childhood education created right here in Wellington, New Zealand, back in 1941. The kaupapa of Playcentre is "Whānau tupu ngātahi — Families growing together".  Playcentre members Jesse Pirini and Kate Mitcalfe spoke to B-Sides host Sadie Coe about what it feels like to be part of a community of adults and children sharing learning alongside each other, and the joys and challenges of that shared commitment and input.  We learned about how their Playcentre experience informs Jesse and Kate's adult lives, about the organisation's commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi, and, most of all, about the fundamental wellbeing that comes from the connections made at Playcentre.

David spoke with Jackson Nieuwland – a genderqueer writer, editor and librarian from Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Their debut poetry collection 'I Am A Human Being' was published last month and is available from Compound Press.

Caroline from Sustainability Trust talks to B Sides about community gardening in Wellington, being a late bloomer with gardening, and her top tip for snail eradication!

Dr Marion Leighton talks to B Sides about the long-term health gains from active transport and micro-mobility, and why doctors are promoting active and safe transport in Wellington.