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Whaikaha Ministry of Disabled People View our
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Arts, culture, and heritage participation for disabled people

In February 2026, the Ministry for Culture & Heritage - Manatū Taonga released a report on New Zealanders’ cultural participation during 2025.

The report looks at how people in New Zealand engage with arts, culture, and heritage, including:

  • visits and attendance
  • barriers and enablers
  • creative practice
  • media use
  • Matariki
  • volunteering.

It also included data for different demographic groups, including disabled people.

The findings show that disabled people are participating across many aspects of cultural life in New Zealand. However, they sometimes participate in different ways to non-disabled people. For example, in several areas, disabled people rely more on online access. Disabled people also show particularly strong engagement in:

  • visual arts
  • heritage
  • workshop-based and creative activities.

We have summarised key data for disabled people. You can read the full report on the Ministry for Culture & Heritage website: New Zealanders’ cultural participation in 2025 external URL

Disabled people more likely to participate in some heritage and cultural activities

The report shows no significant difference between disabled and non-disabled people when it comes to general attendance in:

  • arts
  • culture
  • heritage activities and places.

However, disabled people were more likely to take part in some aspects of:

  • history
  • heritage
  • literature
  • public cultural life.

Compared with non-disabled people, disabled people were more likely to have:

  • attended a New Zealand history presentation, meeting, or lecture (29% compared with 17%)
  • attended a workshop or class to learn about a cultural activity (29% compared with 19%)
  • been repeat attendees at cultural workshops or classes (18% compared with 10%)
  • been repeat attendees at craft or object galleries (24% compared with 16%)
  • done, created, or produced cultural or creative work in the last 12 months (54% compared with 39%).

Compared with 2023, overall festival attendance rates had decreased among disabled people from 38% to 27%.

Disabled people more likely to participate online 

The report highlights a different balance between online and in-person engagement for disabled people. Compared with non-disabled people, disabled people were:

  • more likely to participate online only (5% compared with 1%)
  • more likely to participate both online and in person (44% compared with 40%)
  • less likely to participate in person only (37% compared with 47%).

Disabled people more likely to participate in Māori and Pacific culture

Disabled people were more likely to have attended Māori and Pacific arts and cultural activities in the past 12 months. Compared with non-disabled people, disabled people were more likely to have:

  • visited a marae (30% compared with 21%)
  • attended Māori performing arts (38% compared with 25%) or Pacific performing arts (30% compared with 17%)
  • attended Māori visual arts (29% compared with 15%) or Pacific visual arts (26% compared with 13%)
  • visited a Māori cultural festival (31% compared with 19%)
  • visited a Pacific cultural festival (27% compared with 16%).

These differences might be partly due to high rates of disability in Māori and Pacific communities.

Disabled people less familiar with Matariki

The report treats Matariki separately from other forms of cultural participation by focusing on familiarity and understanding, rather than attendance alone. Compared with non-disabled people, disabled people were:

  • more likely to have never heard of Matariki or not know what it was about (19% compared with 11%)
  • less likely to say they had a basic idea of Matariki (53% compared with 66%)
  • about as likely to say that they had a good understanding of Matariki.
     

Disabled people use some types of media differently

The report shows a mixed pattern for engagement with New Zealand media. Disabled people had lower participation in some areas, but higher participation in others.

Compared with non-disabled people, disabled people were:

  • less likely to listen to New Zealand radio (65% compared with 75%)
  • more likely to have played New Zealand video games (16% compared with 8%)
  • more likely to be frequent users of New Zealand archives (22% compared with 13%).
     

Disabled people were not among the groups most likely to be affected by better accessibility and convenience

The report found that accessibility and convenience were among the main factors that would encourage New Zealanders to become more involved in arts, culture, and heritage activities. Overall, 72% of New Zealanders reported that more accessible and convenient experiences would encourage greater participation.

However, the groups identified as most likely to be encouraged by improved accessibility and convenience were women, people under 65, and lower-income households. The report did not identify disabled people as one of the groups most likely to be encouraged to participate by improved accessibility and convenience.

About the data

Data sources

The 2025 cultural participation report was based on an online survey of 2,000 New Zealanders aged 18 years and over, carried out between September and October 2025. The survey used Kantar Insights’ online research panel and was weighted to reflect the New Zealand adult population, including adjustments for:

  • ethnicity
  • region
  • household income by household size
  • age by gender.

The report also used oversampling (including extra participants) to support more robust analysis for:

  • Māori
  • Pacific peoples
  • Asian peoples
  • several regions.

In the unweighted sample (before the results were adjusted to better reflect the New Zealand population), disabled people made up 10% of respondents.

Data limitations

The report notes that the online panel method excludes people with lower digital capability. This is an important limitation when interpreting the findings, as it means some groups may be underrepresented.

The report also notes that people who take part in online research panels may differ in unknown ways from those who do not. These differences cannot be fully corrected through weighting and adjustment. This may be particularly relevant for disabled people, as some disabled voices may be underrepresented in the survey findings.

Some of the differences in participation between disabled and non-disabled people may reflect differences in the demographic makeup of the survey sample. They may not be due to differences associated with disability alone. Consider these factors when interpreting the findings.