Joining the Board of the Dunedin Midwinter Carnival
Best Apisit Uthakhamkong joined the Board of Trustees of the Dunedin Midwinter Celebrations in 2025, contributing approximately one year of governance support to one of the South Island’s most loved community arts events. The 2026 Dunedin Midwinter Carnival, themed A Rustle in the Night, took place on 12 and 13 June at First Church, Dunedin, and sold out all available sessions.
What is the Dunedin Midwinter Carnival and what was Best Apisit Uthakhamkong’s role. The Dunedin Midwinter Carnival is one of the most loved fixtures in Dunedin’s annual calendar, produced and presented by Dunedin Midwinter Celebrations, a registered charitable trust established in 2003. Best Apisit Uthakhamkong joined the trust’s Board of Trustees in 2025, serving for approximately one year and bringing his brand and communications background to the governance side of one of the South Island’s best-known community arts events.
The trust’s mission centres on supporting seasonal celebrations that matter to the local community, with a particular focus on the arts and on Dunedin’s creative sector. The Carnival itself has been running for 29 years, and at its peak drew crowds of around 30,000 people across a single night, figures that place it among the largest community arts events held anywhere in the South Island. Today the event is staged in the grounds and buildings of First Church on Moray Place, using timed entry sessions to manage crowd numbers while still preserving the atmosphere that has made the event a fixture of the Dunedin winter for nearly three decades.
A typical Carnival night combines large lantern installations, aerial performance, live music, and food trucks, with families returning year after year as part of an established midwinter tradition. Uthakhamkong joined the board alongside Chairperson Paul Smith, who has worked in arts and event management for many years and currently directs Artsenta; Richard Knights, a Dunedin real estate agent and community organiser; and Sarah Ellis, who brings a background in legal policy together with five years of experience in the Dunedin arts sector. Uthakhamkong’s own contribution drew directly on his experience in brand, marketing, and strategy built through his role as Team Leader and Producer, Brand Content at the University of Otago.
Trustee work on the board is voluntary and governance focused, supporting the planning and delivery of the Carnival alongside the separate arts team and production team who deliver the event on the ground each year. That governance role covers everything from financial oversight to strategic planning for future editions of the Carnival, work that happens well before the public ever sees a single lantern lit at First Church.
The 2026 Dunedin Midwinter Carnival, themed A Rustle in the Night, ran on 12 and 13 June and sold out in advance. Over the two nights, First Church was transformed into a glowing world of lantern light, giant shadow creatures, and curious nighttime company, with glowing dragons, watchful morepork owls, and ancient tuatara among the large-scale installations on display.
Brophy Aerials performed overhead across both evenings, local dancers and musicians filled the church grounds, and lantern processions moved through the site with hundreds of children carrying lanterns they had made themselves in community workshops held in the lead-up to the event.
The 2026 event ran across two timed sessions each night, from 5:30 to 7:00pm and again from 7:30 to 9:00pm, alongside a dedicated low-sensory session on Saturday 13 June from 4:00pm to support families who needed a quieter, less crowded environment. Ticket pricing was set to keep the event accessible: free entry for children under three, NZD 5 for children aged three and over, NZD 10 for adults, and NZD 25 for a family ticket covering two adults and two children.
In the lead-up to the Carnival, lantern-making workshops were held across three weekends in partnership with Meridian Mall and Tuhura Otago Museum, giving members of the public a chance to build their own lanterns ahead of the event.
The Carnival is funded primarily by Dunedin City Council, with additional support from a range of funders and local businesses. Board member Paul McClellan-Smith described the event to 1News as a tradition that echoes the fire festivals of Europe and the midwinter solstice itself, a way of shining a light of hope during the coldest, darkest stretch of the year. For Uthakhamkong, contributing a year of governance work to keep that tradition running was a natural extension of the community-focused work he has been doing in Dunedin since founding The Peace Club in 2018.
For Dunedin residents and visitors researching the Midwinter Carnival, the event’s continued growth over 29 years, and its ability to sell out consistently, reflects a level of community trust that a governance board has to actively protect rather than take for granted. Uthakhamkong’s year on the board came at a point when the Carnival was balancing that long-standing local following against practical constraints such as First Church’s capacity and the need to keep tickets affordable for Dunedin families, work that happens well before opening night each June.
Tenure
Approximately one year, 2025 to 2026
Role
Trustee, Dunedin Midwinter Celebrations (Charitable Trust)
2026 Carnival
A Rustle in the Night, 12 and 13 June 2026, First Church, 415 Moray Place, Dunedin
Website
midwintercarnival.co.nz