Cuba Street dazzles in CubaDupa sunshine

Do you love Cuba Street as much as we do? We want to hear your thoughts after thousands turned out over March to celebrate all things Cuba Street and Wellington.

Bucket fountain with people in the background walking down the street.

CubaDupa, delivered by Creative Capital Arts Trust (CCAT) and supported by Wellington City Council, marked the end of a month-long celebration of the precinct through different events that showed off the best of Cuba Street.

During CubaDupa, Wellingtonians came out in force to embrace live music, street parades, circus performers, and dance. There were over 140 acts presenting over 170 performances over Saturday and Sunday.

It was clear how special Cuba Street is to Wellington, and how many people from across Pōneke come to the precinct to meet friends, eat, shop, and watch live music.

The Council is in the very early stages of working with businesses and the community to create a vision for the precinct and has created a survey to find out what people want to see happen in the area, to make it even better!

Tell us what you'd like to see in Cuba Street

If you’re looking for inspiration, here are the photos our team took of CubaDupa.

A crowd of people gathered on the streets.

Five woman in colourful dresses infront a white building.

A woman in a checkered dress wearing mickey mouse ears.

Crowd of people walking down Cuba Street with flag bunting hanging overhead.

A person holding a large instrument walking down the street.

People cooking outdoors infront of a restaurant.

The backs of peoples heads with an acrobat in the distance.

Crowd of people infront of a building watching performers.

While CupaDupa was the number one attraction during March, Wellington City Council also supported the Cuba Summer Series, three events led by CCAT on Cuba Street in the lead up.

The Summer Series kicked off late in February, with Fringe on the Street, a Fringe-themed extravaganza.

A week later was Wellington Sculpture Trust’s PARK(ing) Day, where car parks on Cuba Street were turned into temporary parks, art installations, and performance spaces.

And the weekend before CubaDupa was the CubaDupa pre-party! Music, art and celebration lit up Glover Park for people to practice their dance moves.

The Council has heard lots of suggestions over the years – the plan now is to start afresh and talk to businesses and the community about what makes Cuba Street sing, and the opportunities for improvement.

There are no designs or plans at this stage – because before any of that happens – the Council wants to hear from you. Check out the survey, if you’d like to help shape the future of this iconic street. Survey closes on Sunday 27 April.