The second half of the twentieth century saw Dunedin develop as a creative hub with many significant visual and performing artists, musicians, authors, makers and designers all finding inspiration in the city of Dunedin and its surrounds.
Our Creative Dunedin display at Toitū Otago Settlers Museum explores these themes through changing displays. From 24 October 2025 through to 26 October 2027 we present DANCE! the story of Shona Dunlop MacTavish. In the late 1950s after an adventurous life abroad as a dancer and missionary, Dunedin-born Shona Dunlop MacTavish (1920-2019) returned to settle in her hometown. Over the next 60 years she built a reputation as the mother of modern dance in New Zealand.
Shona Dunlop dancing as Cain in Cain and Abel, Sydney, 1940. / MacTavish family, Margaret Michaelis photographer