Mozart Fellow Dr Simon Eastwood, Robert Burns Fellow Mikaela Nyman, Children’s Writer in Residence Feana Tu’akoi and Caroline Plummer Fellow in Community Dance Marcela Giesche hosted a roundtable discussion at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery on Saturday.
Ms Giesche said she was researching and implementing dance routines which could be performed even by those who did not have a "natural ability".
"All movement can be dance; you just have to find the movement in your life that you can relate to.
"You can all have your own little dance."
She is working with more than 24 dancers of varying abilities for a show at the New Athenaeum Theatre on September 7 and 8, while she also hosts workshops twice-weekly at her studio.
Dr Eastwood said he had been focusing mostly on chamber music.
"It’s been very collaborative. I’ve immersed myself in Dunedin.
"Connecting with the Dunedin arts scene has been fantastic — everyone has been very welcoming and lively. I’ve worked a lot with classical and non-classical musicians."
Dr Eastwood has had residencies in Dartington, Bulgaria, Turkey and Lithuania, and completed his master’s of music with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London.
The fellowship in Dunedin had proved a very grounding experience, he said.
Ms Nyman, who was born in Aland in Finland, said she was working on several different works simultaneously, including her second novel.
"It’s a hybrid, experimental fragmented novel about where we are today.
"There are so many divisions today. My birthplace is a demilitarised island, but next door is Ukraine.
"There’s a lot of political chaos in the world, so it’s going to be about that."
Ms Tu’akoi said she started writing children’s books because she could not find any written by Tongan writers.
"I started writing so my children could see themselves in books.
"Books can be mirrors which reflect back to you. I have this master plan that should any of our children ever produce a grandchild, they’d be able to read Tongan writers."
She was working on a mystery novel aimed at intermediate-aged children.
All of the fellows agreed that Dunedin was proving to be a stimulating environment for creativity.
"It’s such a nurturing environment," Ms Nyman said.
"To be in Dunedin is a gift of time, a gift of community and a gift to be able to explore."
