This kōrero is led by Amber Curreen, Kaihautū Taha Whānau at Te Pou Theatre in Tāmaki Makaurau. Recorded in March 2021, she explores Te Pou Theatre’s journey discovering what it looks like to make tikanga Māori based performing arts and creating a home for this mahi.

Amber is a kaupapa-Māori focused arts manager, actor, theatre producer, developing playwright and director who leads Te Pou Theatre and Te Rēhia Theatre Company. Amber is also the Festival Director for Kōanga Festival, a festival supporting Māori playwrights to develop their works and encouraging storytelling throughout the whole community.

This episode, recorded in September 2021, is a kōrero from Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwaho around nurturing our hauora and wellbeing. He looks at self care from a Mana Motuhake, Tino Rangatiratanga and self autonomy perspective. He has provided a list of hauora resources that can be accessed .

Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwaho (Te Arawa/Tuhoe/Tuwharetoa) is the Auckland Fringe Festival Director, Kaiwhakahaere of Taurima Vibes and core whanau member of both Te Pou Theatre and Hobson Street Theatre Company. As well as his work in theatre, Borni is an advocate for positive social change and the role of arts in supporting wellbeing. Borni is also the current Kaiarahi for Te Ora Auaha, Creative Wellbeing Alliance Aotearoa.

This episode features Lissy and Rudi Cole, who share a passion in life to ignite joy through their sculptural crochet art, and Jessica Hansell, aka Coco Solid, a prolific emcee, writer, artist, director and producer – and driving force behind Wheke Fortress, a soon to open gallery and community arts space in Onehunga.

Recorded in February 2022, we called it “Igniting, Sharing, and Multiplying Joy in the time of Corona.” It also features input from Jessica Palalagi, the General Manager of the Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi. We hope you love it as much as we did.

This kōrero is from February 2021 and features Rosabel Tan, author of the article, We Can Build a New Utopia: Reimagining the post-Covid ngā toi arts and culture sector in Aotearoa.

Rosabel talks about the whakapapa of the piece of writing, which came from reflections on what the future of the arts, culture and creative sector could look like as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. You can read this piece here.

Rosabel is a writer, strategist, and creative producer of Peranakan Chinese descent. She is the director of Satellites and the founding editor of The Pantograph Punch, an arts and culture journal.

This episode features Rose Hiha Agnew from Community Governance and Huia O’Sullivan from Nga Rangatahi Toa discussing what future models of governance could look like for the arts, culture and creative sector and how they are accountable first and foremost to their nannies and kuia – women who have stood before them with mana, aroha and wisdom. Recorded in July 2021.

Rose Hiha Agnew of Rongowhakaata | Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Whanganui-a-Orotu descent is the programme director for the National Action Plan for Community Governance. Rose has extensive experience in management and governance across iwi, community and governance organisations.

Huia O’Sullivan (Te Ātiawa ki Taranaki) is the Executive Director of Ngā Rangatahi Toa, a creative youth development trust that has been working with vulnerable young people and their whānau across Auckland for the last 10 years. Huia has a total of 22 years of experience in positive youth development and creating safe space for young people.

This kōrero is led by Shona McElroy and Eynon Delamere who collaborated on the written series The Future Emerging: Innovation in arts and culture in Aotearoa alongside Chantelle Whaiapu and Jane Yonge. Recorded in April 2021 the conversation explores the collaborative approach to this mahi – looking at both mātauranga Māori and Western knowledge and challenging ourselves to think about innovation differently.

Shona McElroy (Macklemore) hails from Scotland and is passionate about helping people and organisations realise their potential to lead positive social and environmental change here in Aotearoa and the UK.

Eynon Delamere is the Pou Hononga at Te Taumata Toi-a-Iwi. ​​Eynon hails from Te Whānau Ā Apanui, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Rongomai and Whakatōhea on his father’s side and Wales on his mother’s side. He has been part of the Auckland and national arts sector for over 30 years in various roles and is the Pou tikanga for Auckland Arts Festival.

This episode features Toluma’anave Barbara Makuati-Afitu and Kolokesa Uafā Māhina-Tuai from cultural consultancy Lagi-Maama. They speak to the mahi they have been doing in collaboration with a multitude of communities across Moana Oceania on the importance of indigenous knowledge systems and how to embed those systems into mainstream consciousness.

Elyssia Wilson-Heti (Avatele,Tamakautoga) facilitates a korero with dynamic creative practitioners and sector leaders Grayson Goffee (Taranaki, Te Ati Awa), Tanya Muagututi’a (Ulutogia and Vailuutai, Manono and Vaovai), Joe Daymond (Te Ati Awa and Navicula, Tailevu) and Tainui Tukiwaho (Te Arawa/Tuhoe/Tuwharetoa) around the importance of hauora of practitioners, being responsive to the needs of practitioners and how to foster environments that are support systems of support.
All four of these practitioners have centred the hauora of practitioners in the spaces they create and hold. In this kōrero they discuss how centering indigenous models of practice creates a more considered environment for artists to exist in. They discuss the systems change that is possible when self-determination and equity are at the heart of your practice.

This episode was captured in November 2022