TUESDAY 24th JUNE (4.30pm - 6.30pm)

Rest In Your Kete w/ Toirewa Fowles (she/they)

Through the season of Matariki mā Paunga this workshop provides a moment to slow down, acknowledge, and sit with your creative kete. Facilitated by TOIREWA, through expression of movement and freehand drawing. A guide to tap into the knowledge or skills we already have within us that need some attention. This is your time to give your beautiful kete some love.

Workshop capacity: max. 10

Facilitator Bio

TOIREWA (Rewa Fowles) (she/they) is a takatāpui Māori and Pākehā multidisciplinary freelance artist specialising in dance, theatre, poetry, and illustrations. In addition to her day job as support worker with a Master of Dance Movement Therapy with Honours. Rewa has a passion for exploring nuanced sides of identity and mental health, challenging creativity in all forms. Showing discomfort and resilience can co-exist with joy and softness. Their most recent works include creating and performing the solo show REALM of TEARS at Q Theatre and Basement Theatre in 2024. Also producing, creating, and performing in the exhibition Grieving Goddess at Theend Gallery and Kūwao Space in 2024.

Check them out here: @toirewa

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WEDNESDAY 25th JUNE (6.30pm - 8.30pm)

What is Matariki? w/ Tūī Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield (Ngāti Ohomairangi, Ngāti Mākuratawhiti)

Te Kauwhau/Lecture:

WhakaHAU mai a MATARIKI
WhakaHAU mai a REHUA
WhakaHAU mai a korua uri WHETŪ!
Urge forth MATARIKI
Exhort forward REHUA!
Cast your LEGACIES!

Ko Taku Iho Pūmanawa/Bio:

Tūī Matira Ranapiri-Ransfield
(Ngāti Ohomairangi, Ngāti Mākuratawhiti)

Tūī is a descendant of the Ngāti Ohomairangi homeland in Hawaiikinui. Her whakapapa flows from numerous waka including Te Arawa, Hōkioi, Tainui, Mataatua, Tākitimu, Paikea, Whai, Uruao, Āraiteuru, among others. She descends from across the globe also! Her head, heart & puku is Māori!

A highly skilled Māori performing artist, composer, storyteller, and senior wahine karanga/poroporoākī, Tūī is also an expert in Mau-rākau-a-Matarua (Māori weaponry), specialising in patu (short clubs), and teaches these ancestral arts, and kaupapa Māori across Aotearoa and internationally, including lectures on MATARIKI!

She is a founding leader, tutor, composer, and choreographer of Te Matarae-i-Ōrehu, a top national kapa haka team, and has been a senior judge of Māori performing arts for over 45 years across all age levels, including Te Matatini, where she is acknowledged as a Matatoki (2023).

Since 2011, Tūī has been a sought-after Mātanga Mātauranga Māori (Cultural Expert, Advisor, Mentor, Consultant, and Mentor) for major contemporary dance companies, theatre, public speaking, voice in music-scapes for most works, and screen productions, and artist collaborator. She works with leading artists and companies to uphold tikanga, ensure cultural integrity, weaving cultural consciousness, and clear spiritual obstructions, creating safe sacred spaces both on and off stage ~ ko ngā mea e huna ana.

Mānawatia a MATARIKI
Whakatairangatia a MATARIKI
Whakarangatiratia a MATARIKI!

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THURSDAY 26th JUNE (6.30pm - 8.30pm)

Toi kupu ki te pō w/ Liam Jacobson (Kāi Tahu)

Read, reflect, scrawl & look forward. This workshop will focus on writing poetry, around readings of Māori and local poets. Consider images, tohu and fragments that emerge through the materials and breathe some life into the neglected corners of your notes app.  

Facilitator Bio

Liam Jacobson (Kāi Tahu) is a writer and artist from Tāmaki Makaurau. Liam has written for a range of galleries and publications, and has performed in galleries, pubs, theatres & alleys across Aotearoa and overseas. In 2023, Liam’s first book of poetry, Neither was published in 2023 by Dead Bird Books. His second will be out in September-ish.

Check them out here: @liamjacobson

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FRIDAY 27th JUNE (4.30pm - 6.30pm)

The Essentials Kete: Creative Care & Connection w/ Hayley Walters-Tekahika (she/her) (Ngāti Maniapoto / Ngāti Kahungunu / Ngā Puhi) and Renee Wiki (she/her) (Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi)

Explore how we support ourselves and each other as independent artists navigating burnout. Through games, kōrero, and movement—including a bit of waacking! we’ll unpack what care looks like in rehearsal rooms and across departments. Build your own "essentials kete" and connect through play, storytelling, and collective wellbeing.

Facilitator Bio

Hayley Walters-Tekahika - (she/her) (Ngāti Maniapoto / Ngāti Kahungunu / Ngā Puhi) Director of Prowl Productions and is an award winning dancer from South Auckland. he has studied dance in NZ, Los Angeles, San Diego, Singapore, Australia and at the Broadway Dance Centre in New York, training in Street styles. Hayley is currently is exploring various forms of the arts such as theatre making (Club Waack), acting (The Boy, The Queen and Everything in Between), producing as part of the ‘Producer Pal’ program at Basement Theatre and street dance theatre (Prowl)

 
Renee Wiki (she/her) (Te Aupōuri, Ngāti Kurī, Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is a freelance producer, stage manager, theatre aunty and artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau; known by her mahi produced at Basement Theatre and Prowl Productions. Co-Recipient of the Auckland Fringe’s Basement Theatre Disruptor Award for How Inconvenient, 2022, Renee has a performing arts background in storytelling through Dance. Now shifted from the stage to behind the scenes, Renee’s work is rooted in collaboration and guided by a deep commitment to serving tangata whenua, tagata moana, BBIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ communities. She serves as a conduit for local emerging artists to express their ideas through theatre and live events.

Check them out here: @hayleywalterstk @prowlproductions @reneewikitoria  @freedommover.s

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FRIDAY 27th JUNE (7pm - 8pm)

So you're thinking about doing some comedy? w/ Janaye Henry (she/her) (Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa)

If you've ever wondered if you should do a little comedy set, give it a wee go then join Janaye for an hour as she gives you a few practical tools on how to take that thought into action. It will be incredibly chill, feel free to come with questions, even if you've never written a single joke come and see what it's all about.

Facilitator Bio

Janaye Henry (Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa) is a comedian, writer, actor and theatre-maker residing in Tāmaki Makaurau and has spent the past decade crafting stories across stage and screen that are funny, political, accessible and joy-filled. She was Billy T nominated in 2023 and her comedy highlight was curating Shoes Off (at the door) an all-wāhine Māori line up show.

Check them out here: @janayeh