Creative New Zealand have released their Maori Arts Strategy.

Creative New Zealand has released Te Hā o ngā Toi – Māori Arts strategy for the next five years, following nationwide engagement over the past year.

As the national arts development agency, Creative New Zealand’s role is to encourage, promote and support the arts for the benefit of all who call Aotearoa home, through funding, capability building and arts advocacy.

An important step in the development of Te Hā o ngā Toi has been the creation of a Māauranga Māori framework for Creative New Zealand, and extensive engagement with ng? toi Māori i artists and communities. This included 28 hui around the country, an online survey, and engagement with Crown organisations and agencies to understand and reflect the ng? toi Māori sector’s needs and aspirations.

“Our vision is to see ng? toi Māori everywhere, that is highly valued in Aotearoa as part of our distinct identity, and is recognised and admired globally,” says Dean Whiting, Chair of the Arts Council’s Komiti Māori .

“We shared Te Hā o ngā Toi with some of the sector over the weekend at Te Matatini, a pinnacle event for Māori performing arts, and a national celebration of excellence in te reo Māori , composition and performance.”

Te Hā o ngā Toi captures and consolidates the work up to this point, and will be complemented by a comprehensive implementation plan that reflects how Creative New Zealand will work with the arts sector to deliver this important strategy.

“Te Hā o ngā Toi sets out how we will join with others and effect change ourselves, building a stronger sector to advance and increase public engagement with the breadth and depth of ngā toi Māori. Important to the strategy’s success is collaboration with central and local government, iwi Māori and the wider sector, to realise the greatest and most sustainable change.”

In endorsing Te Hā o ngā Toi, Creative New Zealand acknowledges the guiding hands of the statutory Komiti Māori and the many artists and practitioners, leaders, change agents and advocates who contributed their time, aroha, whakaaro and wairua to inform this strategy.

You can read Te Hā o ngā Toi here in both Te Reo Māori and in English.