Community
Atamira Dance Company is the leading creator and presenter of Māori contemporary dance theatre in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Their work embodies a unique landscape shaped by the cultural identity of people and their stories. Atamira’s choreographers, dancers and designers are a reflection of the diverse cross-section of voices in Aotearoa today. The company creates compelling, high-quality Māori contemporary dance theatre that reaches out to audiences and reflects the many aspirations of Aotearoa’s Mana Whenua. The foundation and impulse for all their creative work is an understanding of Māori world view. And evolving our ongoing connection with Tikanga Māori (protocols and values) today. As well as single dance works, Atamira have created a number of important large-scale performances in collaboration with other arts organisations.
This ongoing visual arts programme was originally set up in 2013 to cater for young people dealing with multiple and varied challenges in their lives, who often faced uncertain futures. To be eligible to participate in the collective, participants also had to have some interest in visual art. Our belief was that if we could tap into this interest and build on it, the young people coming through would gain greater confidence and self-esteem along with developing motivation, focus and self-discipline. In turn we believed this would offer them more opportunities to become more valued, appreciated and contributing members of the community.
The programme has grown considerably in the past four years, and now accommodates three groups on three days a week. In their weekly sessions, participants try out different art mediums and processes, and discover which of these they want to pursue. Some of our ‘graduates’ have been accepted into courses in Unitec, to take their skill with visual art further. Others have become clearer about a possible pathway for them and taken other directions. Some Kākano participants have become skilled at mural art using spray cans, and as a result, Kākano have been requested to undertake many commissions to create mural works, particularly around West Auckland. Examples of this work can be seen in the Henderson Town Centre, at Olympic Park in New Lynn and around the Ranui shopping centre.
Mind Over Manner is a charity organisation that uses the power of theatre to ignite social change in our communities.
Our mission is to use creative process to introduce participants to an alternative way of understanding rangatahi who sense and learn differently, who experience anxiety, and who identify as neurodivergent - seated in Takiwātanga – in their own time and space.
In a three-way kōrero between facilitator, actors and audience we identify the sensory processing in all of us and then collectively unpack and re-evaluate our responses to these often difficult situations that arise.
We recognise that this creative way of working, and the learning that takes place in our workshops, has become relevant to everyone living and working alongside young people.
Mind Over Manner’s kaupapa is grounded in the deep belief that those in Takiwātanga are our objective observers of life; the social conscience for the world we all experience.
By bringing new understandings to light and helping us change our perspective, they lead the way and show us what a truly authentic and compassionate society could look like.
Mixit is a multi-cultural platform for local youth and young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds. Mixit brings people together from a diversity of backgrounds and experiences who can get involved in creative projects together and establish new networks and opportunities. Mixit is an environment that encourages creativity to cross barriers of difference using a range of performing arts-based creative disciplines, including dance, drama, music and aerial circus.
Mixit regularly performs and runs open courses, which don’t require previous experience but requires a willingness to turn up regularly. We also participate in a range of community events – such as the Auckland International Cultural Festival and youth events at Corban Estate Arts Centre.
The Pacifica Arts Centre is a home base for Pacific art, culture and community in Waitakere. Established in the late 1980’s the centre’s vision is to develop and support Pacific arts and cultural projects, with a focus on Pacific heritage art practices.
The Pacifica Mamas and Papas are the centre’s founders and backbone, providing guidance and support to the Pacific collectives and individual artists that call the centre home. The centre offers regular workshops and events year-round. This includes workshops for the Arts Education for Schools Programme, in partnership with the Corban Estate Arts Centre team.
Red Leap Theatre has made innovative and unforgettable theatre since 2010. Under the Artistic Direction of Ella Becroft, Red Leap is based in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand and tours nationally and internationally.
Red Leap is a devising theatre company, dedicated to innovating theatrical form through the intersection of dynamic physicality, arresting imagery, and inventive original storytelling.
We strongly believe in the strength of collaboration to celebrate the power of the imagination.
Te Pou Theatre is a kaupapa Māori theatre for all, located in Corban Arts Estate Centre. Embodying the literal meaning of its name ‘The Support Post’; acting as a constant and reliable presence for our performing arts community and Māori storytelling in Tāmaki Makaurau and abroad.
Since opening in 2015 they have become the home for tikanga Māori-led performing arts experiences with a curated annual programme for audiences and artists including their Whakaari programme of shows, an annual Kōanga Festival and opportunities to develop arts practice through their Whakapuāwai and Rangatahi programmes.
Mokonuiarangi (Moko) Smith (Te Arawa, Takitimu, Horouta, Tainui) is a tā moko artist dedicated to the revival of traditional hand tapping tools for tā moko and tā tatau. His work made with the tools known as uhi draws on traditional and contemporary aesthetics while working within tikanga and modern hygiene practices. After training under his teachers Croc Coulter and Inia Taylor, Moko established Uhi Tapu as a handle to hold an online and physical space for the development and continuation of this practice. Uhi Tapu is made up of many helping hands who continue this work at Corbans Estate Arts Centre, where they are available for consultation through appointment.
Waitākere Arts is a not-for-profit organisation supporting arts participation in the community and promoting arts practice from grassroots to professional level artists. They are located right next to the Gallery, Shop and Main Office at Corban Estate Arts Centre.
Waitākere Arts are in the business of making and exhibiting art, both for enjoyment and for those who would like to take a more professional approach.
To their members they offer Open Sessions and subsidised Workshops and Classes in painting, drawing, craft, photography, mixed media and assemblage.
Waitākere Arts have members who are keen to mentor others in the arts. To learn more contact Waitākere Arts via email: wccac@xtra.co.nz to let them know how they can assist.
Whaotapu are a collective of Tohunga Toi Ake who have been recognised and mandated by their tribes for generations. Acknowledged as traditional knowledges holders, experts, and authorities of Māori art, culture, heritage, Whaotapu are supported by mana whenua whānau, hapū, iwi, matawaka, and communities across Tāmaki Makaurau and Aotearoa, weaving people together through a kaupapa that is both transformative and enduring.
The Mana Whenua Puawaitanga and Launch of Whaotapu occurred in 2014, when Mana Whenua Rangatira and Kaumatua of Tāmaki Makaurau, and hapū, iwi of Aotearoa, gathered together in honour of the historical kaupapa of bringing the Tohunga Toi Ake together as a collective. Mana Whenua agreed that to futureproof the legacy of Tohunga Toi Ake, they would support Whaotapu to preserve and protect of the ancient first language of Māori - Toi.
