Putting megaphone on creativity
As the sky lit up in Wellington early yesterday morning, after a night of torrential rain and out of the cold, people gathered at Parliament’s Banquet Hall with coffee and kai for a series of inspirational talks about creativity and art.
Why? Well, the people in the room shared something in common – they’re all deeply committed to the arts, and see creativity’s value in the every day, for every person.
Jessica Palalagi, general manager of the Arts Foundation which organised the All In For Arts series, told The Post the event was about bringing people together and connecting outside of the echo chamber and algorithm silos of the online world.
“We rely so heavily on our digital connections, but actually, these more interpersonal, in kanohi [face to face] environments are where you can really hear and connect in a totally different way ... It’s just creating these accessible avenues into the arts and creativity, and just reminding people that we’re living and breathing it every day. It's actually so integral to our humanity that we can’t actually divorce it, so why don’t we continue to hear and support and understand each other better through the arts,” she said.
The Post has below quoted some excerpts from some of the event’s speakers, but all six full speeches can be listened to at
from later today.
Paul Ward – founder and project lead for Capital Kiwi
On the creativity of conservation: “The [kiwi] does have a mystique and elements of mystery and mana that are to do with its elusiveness, and so our challenge in connecting people to look after it was to reconnect us as our landowners, as communities and as iwi, and it’s a storytelling challenge.
This is an animal that since people came here has been extremely special to us ... It’s the bird that we chose to be our eagle, our lion, our tiger, and you know, we’re a bit shy as people, we’re also feisty when provoked, we're also a little bit weird. And so kiwi, we relate to. And when we go overseas it’s the symbol of us as people. It’s the symbol that our defence force wears, it’s the symbol [of] our sports teams ... the kiwi are us in some ways ... These are the animals that have gifted us so much in terms of our identity. ... And when we hear the call of the kiwi [in Wellington] ... we should feel proud not only of the guardianship efforts that have gone into enabling that, but it’s also an achievement of storytelling and of creativity.”
Tory Whanau – mayor of Wellington
On supporting the arts in local government:
“I myself am not an artistic person. I have the least creative bone in my body and yet I come from a very creative whānau. So my koro [grandfather] ... used to be an actor and performed at Circa [Theatre] and was in the Festival of the Arts, my brother’s an artist who designs – well, he’s learning how to design tā moko, and we have a few singers in the family. None of that talent filtered down to me. None of it. However, I was talking to someone who I really respect, Hone Kouka, from my days in the Film Commission ... and I said to him, ‘I don’t know why I’m so passionate about the arts when I have no artistic talent myself’, and he said to me, and it’ll always stick with me, he goes: ‘you whakapapa to the arts. It is in your blood even if you can't do it yourself, you still appreciate it’. And that is essentially what I want to do and ensure that it remains an important part of my priority list ... It is absolutely crucial that we support and keep funding and keep pushing the arts in our city and the country ... We’re going through some tough times. We’re going through a cost of living crisis. we’re going through mental health, we’re going through the environmental crisis, and that’s across the country. And we know ... the impact that art has on those things, you can’t even put value on it because it’s so important. When I was in New York recently they said the same, that they invested heavily into the arts to help them get through 9/11. Construction all through the city, really tough times. And so for me, I feel the arts has the role especially from now to the future, to repair the soul of Aotearoa.”
Libby Hakaraia – producer, director
On fighting for creativity: “It’s lovely to be in a room full of people that are fighting every day. And I understand that because from the very beginning of my life, and I did grow up colonised, I had nothing but the arts. Because the arts actually took me places, where I couldn't feel anything in the surrounds of my school, the places I stood in, where I felt very much like I wasn’t enough and I wasn’t good enough. That was a time. And I know that for some of you that time still exists. So I wanted to recognise that but it was the art that made me get up every day. And go to the school that I felt I didn’t fit ... What we still haven’t done and why I fight every day and get up every day is to fight for the space of storytellers. And that’s the reason why we set up Māoriland ... It’s not easy. We advocate for our rangatahi [youth]. We are training rangatahi every day. And a lot of that is about hauora [health]. A lot of that is actually about giving them a reason to stand ... The greatest thing we can do is look each other in the eye and say, ‘you have a story to tell. Your story is important. I want to hear your story’ ... it’s our stories that will keep us all alive.”