Michael James Manaia - New Zealand International Arts Festival ...

About Taki Rua
OUR VISION
‘Connecting Our Heritage – Past, Present & Future’
‘Topa ana te kaeaea, ōna whatu tau ana ki te ukaipo, te kōpūnga, te uri whakatupu’
OUR MISSION
‘Ensuring the foundation for Māori voices to be heard worldwide’
OUR STORY
For 27 years Taki Rua has been an arts industry leader – a creative rule breaker, unpredictable and
unconventional, challenging and evolving the definition of Māori theatre. We exist to connect our
heritage, past and present and ensure the foundation for Māori voices to be heard worldwide.
Stemming from a traditional culture and adapting to a multicultural world, Taki Rua is a call to our
audiences and artists to celebrate and share stories from our own back yard that define and
challenge the essence and perceptions of who we are as the indigenous culture of Aotearoa.
Our challenge is to voice the questions of our past that remain unanswered in our present; we
celebrate these voices as a taonga. We are the conspiracy of our ancestors and our work ensures
their voices are still heard today. We acknowledge our foundations are the achievements of those
who have gone before us.
Our objective is for Māori voices to be celebrated and proudly owned by all people of Aotearoa. We
want to inspire and encourage the next generation of New Zealander’s to fall in love with their
culture through the medium of theatre. The invitation is to know who we are; by investigating our
collective past and recognising our history and future are not black and white. We extend this
invitation to our artists, our audiences, our people
Four Strands
Te Reo Māori (Community)
‘Unique in Aotearoa’
Taki Rua Productions annually tours works in Te Reo Māori for schools, marae and community
centres throughout the country promoting the holistic use of Te Reo within theatre for audiences
and practitioners.
New Zealand International Arts Festival