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Creating waves, performing change: Climate Change Theatre Action Aotearoa 2019

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Key dates of Climate Change Theatre Action AotearoaPresented by the Wellington Creativity in the Community class of 2019, Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) Aotearoa 2019 – Ngaru Ngaru – is a multi-disciplinary fusion of theatre, performance art and practical action on climate change.

CCTA Aotearoa 2019 is part of the global Climate Change Theatre Action movement led by The Arctic Cycle, the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, and Theatre Without Borders. CCTA is a worldwide series of readings and performances of short climate change plays presented biennially to coincide with the United Nations COP meetings.

Our CCTA Aotearoa event features four official Climate Change Theatre Action 2019 plays: Abhishek Majumdar’s ‘The Arrow’; Jordan Hall’s ‘The Donation’; Matthew Paul Olmos’ ‘Staring her Down’ and Stephen Sewell’s ‘The Reason’. The programme also features a zero-waste, anti-fast-fashion-inspired performance art promenade piece utilising litter found on our campus. Plus, two brand new devised performance poetry and movement works in which Māori and non-Māori students are working together to express how learning from Indigenous Māori values of spiritual connectedness with land, and kaitiakitanga (guardianship), can help us all reconceptualise the path forward for transforming the way we live.

Our event acknowledges the Te Reo Māori (Indigenous language) concept of ‘Ngaru Ngaru’, which translates roughly as ‘Riding the Wave’ or ‘Surfing the Wave’, but could also imply ‘Being the Wave’. Ngaru Ngaru is the third iteration of Massey University School of English & Media Studies at Wellington’s creative response to climate change. In 2015 we delivered ‘Waves’, starting ripples of climate change conversation and action within the community. In 2017 we followed up with ‘Still Waving’, to inspire our audiences that there is still hope in addressing the effects of climate change – things are dire, but we are not drowned yet.

This year, with ‘Ngaru Ngaru – Surfing the Wave’, we embrace the idea that now a global wave of people power is building, and there is a groundswell of action and hope that we can all find collective strength from. In our commitment to our creative work, we have been inspired by the School Strikes for Climate, Extinction Rebellion and similar groups. We are adding our creative voices to their courageous action, to inspire through arts, performance, and provocative street theatre. Together we are a global wave of change on many fronts.

a global wave of people power is building

As well as being a creative intervention, our event takes practical action by delivering on measurable targets of reducing, reusing, recycling and repairing to reduce our waste and carbon footprint wherever possible. Anything remaining in our calculations we are offsetting with native tree plantings (come to our events and you could get a free kawakawa seedling!).

We are documenting and tracking our carbon reduction efforts in order to develop and test a shareable ‘Carbon Neutral Theatre’ template for other future creative events.

Performances:
– Wednesday October 16, 12.30pm, 5D14 Theatre Laboratory, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa i Te Upoko O te Ika (Massey University Wellington Campus), Aotearoa (New Zealand). The full show with all our CCTA plays plus the devised and performance art works.

– Thursday October 17, 5.30pm, 5D14 Theatre Laboratory, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa i Te Upoko O te Ika (Massey University Wellington Campus), Aotearoa (New Zealand). The full show with all our CCTA plays plus the devised and performance art works. Also features readings from our creative nonfiction class (who have also been working on ecological creativity) plus free vegan pizza for everyone!

– Saturday October 19, various waterfront & CBD locations, including Parliament Gardens, Lambton Quay and Cuba Mall, Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington City), Aotearoa (New Zealand). A selection of our devised and performance art pieces translated into vibrant street performance. (Come for as little or as much as you like! Follow us on Facebook for exact times and locations!)

Follow us at https://www.facebook.com/ngarungaru.ccta/ for more details and updates counting down to Ngaru Ngaru – CCTA Aotearoa 2019. Join us, and be part of the tide of transformation.

JustUs takes justice to the stage

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Andrew Broadley as Michael, in JustUs

Andrew Broadley as Michael, in JustUs. Photo: Meredith Johnson

Audience members have described the premiere of JustUs, a new verbatim theatre work created by Massey University Creativity in the Community students as “powerful” and “fantastic”.

The original work, which was developed in collaboration with JustSpeak, a youth-led justice advocacy charity, was staged for the first time in Wellington today (June 1), and will return for two more performances, on June 3 and June 9.

The 40 minute one-act production combines film and live theatre to trace the journeys of two brothers through the NZ criminal justice system.  It resulted from the Massey expressive arts students’ work with JustSpeak to understand the differences in life outcome for 16-year-olds, who can access Youth Court processes, and 17-year-olds, who are tried in the adult court system. From a series of guest lectures, the students workshopped creative concepts then developed an original script.

The staging of the work is timely, with the government currently considering whether to raise the youth court age.  Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft has recently described New Zealand’s youth justice age of 17 as “an enduring stain on New Zealand’s otherwise

Fusi Mesui and Hamish Boyle in JustUs

Fusi Mesui and Hamish Boyle in JustUs. Photo: Meredith Johnson

good youth justice record.”

While New Zealand’s youth justice system was considered internationally to be “pioneering in its approach”, it had a long way to go, Judge Becroft said.

JustUs aimed to present that ‘long way to go’ concept through theatre, to reach out to an audience beyond those directly connected with the justice system and, through creativity, engage more people in considering the impact on  broader society of our justice approach to youth offending.

The dialogue in the piece is predominately taken from direct interviews the class were able to have, through working via JustSpeak, with youth offenders and the community workers who support them.  While the speech and context are real, the students then created a fictional dramatic structure around that  dialogue featuring two brothers whose only difference is age, with their upbringing, culture and crime identical.

Course coordinator, Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley, also invited established creative artists who have worked in prisons and on justice issues to talk to the class about how to apply creativity to challenging and sensitive topics.  Playwrights William Brandt and Jo Randerson, and author Pip Adam, all of whom have extensive experience teaching creative writing in prisons, were among those who helped the students by providing specialist creative guidance.

JustUs poster - design by Fusi Mesui.

JustUs poster – design by Fusi Mesui.

Audience members’ written feedback after the first performance included “Fantastic performance, really powerful and wonderfully performed. Thank you so much, and well done to all the cast and crew,” and “That was truly awesome – had tears in my eyes.”  Another said “What a great performance. I was so impressed. It was fantastic.”

JustUs returns to the stage on June 3, 2016 at 7pm as part of the Wellington Expressive Arts Students’ End of Semester Showcase and on June 9, when it will begin at 6.30pm, be held at a larger venue in downtown Wellington and followed by a speaker panel and community forum.  All welcome. Entry at the final performance will be by koha to support the advocacy work of JustSpeak.

To receive updates join the Facebook event for the June 9 event at https://www.facebook.com/events/604959266344766/

 

 

Australasian Association of Writing Programmes (AAWP) Conference

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From 30 November to 2 December 2014 Massey University hosted the 19th Annual Australasian Association of Writing Programmes (AAWP) Conference at the Massey Wellington campus (http://www.aawp.org.au/19th_annual_conference).  The conference featured three New Zealand keynote speakers: playwright and screen-writer Hone Kouka, novelist Emily Perkins, and creative non-fiction writer Martin Edmond.  Other major events at the conference included the Wellington launch of Poetry New Zealand, now edited by Jack Ross at Massey University, as well as the launch of the Aotearoa Creative Writing Research Network (ACWRN).  Martin Edmond’s keynote talk also dovetailed with the opening of the Placing the Personal Essay Colloquium (http://placingthepersonalessay.weebly.com), co-organised by Ingrid Horrocks of Massey University and Cherie Lacey of Victoria University.

This is only the second time that the Australasian Association of Writing Programmes conference has been hosted in New Zealand, and conference co-organiser Thom Conroy said, “This event marks an important development for collaborations and conversations between creative writers in New Zealand and Australia”.  Other conference organisers included Gail Pittiway from Wintec as well as Ingrid Horrocks and Hannah Gerard of Massey, Wellington.  Nick Allen, a Massey PhD student in literature at the Palmerston North campus, served as executive conference coordinator

Arts on Wednesday – Student Writers Read

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Student Writers Read 15 OctHosted by Ingrid Horrocks, join us as students from Creative Nonfiction and Life Writing classes share the best of their work. Startlingly original, inventive and poignant – these are the tastiest cuts from the 2014 Massey Wellington creative writing student work smorgasbord.

Wednesday 15 October
12:30 – 1:30pm
5D14 – Theatre Lab
Coffee and biscuits provided.

Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/WellyArtsWednesdays

Arts on Wednesday – Binge Culture Collective

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BCCThis audaciously inventive and interactive show, titled ‘For your Future Guidance’, was nominated for Most Original at NZ Fringe, and runner-up for Fringe of Fringe in Auckland.
Reviewers have said it shows Binge’s “commitment to creating daring, unpredictable performances that challenge conventional distinctions between ‘real’ and ‘staged’ performance”. Binge Culture Collective have been described as “one of the country’s most exciting, direct and original theatre companies”. Don’t miss it.

Wednesday 8 October, 12:30-1:30 in the Theatre Lab 5D14.
Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.

Also, take a look at our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/WellyArtsWednesdays

Arts on Wednesday – Barbarian Productions

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BarbarianNext Wednesday at Wellington, Barbarian Productions, home of theatre that is fierce, funny and counter-cultural, bring you their grim take on corporate change. Get involved, as an outreach team of Grim Reapers are sent by their home company to conduct surveys with you about their public image and the services they provide. We dare you not to laugh!
This project was originally staged at the 2014 New Zealand International Arts Festival – now free for your viewing pleasure right here on Massey Wellington campus.

www.facebook.com/WellyArtsWednesdays

Arts on Wednesday Wellington – Ben Fagan

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Ben FaganBen Fagan, performance poet, is funny, thoughtful, moving, and he has honed his art in fierce slam competitions where he’s taken out multiple prizes and awards. He will be performing at Arts on Wednesday on September 10 in Wellington.

Here’s what others have to say about him: “Ben Fagan is that rare kind of poet who combines well-developed linguistic agility with intelligence, thoughtfulness, and a mile-wide streak of humour – both light and dark, as needed. His performances are laugh-out-loud entertaining and deeply thought-provoking, and I’m always delighted to see his name on an open mic list.” (Laurice Gilbert, President, The New Zealand Poetry Society). “His conversational tone and understated performance style place him somewhere between a prophet and an everyday Kiwi bloke – a dangerously charming combination.” (Ali Jacs, New Zealand National Poetry Slam Champion 2012) High praise indeed – so check out Ben Fagan for something completely different to everything you thought you knew about poetry!

See more at www.facebook.com/wellyartswednesdays

ACE Wellington adds creative flavour

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ACE leading women

Clockwise from top: Creative leaders Jo Randerson and Deirdre Tarrant joined organisational leader Lana Simmons-Donaldson to share leadership insights at this year’s Wellington ACE program.

The Wellington ‘creative campus’ ACE (Achieving Career Excellence) women students’ leadership program had a special twist this year by collaborating with Arts on Wednesday to bring creative women entrepreneurs from the arts sector to the speaker line-up.
Dame Deirdre Tarrant (Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit) kicked the program off with an incredibly frank and entertaining talk about her life and work as a dancer, choreographer, business owner and mentor.
The following week featured a visit from Jo Randerson, artistic director of Barbarian Theatre and award-winning New Zealand playwright. Jo talked about building a successful arts company from the ground up and generating new project opportunities through crowdfunding.
The third speaker was Massey University’s own communication leader, Lana Simmons-Donaldson, who is Massey’s Account Manager – Māori, Pasifika and New Migrants. She shared moving personal insights into leadership and perseverance, and particularly issues for Māori women leaders.
Originally developed by Professor Sarah Leberman at Manawatu, and delivered at Wellington by Associate Professor Elspeth Tilley (College of Humanities & Social Sciences) and Anna Brown (College of Creative Arts), ACE is a five-week programme for specially selected final-year women students. It explores issues for women in the workforce, such as assertiveness and gender-pay equity, and gives women students some insights into and positive strategies for handling gender-related challenges they might encounter.
“We tune the program carefully every year in response to participant feedback,” Dr Tilley said. “Last year our business students were very well catered for with fantastic organisation-based speakers, so this year we wanted to add something responsive to the needs expressed by creative arts and humanities students about work models that are not necessarily organisation-based.”
Dr Tilley said the focus for graduating students was often on employability, but it was important, particularly in the creative industries, to also foster what she called “employerability”, that is, the ability to generate projects and companies that employ others.
“Our speakers were so inspiring – they have taken risks, made sacrifices, and contributed to our culture and society in completely novel ways. Creative entrepreneurship has a set of challenges all its own, and it was great to balance that this year with the traditional organisation focus.”
The ACE program also includes exercises and activities on life-planning, assertiveness, work/life balance and managing workplace situations. Students are selected for the second-semester program based on both academic and extracurricular leadership, and receive a letter of invitation at the end of first semester.  This year, the speaker portions of the program were also open to members of the public and the Wellington campus community. “These speakers are so great, we didn’t want to keep them all to ourselves,” Dr Tilley said.

Digital Media Production Village Opening

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Monday 14th April saw the official opening of the new Digital Media Production Village at Massey’s Wellington Campus. In addition to media production and post-production spaces, a communications lab, audio recording booth, technician’s offices and equipment stores the area additionally features an interview/greenscreen studio and control room, ensuring that students will have access to cutting edge technologies which are increasingly found in the creative industries.

Digital Media Production Village @ Massey Wellington

Digital Media Production Village @ Massey Wellington

Digital Media Production Village @ Massey Wellington

Digital Media Production Village @ Massey Wellington

Digital Media Production Village @ Massey Wellington

Digital Media Production Village @ Massey Wellington