This document discusses Taki Rua's "Whānau Focus" initiative, which aims to build relationships and provide arts experiences for Māori communities. It describes how Taki Rua has used a "whānau" or extended family approach to develop audiences and partnerships through outreach, community performances, and addressing community needs. Feedback showed the initiative helped expose new audiences to te reo Māori performances and was appreciated by partners and communities. The whānau framework allows Taki Rua to engage stakeholders and build sustainable relationships over time.

1. Whānau Focus
If our audiences, stakeholders and artists are our whānau, what is our responsibility to them?
Whether through emotional connection or pure biology whānau is the culmination of two beings
meeting and their relationship to each other. From there a third body is created, sometimes a
fourth, a fifth and so on.
In a whānau unit, a group of autonomous yet intrinsically linked individuals develop into a
community that can span the generations, bridge vast distances and overcome huge challenges. No
matter what whānau members are, and always will exist, in relationship to each other.
It is this notion - the whānau connection that cannot be broken, that has informed my work in
audience development and enabled me to deliver projects I feel in some way give back to the
communities we visit.
Creating This Session
It was important that the structure of this session was an embodiment of the Whānau Model, so
that by participating people are not simply engaging with the abstract approach but actually
experiencing it as they are hearing about the Whānau Performance initiative. Every aspect from the
warm-up, to the design of the power point presentation, to the practical exercises and what
information was communicated in the verbal presentation versus what information is in this tool kit
were all conscious choices that I felt would bring the approach alive in the room and encourage
participants to get involved in a hands on capacity.
The themes informing the session layout were:
Keeping it personal - using my own family as a starting point. Modelling the personal approach that
is integral to this framework. I want participants to engage with who I am so we can build
relationship with each other from there.
Keeping it practical - participants have to actively engage and learn through action.
Keeping it conversational - creating moments of dialogue throughout rather than a student /
teacher relationship where an expert is imparting their knowledge and question time is limited to
the end of the session. This allows us to practice listening, sharing and relationship building.
Community Not Customers - Whānau Focus
Presented by Esther Roberts, Kaitiaki – Taki Rua

2. Tools & Approaches
Whakapapa
Who are your audiences and how well do you know them? We have the data, we know who’s
coming to see our works and where they are from, but are we doing enough to get out and meet
them face to face? Our organisational whakapapa is a wealth of knowledge and potential but we can
only tap into that with active relationship building!
Outreach
We know our whānau value face to face contact and conversation. We know that this speeds
partnership building and increases audiences and it is a constant aspect of our annual programme.
Outreach doesn’t have to be a standalone activity – we leverage of our touring programme to get
out and meet our community whenever we are on the road.
Listening For & Addressing The Need
Often we find potential partners are wary of an approach because they are often asked for things. By
coming to partnership building with a win/ win philosophy we can shift this dynamic and through
listening to what is important for the potential partner we can create initiatives that address their
need as well as their own.
Existing Vehicles & Diversification
What do we have in our repertoire that could address a community need? Who are the communities
that share our values and goals? This thinking shapes which of our works or programmes we use as a
starting point for community engagement and audience development. This also prevents huge
investment or resource being used to create a new project by simply looking at how we can work
with what we already have.
We have a tendency to feel overwhelmed once community needs are identified, how can we
possibly deliver to those on top of everything else we do? The answer is most likely that you are
already doing it, or at least that you have a project that can do it for you.
Ticking All The Boxes
This is used as a brainstorming tool or a success measure to help us make an informed decision
around the balance between investment and return, both for us and for the community we are
working with.
E.g. Whānau Performances were…
 Good for TRP because they built new audiences & partnerships
 Good for Marae / Partners because they provided a new experience for their networks
 Good for audiences because they were a low barrier way of exposing them to the arts
(Hamilton & Auckland Whānau Performances)

3. Whānau Performance Pilot - Key Learning
Advocates On The Ground
As a national organisation we’ve realised that it’s impossible to be everywhere at once but that it is
hugely important when building relationships with communities that you have some kind of
permanent or consistent presence. Through our Whānau Performances we’ve been able to build
relationships with advocates on the ground in the communities we work with who can lobby on our
behalf to share the value of what we offer to their networks.
Breaking Down Barriers
There are potential venues everywhere you look – theatre doesn’t have to exist on the stage, it can
happen anywhere. Not all of our audiences want to dress up and head to a auditorium to see our
works, they want to see it in their Marae, they want to talk with our team over a cup of tea
afterwards and they want to enjoy it with their whole whānau without a huge cost. These are givens
that we can work with – not every work will be suitable but at least one in every annual programme
should be.
Marketing
We had no marketing budget for the pilot so audiences were attracted through word of mouth and
promotional materials distributed electronically to Taki Rua and partner networks. Although this
allowed us to save funds or rather that there was no additional cost to promote the performances it
did impact audience numbers and profile of the events. A small marketing budget will shift this and
we have now allocated a marketing budget for the second round of the initiative.
Solid Foundations
Above all the biggest asset of taking the risk with the initial pilot was that in round two we had
something that we could speak to when approaching new partners. We were able to demonstrate
support for the idea and show the value through feedback, this gave us a proven track record with
which to engage new partners.
The Whānau Framework
What this project has given Taki Rua is a framework that we can apply to many different areas within
the organisation – not just in audience development but in stakeholder engagement, partnership
building and marketing.
The key principles are bringing two parties together, your organisation and a partner / community,
listening for a shared goal, vision or need and then producing an activity which in some way allows
both parties to address the need. This formula looks like 1 + 1 = 3 or meet, listen, create and over
time it will grow a large community around your organisation.

4. Three Questions
To stay connected with this approach and to keep coming back to it as we programme and plan our
way through the year, we ask ourselves three questions:
1. What is a 1 + 1 = 3 opportunity that could be explored in your organisation?
2. What are some questions that you could ask your community to learn more about their
needs?
3. What & how other organisational areas could benefit from a whānau approach?
Audience & Partner Feedback
Across the 6 performances 300 community members experienced a performance of our 2013 Te Reo
Māori Season whakaari – Te Tira Puha. Although this number is not huge it shows us that was
interest in the six communities that we worked with and that if this is what we can achieve with no
marketing budget, no financial investment and no extra staff resource – imagine what the potential
is moving forward now that we can invest more and have developed double the partnerships!
Though statistics are important and as we all know bums on seats are essential to our sustainability
as an arts organisation, the deciding factor for us on whether to pursue the initiative further has to
be the impact it has on audiences and partners – it was this most of all, shown in the feedback
below, that encouraged us to continue delivering Whānau Performances in 2014.
There are very few opportunities for te reo Māori to feature as a normalised language within this
domain, especially in the Otago region and personally I applaud the continual commitment that Taki
Rua Productions give in ensuring that there is on-going development of te reo Māori within theatre
productions. Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has a Māori language strategy, Kotahi Mano Kāika that urges
families to use te reo Māori in every domain possible within our daily lives, as a normalised, everyday
intergenerational language of communication. Taki Rua Productions does exactly that! Every year,
those families who have been committed to learning, using and celebrating our unique language
come together to enjoy live theatre provided in te reo. Each year these families – both young and old
look forward to coming together, being entertained by Taki Rua Productions and their dynamic, awe-
inspiring shows, laughing and celebrating together in our indigenous language. – Ngai Tahu,
Dunedin

5. So happy to repeat our support of this wonderful initiative – Te Tumu, Otago University
Regional Māori arts development is a key priority for Creative Waikato. Therefore, having the
opportunity for Taki Rua to showcase an experience that is both culturally relevant and with a strong
community focus aligns perfect with that goal. It has been an absolute pleasure working with Taki
Rua this year and I'm sure it is the start of exciting things to come in the future. – Creative Waikato,
Hamilton
If you would like to know more or have any questions that arise after this session, please feel to
contact me. Esther Roberts, esther@takirua.co.nz / 021 850 930
(Outreach Trip Photos: TKKM Te Ararima Hamilton & Gore High School)
(Outreach Trip Photos: Te Rau Aroha Marae & Otago High School with Te Kohe Tuhaka)