CollaboratioNZ: Community Engagement
Creating Together. Learning Together. Sharing Together.
At CollaboratioNZ, we believe art has the power to bring people together, inspire new possibilities and strengthen communities. Since 1999, our biennial collaborative arts event has connected artists from across Aotearoa and around the world with the people of Te Tai Tokerau Northland, sharing skills, exchanging cultures and creating art together.
Our impact extends well beyond the artists who take part. We believe creativity builds connection, innovation, and wellbeing which serve to benefit our communities. Through our free public Open Day, exhibition, auction, artist talks and demonstrations, we invite our community to experience collaborative art-making firsthand. Visitors can meet the artists, explore their workshops and discover the extraordinary things that can happen when different disciplines, cultures and generations come together. Our online activities also help share this experience with audiences beyond Te Tai Tokerau Northland.
Inspiring the next generation - hands on learning
Through our growing Rangatahi Youth Programme we create opportunities for young people to develop practical skills, learn traditions as well as cutting edge practices, and discover new creative pathways and career opportunities. We bring students into the heart of the event, where they can meet artists, experience the workshops up close, seeing how tools, materials and traditional trades can be used in unexpected and innovative ways. We are working to extend this programme to include more schools and alternative education providers, helping rangatahi build confidence, curiosity and a connection with the arts.
Connecting cultures, skills and communities
As an event, we bring together emerging and established artists across generations, cultures and creative disciplines. Through hands-on collaboration, mentoring and experimentation, knowledge and skills are shared, creative talent is nurtured, and lasting relationships are built. By connecting artists with local schools, community organisations, businesses and public audiences, we encourage lifelong learning, celebrate diverse cultural traditions, and continue to strengthen our relationships with mana whenua and respectful understanding of tikanga and te reo Māori. We value grounding our programme in whanaungatanga, manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga (relationship, kinship, and a sense of family connection; welcome and looking after the people, hospitality, kindness, generosity, support, and the process of showing respect and care for others; holistic environmental guardianship, stewardship, and protection).
CollaboratioNZ addresses a geographic access gap for Te Tai Tokerau Northland. Whangārei
is a long way from Aotearoa’s main arts centres, where many specialised artists, exhibitions
and training opportunities are concentrated. Local artists can work alongside established national and international artists, gaining access to skills, knowledge, traditional crafts and innovative techniques that they might otherwise need to travel to experience. This provides communities with unique engagement in creative skills not typically available. Connections made at CollaboratioNZ travel with our artists back into their own communities, extending our positive impacts for Te Tai Tokerau Northland to the wider world.
Bringing people together through creativity
We champion care for people, place and the environment. Diversity is celebrated: inclusion and equity of access inform our event design. Through recycling and repurposing materials, minimising waste and respecting the natural environment in which we work, sustainability is woven into our creative practice.
We offer public participation and meaningful arts experiences through our Open Day activities and Exhibition/Auction day activities. We plan to develop a more extensive programme of public collaborative arts events in the near future.
By bringing people together to share creative making and learning, CollaboratioNZ strengthens connections, nurtures emerging talent, and inspires a vibrant, sustainable creative future for Te Tai Tokerau Northland that continues long after the event ends.
Creating a sustainable future
Become A Supporter
Or email us to discuss partnership opportunities:
info@collaborationz.co.nz
Thank you for supporting creativity, collaboration, and community connection.