Waiwhetū Marae has been revitalising cultural practices among their whānau, supporting people to make them part of their daily lives - lifting wellbeing, strengthening relationships and cultural expertise. Spark shined a light on the great work being done at the community level as part of a series of content called Tākina Te Kōrero.

Working with tangata whenua as kaitiaki of their cultural knowledge.

Māori communities are looking for ways to record their cultural knowledge and expertise to enable it to be shared with future generations. We worked with Waiwhetū Marae and Spark to capture their stories as a taonga to be owned and managed by Waiwhetū Marae to support their revitalisation efforts. Then selected stories and co-edited them with Waiwhetū Marae to be shared through social channels.

Cultural practices passing on cultural knowledge to the next generation.

Waiwhetū whānau came together over several weekends to learn together about how to uphold cultural practices. Hautuku - to release any pain and the sadness of lost ones. Hautapu - to then renew your aspirations for the future. These practices are supported by the gathering of traditional foods and other preparations which then become the vehicle for intergenerational knowledge transmission.

Sharing stories with Aotearoa to strengthen our shared identity.

Spark was keen to allow the real human stories to be the hero and so no product marketing was associated with the content. Instead, the focus of the campaign was to connect New Zealanders with engaging stories of culture and identity that enrich us all. Spark’s core values include whakamana, tūhono and matomato and these guided the creation of this campaign and how we shaped it and shared it with the nation.

An energising animation flows over the content, representing connection to each other, to place and to culture.

Testimonial

E mihi kau atu ana ki Waiwhetū Marae. Nā koutou i rangatira ake ai tēnei kaupapa.