TEDxChristchurch and TEDxYouth@Christchurch together
• TEDxChristchurch and TEDxYouth@Christchurch have
partnered to host two events across 24-25 August at
Christchurch Town Hall.
• Milestone event to
showcase 20 speakers and performers, as well as previ-ous
TEDxChristchurch speaker alumni.
• Youth event
will feature half day event with 12 speakers and
performers.
• Organisers are working with
Cultural Partner Matapopore on the special theme for this
milestone event: Tūrangawaewae. “Tūrangawaewae” means
“stand-ing place” or “place of belonging.”
Christchurch, New Zealand—After two years of smaller, more intimate events, the TEDxChristchurch and TEDxYouth@Christchurch teams are gearing up to bring not just one, but two days of ideas worth spreading to the Christchurch Town Hall.
On Saturday, 24 August, a special half-day youth event—curated and produced by youth, specifically for youth—will feature 12 speakers and performers at the James Hay Theatre. The organising team, spearheaded by TEDxYouth@Christchurch licensee and curator Hannah Hudson, also hosted the successful TEDxYouth@AvonRiver event in 2018.
On Sunday, 25 August, the tenth edition of TEDxChristchurch will be a full-day event in the Douglas Lilburn Auditorium, showcasing a lineup of 20 carefully curated speakers and performers to an audience of 1700.
Together with the wisdom of local mana whenua, the TEDxChristchurch and TEDxYouth@Christchurch organising teams are exploring the events’ most inclusive theme ever, Tūrangawaewae: A place to stand.
“For nine years, we have opened every
TEDxChristchurch with a mihi, delivered by mana whenua, to
acknowledge and show our respect to the traditional people
of this land,” says TEDxChristchurch licensee and curator
Kaila Colbin.
“Now, for our tenth edition of
TEDxChristchurch, we are honoured to progress our journey
towards bicultural practice, by partnering with Matapopore
to integrate tikanga Māori into the heart of our
event.”
The word “tūrangawaewae” literally means standing place (tūranga), feet (waewae), and in the Māori worldview, is a powerful concept relating to the sense of identity we gain from having a place we call home. For Ngāi Tūāhuriri, tūrangawaewae is about whakapapa (kinship) and the importance of being able to connect to one’s ancestral land and sites of cultural significance.
“Matapopore has broken new ground as a first for indigenous cultures, to significantly transform the way Ōtautahi Christchurch has been rebuilt physically and ensure tradi-tional values are woven into its urban environment,” says Matapopore Trustee says Mata-popore Trustee Lynne Harata-Te Aika. “Our partnership with TEDxChristchurch is a fur-ther step to invite the community to experience the significance of these values and aspi-rations.”
“The TEDxChristchurch team puts a huge significance on the importance of storytelling and curating great content, similar to our historical tradition of passing on knowledge oral-ly, from expert to learner, from adult to child. We appreciate the work they are doing to help the greater community understand the importance of Tūrangawaewae and have en-joyed working with them to develop the theme and design of their tenth event.”
Matapopore’s cultural advisers were engaged for the theme design of the event, with a customised tukutuku panel designed by Kaitiaki Studios artist Morgan Mathews-Hale and approved by Matapopore included in the final theme branding.
“Tūrangawaewae is represented here as a contemporary version of a tukutuku panel, in-cluding the acknowledgement of Ngāi Tūāhuriri as tangata whenua,” says Mathews-Hale.
“The design’s contemporary koru forms represent Ngā Tangata (our people) and the ara-moana (waves) representing the various bodies of water that sustain our takiwā (region). There is a specific importance of wai (water) to Tūrangawaewae in the sustainability of our outer world, our environment, and our inner world, wai and its mauri (life force),” she explains.
“The purapura whetū (stars) above are a representation of that ‘inner’ sense of Tūrangawaewae and our individual direction and aspirations. This particular whetū de-picts Matariki, our winter star, and is a direct reference to Ngāi Tūāhuriri, alongside Maukatere (Mount Grey).”
Thanks to partners like Matapopore
Charitable Trust, Strategy Creative, Computer Concepts
Lim-ited, Davis Ogilvie, Hamilton Jet, and Go Media, the
tenth edition of TEDxChristchurch 2019 will be a spectacular
example of what makes Ōtautahi Christchurch so unique.
Both
events will feature activations from HIT Lab NZ,
interactive art installations, a pop-up bookstore from
Scorpio Books, and more. The TEDxChristchurch commitment to
locally sourced, sustainable, delicious food is also as
strong as ever, with refreshments for both
events
encompassing offerings from renowned local chefs Richard
Till, Dan Shanks, and the Vbase team. Sunday’s event lunch
will showcase a special hāngi from local hāngi master
Grenville Pitama. The catering, as well as free barista
coffee from Hummingbird coffee, is included in every ticket
sale.
Tickets are available from www.tedxchristchurch.com, www.tedxyouthchristchurch.com, and Eventbrite.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TEDxChristchurch
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/TEDxChCh
Instagram:
www.instagram.com/TEDxChristchurch
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/company/TEDxChCh