Leaders, artists, and critics on CNZ’s new 15-year strategy

On 19 March Creative New Zealand, the Crown entity tasked with funding, developing, and advocating for the arts in Aotearoa, released two strategies that it described as “landmarks”. The strategies set a new long-term direction for how the arts and ngā toi Māori will be supported and developed. Tū Mai Rā, Toi Aotearoa is Creative New Zealand’s first 15-year strategy and the new Toi Ora Strategy will guide support for ngā toi Māori to 2030.

This is the first in a series of three articles about the strategies. The Big Idea has asked a number of leaders, artists, critics, and organisations to comment on Tū Mai Rā, Toi Aotearoa, which we share today. Not everyone was able to share their views – many in the arts are constrained by the funding they rely on or other entanglements. The Big Idea reached out to almost 60 people and organisations, and these are all the responses we received.  

Tū Mai Rā is a high-level document – a 15-page PDF with a vision for the future laid out in six long-term goals which are positive, but broad. They are: empowered communities; thriving artists, ringatoi and practitioners; he mana toi, he mana tangata; powerful and resilient Pacific arts; inspired New Zealanders; and CNZ being a valued arts development agency.

Tū Mai Rā anticipates change. On page three, it reads, “Bringing about the future we want means we’ll change too – how we work, the kinds of relationships we have and where we invest our resources.” The document also repeats CNZ’s purpose: to encourage, promote and support the arts in New Zealand for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

 We asked people not to feel obligated to analyse the whole strategy, and instead focus on what is most important or relevant to the area they work in, or a particular part that stood out. Here’s what they said:

15 years ago, Creative New Zealand received $15.6 million in direct Government funding. In last year’s budget, CNZ received $16.6 million. Peanuts for the Government, everything for the arts sector.

There’s a bit more from the lotteries board these days ($27m in 2011 vs $52m in 2025) – but Creative New Zealand’s aspirations for the next 15 years come with a heavy dose of realism that CNZ hasn’t been able to convince successive Governments to increase its investment to even match inflation. Demand for funding keeps growing, but the budget does not. CNZ therefore are positioning themselves to be seen as more than just a funder, aiming to “add value beyond funding” as a development agency providing services, mentorship, and sector leadership.

This is complemented by the advocacy effort to increase public awareness and understanding of the “value and impact of the arts”. This would bring us closer to the guiding vision of Tū Mai Rā, Toi Aotearoa which imagines a 2040 where the arts and ngā toi are central to our everyday lives. Unspoken is the idea that if CNZ can win the hearts and minds of New Zealanders, then arts investment becomes a political vote winner. It’s a huge ask – and CNZ’s advocacy is always going to be limited by the need to play nice within the public service. In the meantime, the strategy looks to a “broader range of partners and supporters” to help grow the funding pie – because the Government aren’t coming to the party anytime soon.

The most significant transformation is the goal for “empowered communities, of all kinds, making decisions on the arts and ngā toi Māori closest to them.” This is a little back to the future – the old Arts Council had regional arts boards that were controversially abolished. CNZ’s ability to devolve power and decision-making will be the biggest test of the strategy, but if successful, would go a long way towards ensuring a central role for arts and culture in our local communities.

Dr James Wenley is a Pākehā theatre academic, practitioner, and critic with a passion for promoting the theatre of Aotearoa New Zealand.

So the vision is well intentioned and inclusive and speaks to a ”thriving arts community,” of course we all want this... but how about  prioritising “thriving artists”, then the rest will follow. 

The fundamental question is: How do we value the artist and what does an artist need? We need time and resources to make the art, so focusing on things like arts leadership roles, overseas opportunities and arts organisations roles would evolve from a thriving artists base.

Another of the strategy’s goals is to empower communities by making their own decisions. This is great but we have an arts governance structure which currently excludes artists from decision making. Arts Makers Aotearoa conducted a survey of all the art galleries, institutions and trusts across Aotearoa, and found that only 20% included a specialist artist on their board. 

Also unhelpful is that the current arts minister has branded arts and culture as “nice to haves,” and made it clear there is to be no more funding. This messaging isn’t great. 

Judy Darrah ONZM is an artist and advocate involved with Arts Makers Aotearoa Kahui Ringatoi Aotearoa.

It can be disorienting reading a document deeply impactful in our field, yet also be confused by my relationship with it. I feel less connected with its aspiration, but more affected by the impact of its actions. External, practitioner-led evaluations on how past strategies have impacted the sector would help us better understand our relationship to our funding bodies, their policies and wider structures. I think it is important to practice analysing and talking about it, while maintaining a critical distance from it. The clearer and more specific we can describe what we actually need, the greater our chances of building toward it collectively. 

As a (semi-voluntary, semi-what-else-I-can-do) independent practitioner right now, my main goal is to find experimental ways to practice. To me "Thriving artists" means artists being less dependent on competitive funding rounds and WINZ, and instead having an artist basic income, "empowered community" means less painful time on writing funding applications, more time making and curating. The precarity of funding is extremely practical, but also cognitive. It's a heavy component in how one thinks about their work. 

Jingcheng Zhao is a curator and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She has held roles at Artspace Aotearoa, Window Gallery, Satellites and Te Tuhi.

What comes across is that behind all the feel-good, inclusive, anodyne corporate-circumlocution and aspirational goals there is very little concrete policy meat to stick a pin in. It is, to quote the Scottish play, Act V, scene 5: “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Much the same can be said about the other two big CNZ drops we’ve had: Statement of Intent, Toi Ora Strategy and the Pacific Arts Strategy. That said, trying to figure out what Creative New Zealand wants from New Zealand creatives has always been like reading tea leaves, in a way that wouldn’t fly with other Crown entities like ACC or the Earthquake Commission.

The only thing we’ve had resembling actual government arts policy, which to National’s credit, is more than the last Labour government managed, is Amplify: A Creative and Cultural Strategy for New Zealand 2025–2030, which this strategy document aligns to, and that, unfortunately, frames Aotearoa creativity in terms of market viability and nice-to-haves. The arts don’t work that way, capital rarely being a good judge of challenging ideas or public goods. I will say that it’s good to see CNZ bucking the trend of Crown entities in centring te reo, but if they want Aotearoa creatives to come up with viable plans in new environment, we will need some nuts-and-bolts specifics.

One thing that concerns me, off the back of the ACT Party’s vendetta against Tusiata Avia getting public funding for The Savage Coloniser, is the framing of the arts as being “for the benefit of all New Zealanders … from the benefits to those who create and present the arts, through to those who engage with and appreciate the arts. These include boosting physical and mental wellbeing, connecting whānau and communities, growing careers and the economy, and building our identity and global reputation.” Reading between the lines, that sounds like a caveat on freedom of expression to me. Art, as the cliché goes, should be allowed to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

Andrew Paul Wood is a Christchurch-based writer, critic, independent art historian, freelance curator, poet, translator and cultural mercenary.

Tū Mai Rā (TMR) is Creative NZ’s long-term strategy up to 2040. The value of long term strategies is that they are an opportunity to adapt to changing realities. Last week the report People, place and prosperity: The case for a population strategy was launched. It estimates that in 2043 NZ’s population will be 55% European Pakeha, 19% Māori, 11% Pasifika and 31% Asian. It also makes a plea; “decision-makers must be willing to engage with demographic data.” Cycling back to TMR, the strategy states six goals, one relating to Ngā Toi Māori and one related to Powerful & Resilient Pacific Island Arts. It appears from the population report that in 2043 these two groups combined will comprise about 30% of the NZ population, which is a tad less than the ‘Asian’ proportion – currently invisible in CNZ’s goals.

The situation is sharper for Auckland where in 2043 42% will identify as Asian and 45% as European Pakeha. It has been possible, until now, for strategy documents to assume that European Pakeha are the default, that there are good reasons why Māori and Pasifika should be distinguished and that all others can be adequately covered by the blanket term “communities”. In the case of 2043 Auckland where the assumed default group is almost the same size as one unnamed ‘community’ I’m not feeling that TMR has engaged imaginatively and meaningfully with demographic data.

The vision articulated is “the arts and ngā toi Māori are flourishing: created by a thriving arts community”. The question I’m pondering is what are “the arts”? How do we arrive at a new consensus about such matters when European Pakeha parts of the population have largely defined our understanding of “the arts”. ‘Asian’ communities will very likely have different understandings as to what constitutes “the arts”.

I have a fave Indian/US comic, Zarna Garg. One of her skits questions why Chinese and Indian identities are grouped under the same ‘Asian’ label. She asks: “when you see me, do you think, ‘I bet she knows where to get the best dim sum’?” She illustrates the shortcomings of blanket terms like ‘Asian’ when the task at hand requires us to engage with cultural specificity. TMR notes “Our whakapapa dates back to 1964 and our establishment as the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council.” An Arts Council is an anglophone institution, the product of a time where there was a great deal of social acceptance, or agreement, about what constituted ‘the arts’. Is this the situation now, or will it be the case in 2040? My personal thought is that the concept of culture is a more appropriate framework to address and resource creative practice in a time of increasing cultural diversity.

I also want to address the first goal, Empowered Communities, which has two attached priorities;

-        developing and implementing our approach to empowering communities to make decisions about the arts and ngā toi

-        strengthening the infrastructure needed for community-led decision-making.

Last week CNZ invited Registrations of Interest for Regional Partners who will lead in their region; “arts development, administer and distribute regional funding, connect artists, organisations, and communities, build partnerships and grow investment, be advocates for arts and ngā toi, support long-term, sustainable arts ecosystems. This is a leadership and partnership role, not just programme delivery.” Presumably this Regional Partnership opportunity is directly related to the Empowered Communities goal. I am old enough to have worked for the QEII Arts Council when a substantial amount of its delivery was done through three regional arts councils. These regional councils were comprehensive in that they covered the entirety of the country and they had defined borders so everyone knew where they fitted in. The system offered a high level of equitable access.

I am a great believer in decision-making being closer to the ground and despite being a former staffer, assessor and CE of a funded organisation have experienced in recent times the impenetrability of the current CNZ set-up. However, I am concerned that this current push to create Regional Partnerships isn’t necessarily a guarantee of the equity that everyone had with the former system. Sure, there were three regional arts councils, however the staff had the same employer (QEII Arts Council), related job descriptions, and access to the same professional development. Without such guardrails I’m concerned that Regional Partnerships, in some areas, might create inequities of access. The old regional system worked well, but we still often asked ourselves “what is regional art?”

I don’t want to rain on this parade but if I was in charge, I would progress the Regional Partnerships project very carefully through a small number of pilot projects that were thoroughly and independently evaluated so that everyone could learn from them.

Philip Clarke has a masters degree in Cultural Policy and Planning. He worked for the Arts Council when it delivered funds and services regionally and later when activities were nationally integrated. He is currently the chair of The Big Idea. 

One of the most significant advantages of working in Aotearoa should be our scale. Our scale should enable us to behave in our sector in ways that are different from larger systems – more intimate, lighter on our feet, and with the different parts of our sector complexly interwoven with each other to create a dynamic ecosystem that acts in a compensatory way with its surroundings. As a sector, much of our capacity to behave in this way hinges on infrastructures. I see this as the key issue for my artform, visual arts, where the challenges of present-stage capitalism place increased barriers to providing long, middle, and short term solutions to key aspects of our work: sites of production (studio spaces, workshops, residencies, mentorships etc) and sites of presentation (galleries, off-spaces, project rooms etc). 

I hope that this strategy means that Toi o Aotearoa Creative New Zealand is establishing itself as a significant broker in enabling meaningful relationships to happen between artforms and with other significant partners such as manawhenua entities, city councils, other government agencies, and the various stakeholders who shape our cities, towns, and communities. Part of this dynamic infrastructure should include clear goals for international activity, this is notably absent in the strategy at this stage. Weaving things together with more nuance and more flexibility will better enable Creative New Zealand to achieve their goal for thriving artists, ringatoi, and practitioners achieving success at home and beyond, and I really hope this is where the strategy takes us.

Ruth Buchanan is an artist and the Kaitohu Director at Artspace Aotearoa.

The strategy is wonderfully aspirational and I see no obvious omissions. However, the devil is always in the implementation...

From my perspective the most relevant aspect is “Empowered communities, of all kinds, making decisions on the arts and ngā toi Māori closest to them.”

This is an area which I felt suffered with the dissolution of Regional Arts Councils (in the old QE2 Arts Council days). The local connectedness and understanding these provided were appropriate and consequently highly beneficial to those organisations and individuals working with diverse communities in their efforts toward “improving access to the arts and ngā toi, reducing barriers and building an inclusive environment for the arts in Aotearoa New Zealand”.

The cultural landscape of our region continues to change and broaden, particularly and more recently, with the growing influx of migrant and former refugees who bring with them a diverse range of cultural experiences that they are highly motivated to maintain and share. Including, supporting and celebrating these communities is essential going forward.

Arts Council Nelson's current transition into a Regional Arts Development Agency promises to regain some of the benefits that regional arts councils channelled, and as such is perfectly positioned to enter into dialogue and possible partnership opportunities with CNZ toward achieving these particular aspirations under this strategy. I am mindful however, that many regions do not have the means (and in some instances, the motivation) to undertake these roles. Herein the implementation will be tricky, if not untenable, and I look forward to possible solutions being proposed to combat this to achieve CNZ's purpose.

Lloyd Harwood is an artist, the Arts Council Nelson Community Arts Advisor and Nelson City Creative Communities Scheme Administrator.

There’s much to admire in Tū Mai Rā, Toi Aotearoa. The ambition to see artists and ringatoi with genuinely viable creative careers – not just celebrated, but sustainably employed – is a kaupapa that Equity New Zealand shares deeply. It is encouraging to see this named as a primary long-term objective rather than a footnote, acknowledging that the arts are central to daily life, fostering the wellbeing, innovation, and cultural vibrancy essential to Aotearoa.

What excites us most is Creative New Zealand’s commitment to a “by, with, and for” approach: involving the arts community in policy and programme design, and genuinely enacting tuku rauemi – handing resources back to communities to determine their own futures. Our creative union is an organisation equally committed to whakamana i Te Tiriti and to manaaki i te tangata – uplifting the mana of our members in everything we do – so we see real potential for a reciprocal relationship here, grounded in shared values and a common kaupapa. Equity New Zealand welcomes the kōrero.

The one thing we would raise: a 15-year strategy reaching to 2040 that doesn't yet reckon with artificial intelligence as a structural threat to performers' livelihoods risks missing the boat before the decade is even out. We don’t suggest that Creative New Zealand has all the answers – nobody does yet – but for a long-term plan to be truly resilient, it must address the technological shifts already reshaping our industry. We would love to be part of that conversation to ensure the future of the arts remains firmly in human hands.

Jennifer Te Atamira Ward-Lealand CNZM is an actress, director, and advocate. She is the President of Equity New Zealand, an organisation of performers building a vibrant, thriving, diverse industry.

I like the idea of accountability in the strategy. There is a clearer positioning of CNZ not as /just/ a funding body, but as a steward of the arts ecosystem. It signals a responsibility for them to connect, advocate, and broker relationships across the sector, as well as investing in it. This feels significant because, in a country the size of Aotearoa, outcomes are (or should be?) less driven by funding mechanisms and more by the strength of relationships, community, and The Work. The articulation of this broader (newer?) role feels like both a consolidation of long-held expectations (lol sorry for #projecting) and a signal that CNZ is willing to be measured/met on more than just distribution of funds, alone.

I like the tension the strategy holds between regional activation and international connection. I love the intent to empower communities to shape the arts closest to them. However, not wanting to sound like an Auckland-based-art-prick, this does raise a question about, for want of a better word, capability. In some regions, where there are strong cultural ecosystems that have historically been under-resourced, this will be (proverbial) music to the ears. Finally, let the people make decisions for their own people! In other parts, where the arts are less visible (or prioritised), there is a risk that devolving decision-making without corresponding investment in audience development/exposure may reinforce existing gaps (guys, let's not forget there are places in Aotearoa where climate change scepticism is a real thing, let alone a deep appreciation of art-form development lol).

I like the ecosystem framing within the strategy, particularly the recognition that a thriving sector depends on interconnected parts, from individuals through to institutions. For me, there remains an unanswered question around what infrastructure truly means in practice. At the ground level, the need is basic: accessible spaces to create, connect, and present work. If the strategy primarily interprets infrastructure at an organisational/institutional level, it risks missing the micro-conditions that enable creative practice day-to-day (if we’re running with this analogy, then the bottom-feeders have as much a role to play as the top predators). I agree with the sentiment that the ecosystem needs to include partnerships with iwi, local government, and private investment to help address this and grow the overall resource base. The arts need a bigger slice of pie.

Finally, the more fundamental challenge this strategy elucidates is one of culture: shifting how New Zealanders value and engage with the arts in everyday life. While the vision is compelling, realising it requires action beyond the arts sector itself. To me, it touches on the way New Zealanders engage in arts in our daily life (or not), and the vital part other sectors (education, tourism, urban planning etc) have to play (RIP Art History being taught in schools: shout out to Ms Wynn-Williams my 6th form art history teacher who instilled in me a love of neo-gothic architecture)(also RIP the Christchurch Anglican Cathedral). If the ambition is for The Arts to feel visible and alive, then the question becomes how we embed it into the fabric of daily life, rather than allowing it to remain peripheral or, at worst, in the hands of The Middle-Class Privileged. 

Alice Canton is an award-winning independent performer and theatre-artist based in Auckland.

Creative New Zealand’s new strategy is quietly radical, and it’s all in the first goal: “Empowered communities, of all kinds, making decisions on the arts and ngā toi Māori closest to them.” This kaupapa sits behind CNZ’s decision to set up a network of regional partners who will lead arts development, administer and make decisions on funding within their region. 

This is radical for two reasons: firstly, our sector has been conditioned to have organisations develop a new direction in response to a changing environment, however CNZ’s strategy aims to redefine their role not so much in a changing landscape but an unchanging one. The dial hasn’t moved on government arts funding in decades, and to work boldly with what we’ve got, we must assume it’s not going to anytime soon.  

 Secondly, empowering communities across the motu to make decisions will effectively mean the majority of arts organisations and artists will no longer have a relationship with our national arts development agency. Is that brave? Crazy? Ceding control takes real leadership and humility, and we understand this as CNZ’s response to the intensive sector consultation of the last few years.

At Toi o Taraika Arts Wellington we are excited about what this could mean. Wellington’s much-vaunted ‘Creative Capital’ title comes from our high concentration of creative sector workers, all vying to create work, attract audiences, grow their artistic practice, deliver education outcomes and effect genuine social change, all while making a living.  If those who understand the creative sector best – because they are in it, and of it – will be empowered to make decisions that positively impact its future, we are unequivocally in support. 

Kirsten Mason is the Co-Chair of Arts Wellington and the General Manager of Orchestra Wellington.

Lucy Marinkovich is a contemporary dancer, choreographer, Artistic Director of dance-theatre company Borderline Arts Ensemble, and the Co-Chair of Arts Wellington.

Richard Benge, Executive Director, congratulates Creative New Zealand on a well-crafted strategy refresh, noting its emphasis on empowering all communities in their arts mahi.

“Its vision is strongly aligned to the work we do. To thrive, not just survive, all people need to see themselves, their cultures and identities reflected in the arts and culture around them.

We support the goals of the strategy and encourage Creative New Zealand to ensure accessibility is visible as a key driver in achieving them. The arts sector needs to be accessible and responsive to all artists, ringatoi and practitioners, particularly Deaf and disabled artists, who are often excluded through inaccessible arts education, venues and processes.  

 This strategy offers a critical opportunity to explicitly recognise artists and organisations working in community arts – often at the intersection of arts and social impact. We look forward to continuing to work with Creative New Zealand to ensure there are accessible pathways into the arts for everyone in Aotearoa.”

Arts Access Aotearoa is the lead organisation in Aotearoa advocating for increased access to the arts for people who experience barriers as artists, writers, audiences, and museum and gallery visitors. Richard Benge is the Executive Director of Arts Access Aotearoa.

From a regional perspective it is exciting to see the new CNZ strategy in its final form. Of course, having a flourishing arts and creative sector and a thriving community are important high-level goals, but the really interesting detail is in the goal for “Empowered Communities”. The core concept of CNZ working alongside regional communities to empower people is an important development. The potential for CNZ to support and strengthen the hard and soft infrastructure across the arts, culture and creative sector, and also help enhance the understanding about the role that artists can play within communities is a significant and valuable change. There is real potential that through this goal communities can develop meaningful creative expressions in a locally responsive way. Ideally they can also contribute to regional pathways into sustainable creative practice with thriving artists and practitioners. Ultimately, this has the potential to support broader community access, engagement and active participation across diverse local communities. 

We are thrilled to see the goal around “He mana toi, he mana tangata” centrally expressed in the strategy. It is absolutely important that ngā toi Māori is woven throughout our communities and valued as a distinct expression of this place. It is also great to see this sitting along the goal for Pacific arts, and the broader commitment to equity and accessibility that seems to be woven through the high-level document. We can see that having empowered communities provides a useful opportunity to also explore these other goals, and create a diverse, engaging and interwoven tapestry of creative outcomes and artistic impacts. This is then made stronger when supported by consistent advocacy and engaging public storytelling at a nationally interconnected level.

It is clear that developments in the Creative NZ strategy have been made to directly align to the Amplify Creative and Cultural Strategy from Manatū Taonga, and CNZ will be playing an important role in helping to achieve those targets. So the opportunity seems to be that if CNZ can set things in motion with these strategic changes, and if there are more “Inspired New Zealanders embracing the arts and ngā toi Māori every day,” then there will be more understanding of the impact of arts engagement and the value of creative activities, which hopefully can leverage some increased investment to better empower and enable local creative communities and artists to do the good things. 

There is exciting potential for regional creative communities around Aotearoa with this new strategy. We look forward to seeing the details and implementation plans emerge as things unfold. 

Dr. Jeremy Mayall is a composer, performer, artist, and researcher. He is the CEO of Creative Waikato.

Arts Makers Aotearoa exists to stand up for artists – because without artists, there is no arts sector. We hear a lot about building a “thriving arts community,” and it’s a vision most people can get behind. But communities don’t just appear because we name them. They grow from the ground up, from artists who have the time, space, and support to actually make work. If you look after the artists first, the rest of the sector has something real to grow from. 

Community isn’t an abstract idea – it’s something you feel. It happens on the street, in shared spaces, in those unexpected moments where you come across something creative and it stays with you. The arts need to be visible and unavoidable – something people can stumble into, not have to seek out. That kind of presence shifts how people perceive art: not as a “nice to have,” but as something essential.

 For that to happen, the arts sector and Creative New Zealand need to connect outwards – into business, education, everyday civic life. That’s what “growing the pie” really means: building relationships that help more people understand the value of art in different contexts. When that happens, new opportunities open up, and the whole ecosystem gets stronger.

There’s also a bigger question running through all of this – who gets to shape the community? A healthy arts community listens to its people: artists, practitioners, organisers, audiences. It keeps those lines of communication open so ideas, knowledge, and support can move around freely. Because in the end, community isn’t fixed – it’s something we keep making together.

And at its heart, community is about identity. It’s the feeling of knowing the creative life of the place you live in – the stories, the voices, the work that reflects who we are in Aotearoa. If we want that to thrive, we start with the artists. Everything else follows.

Creative Bay of Plenty strongly supports the overarching purpose of the national arts strategy to encourage, promote, and support the arts for the benefit of all.  We believe a thriving arts sector enriches communities, strengthens identity and wellbeing, drives economic opportunities, and ensures creativity remains an essential part of everyday life across Aotearoa. 

The goal of empowered communities making decisions about the arts and ngā toi Māori closest to them strongly reflects the way we work across our region. We see every day that communities themselves are best placed to identify their creative strengths, aspirations, and priorities. From local neighbourhoods to rural townships, iwi communities, and diverse creative networks, decision-making at a local level leads to more meaningful investment and outcomes that are relevant to place and people.  

We also strongly support the goal that ngā toi Māori and ringatoi Māori are visible and highly valued as part of the distinct identity of Aotearoa. The creation of our Ngā Toi Māori Navigator role has enabled us to create major workstreams to specifically deliver kaupapa Māori services, ‘by Māori for Māori’. This role engages directly with Māori to support their creative and cultural aspirations. The framework includes identifying tangata whenua and mana whenua artists, developing mechanisms for increasing Māori participation in arts, culture and creativity, and supporting Māori arts and culture entrepreneurship. We have also developed resources and services to enable Māori and non-Māori to safely navigate spaces of connection and collaboration for mutual benefit and to provide cultural guidance to public art projects.

Creative Bay of Plenty supports the development and growth of the art and culture sector in Tauranga Moana and the Western Bay of Plenty.

While we’ve tried to gather a range of responses, there are certainly gaps. If you’d like to contribute a response, please email editor@thebigidea.co.nz. There’s potential for a second round, or to expand this one.

There are also two related articles on the way, one an analysis of the new Toi Ora Strategy and the second an explainer of the regional partnerships.