Youth Arts New Zealand (YANZ) is excited to announce 2 new team members, Chloe Bettina as Project Lead and Sherry Zhang as Te Kāhui Co-Manager!

Kia ora koutou katoa,

It has been a super busy past few months. Chloe Bettina and Sherry Zhang are our two newest team members, we have received development funding for financial resilience and Te Tiriti commitment and policy development from Creative New Zealand, and on top of all of this we are connecting and finding ways to collaborate with other aligned organisations to increase our impact and build a network to keep supporting our community.

Chloe is our new Project Lead and will be spearheading our projects. She has already done amazing work such as organising creative rangatahi to perform at Puketapapa Kite day, looking into new projects and preparing YANZ for the next iteration of the Event Pathways Programme.

Sherry will be joining our Te Kāhui team as the new co-manager. We look forward to bringing her on board and watching the continued growth of Te Kāhui. We know that she is going to join the team seamlessly and help push the kaupapa even further.

We have also connected with the DEPOT in Devonport and Te Kahui/St Davids in Grafton. We are exploring possible projects we could collaboratively do with each other respectively. We can see that these relationships, with the right resources, could produce great opportunities for creative rangatahi and we are excited to see where things will go.

The funding received from CNZ to help us develop Te Tiriti policies and commitments and to help us develop a financial resilience plan is very exciting. We want to develop these key areas so we can ensure our future. Te Tiriti policies will ensure we are interacting and collaborating with Tangata Whenua in a positive way. Our financial resilience planning aims to decrease our reliance on funding from foundations and other organisations and become more self-sufficient. This will enable us to make sure we are there in the hard times and allow us to be more responsive and less reactive.

Our largest hurdle currently is finding new operational funding. It is imperative to increase our impact in our communities right now. The vacuums that have been left due to budget changes means that the community sector will have to support more than before. We are constantly working to gain a more diversified grants pool to ensure our longevity into the future. Ensuring that we can be there for the rangatahi that want our support most while we develop our new financial resilience plan. If you know of any funders that align with us we would be eternally grateful if you could provide their contact details via our website. We would be nothing without all of your support and engagement and we appreciate all our community does to support our mahi!

Nga mihi mahana,

Darius Martin-Baker

Welcoming our new team members!

Chloe Bettina (She/Her)

Kia ora, kumusta, hello! I'm Chloe and I'm stoked to be coming on board as the Project Lead at YANZ. I am a Filipina-Kiwi creative, and I work mostly in the theatre industry as an actor, director, and vocal/singing coach. You can also find me occasionally moonlighting as a digital illustrator under the name lilclodoodles. I'm so excited to mash my passion for the arts with my Type A tendencies, and create opportunities for rangatahi to showcase and grow their creative careers.

Sherry Zhang (she/they)

Sherry is a Tāmaki Makaurau-based writer, editor, creative and freelance journalist. Her family is from Fujian, China.  She is the co-manager of Te Kāhui, curating safe environments for rangatahi to explore their sense of self and cultural identity.

Puketāpapa Kite Day

It was amazing to work with Fresh Concept and the Puketāpapa Local Board again at this year's Kite Day Event! We programmed 5 artists to perform and provide music for the event. It was well received from both our artists and attendees of the event. Shoutout to Winiata and Robbie who did a classical music set, to which an audience member said "This is exactly what we needed". YANZ is happy to have been able to support this kaupapa and some upcoming music stars.

Highlighting our Rangatahi

Elijah Hunt

Kia ora!

Ko Elijah Hunt toku ingoa. I am 16 years old and am currently a year 12 attending De La Salle College. I am an alumni of the Events Pathways Programme which was ran by Youth Arts New Zealand. I joined the programme early 2023 and ended my time in the programme late last year. This programme helped me to widen my view on the Events industry and what goes into creating and running an event. I was also given the chance to learn hands-on at real events and put the skills I have been taught to use. When my time ended on the Events Pathways Programme however, the learning and opportunities didn’t stop there. I was given the chance to work at many other events such as Stand Up Stand Out 2023 and the Pacific Music awards. One major opportunity I was exposed to after the programme however was the Ignite Programme run by Big Fan.

Ignite is dedicated to nurturing and empowering rangatahi with a passion for music and events through a free 8-week industry specific training programme. I was lucky enough to be a part of the first intake for 2024 and was given the opportunity to run and plan my own event in the event management stream of the programme. Alongside my event partner, Sheba, and my amazing mentor, Petrina we worked together to run an event based around and run by Wāhine with an all Indigenous Wāhine lineup of artists and performers. The event was a major success, and we even had an article published about our event. However, one of the biggest highlights of the programme was the ability to work at the Aotearoa Music Awards. Me and a few other people in the programme were given the opportunity to work at the AMAs and see how it works, while being alongside artists such as Stan Walker, Corella, Coterie and many others. I was given the chance to work alongside and look after Stan Walker and witness him in his element. It was a surreal experience and gave me a greater insight into both the events and the music industry. Overall, both programmes gave me the ability to go on to bigger opportunities and use the skills I gained in the real world.

I encourage other Pasifika and Māori people to try out and apply for these programmes as this is an industry I feel that we are underrepresented in and I want to see more of us on the front line, running and planning events for our people, by our people!

Ignite Event Article

~ Elijah Hunt

Artist spotlight: Emily Bateman

Tāmaki Makaurau’s Emily Bateman is developing her own musical world.

Drawing inspiration from artists such as Lana Del Rey, Big Thief and Mazzy Star, Emily skillfully blends folk, pop and rock elements to craft dreamy ballads and indie-pop numbers. Bursting with ethereal vocals and introspective lyricism, her music has been described as “Undeniably nostalgic” (Happy Magazine, 2023). Emily performed a dreamy set at Puketāpapa Manu Aute Kite Day last week, including songs from her debut EP released in May, ‘Like I Always Do’. The event was serene; a perfect spot for the delicate, relaxed set Emily and guitarist Otis Christoffersen played. Emily also spent a week at Big Fan’s songwriting camp recently and came out of it with an exciting new collection of songs. Big Fan’s ‘Fan Camp’ was an extremely productive week and she is looking forward to releasing new music as soon aspossible.

You can follow Emily’s musical journey here:

• Instagram

• Spotify

• YouTube

BIG FAN - IGNITE PROGRAMME

BIG FAN is very excited to announce not one but two new exciting pathways for the IGNITE Programme.

Ignite is an 8-week programme dedicated to nurturing and empowering people passionate about music and events, spanning three streams - Event Management, Event Production, and Music Production.

The programme provides one-on-one mentoring from industry professionals, upskilling opportunities, hands-on experience, and the chance to apply learned skills in practice. Event Management students will finish the 8-weeks by putting on their own show, along with the Event Production* students. While the Music Production students will wrap up by showcasing a song that they have produced throughout the programme!

Apply to IGNITE HERE.

HOLDING SPACE - YOUNG BLOOD SERIES

Holding Space Aotearoa and Ellen Melville Centre are proud to present the Young Blood Series, supporting our rangatahi (18 & under) and developing their musical talents through workshops and mentorship with seasoned musicians from the Auckland scene.

The next instalment is an in-depth workshop on stagecraft. Learn the ins and outs of setting up a PA system and your gear for performance, how to communicate with live sound engineers, microphone techniques and a whole lot more!

Attendance is FREE and you can RSVP - HERE

Limited Capacity and attendance requires registration via the RSVP button

Please bring your notebook, water bottle and any snacks you might like for the break. No alcohol permitted on site.

Any questions email: [email protected]

These workshops will build up to a Showcase in October and potentially some other performing or recording opportunities in the future. Keep an eye out for our other events:

Sat 24 August 2024  Workshop #3 - Stagecraft  12pm-2.30pm

Sat 28 September  2024  Workshop #4 - Promotion 12pm-2.30pm

Sat 12 October 2024 Young Blood Showcase 6pm-9pm

Supported by Waitemata Local Board.

ARTIST OPPORTUNITY

"Mask-Facies of Us revealing identities" by RITUAL - Artistic Encounter explores the historical and modern significance of masks across diverse cultural and artistic expressions. The project invites artists to create works that reflect on masks as tools for social interaction, personal identity, and cultural symbolism, aiming to foster inclusivity and community engagement in Auckland.

More about Ritual - Artistic Encounter here.

About Youth Arts New Zealand (YANZ)

Youth Arts New Zealand (YANZ) is Aotearoa’s leading youth-led organisation with a vision for every young person across the motu to know the worth of their creative identity. Since YANZ’s founding in 2018, our team of creative rangatahi have run 350+ impactful events and projects, provided creative experiences for over 700 rangatahi across Aotearoa, and distributed over $610,000 in employment opportunities and artist fees to young people through our initiatives.