A public exhibition and presentation will be held on the Sunday evening.
The head of Toi Āria, Associate Professor Anna Brown who has family in Tairāwhiti, said she was personally motivated to do something to support the region after seeing the impact on her family.
“I wasn’t quite sure how to help but using my design skills and networks to get alongside some of the amazing communities of Tairāwhiti feels like a tangible way to support the region that still has a long way to go in the recovery journey.
“We are bringing some of the country’s top creative talent, including a jazz singer, a cartoonist, a multimedia designer, a social media expert and a number of creative writers and journalists to jump into creative processes with Tairāwhiti’s artists and communities.
“We don’t know what will be produced but everyone is definitely looking forward to the process and outcomes.”
Toi Āria has also provided design services for the week of events, including a website with details of the planned events (www.kamuakamuri.nz) .
A community roadshow will involve hui in Te Araroa, Muriwai and at CCS Disability Action in Gisborne on February 13 and 14, and Te Puia Springs on February 17. It will feature presentations by researchers from those communities.
Dozens of interviews were conducted in those communities by locals with a focus on the experiences of residents during and after the extreme weather events of 2023 and how their communities are adapting to such events becoming more frequent and severe.
“We are really keen to share the information collected back to the communities that provided it,” said research coordinator and Te Weu trustee Harley Dibble. “These are very personal stories but collectively they paint a picture about what happened, how residents and official agencies responded, what can be learnt and some ideas on what needs to happen to ensure we are better prepared for the severe weather that is happening more often.”
The heart of the anniversary week is the Tairāwhiti & Extreme Weather Research Symposium on February 15 and 16 at the new Midway conference centre.
The symposium aims to engage interested local residents, policy makers and researchers with evidence and stories collected through the six regional research projects Te Weu has been supporting.
A feature of the symposium will be presentations from a team of researchers involved in a project funded by Manatū Hauora that focuses on the health and wellbeing impacts of extreme weather events in Tairāwhiti.
Tairawhiti-based Josie McClutchie and Holly Thorpe have been leading a local team who interviewed nearly 50 health professionals and residents about their experiences.
“These interviews from across the region are taonga that provide really important insights around what happened, what worked well and what could be done differently in the future” said Ms Thorpe, who is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Waikato.
“It’s really important that the learnings this project generates are used locally, not just by central government. Repeated weather events have had a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of our communities.
“We also have some amazing stories of survival and support within neighbourhoods and villages. Health workers and services that were stretched throughout the Covid pandemic have found ways to be innovative and look after the most vulnerable members of our community through this crisis as well.”
University of Auckland researchers and Matatū Hauora | Ministry of Health officials will also be presenting at the symposium, along with Members of Parliament, Gisborne District Council, Manaaki Tairāwhiti, Manaaki Matakaoa, CCS Disability Action, Muriwai Haumaru Rōpū, Tautua Village, Tairāwhiti Technology Trust and others.
Te Pūnaha Matatini (TPM) is a national research collaboration between 15 research institutions focused on helping solve some of Aotearoa’s most complex issues.
“Te Atawhai Tibble is on the advisory board of TPM and from Tairāwhiti, so after Gabrielle hit the region we had a kōrero to explore how our network of researchers could assist” said Associate Professor Michael O’Sullivan, an engineering expert based at the University of Auckland and a director of TPM.
“We connected with Te Weu early on and now have a bunch of new relationships and projects under way across the region — from Anna Brown’s creative communities initiative as part of Ka Mua Ka Muri to a distributed energy project, infrastructure and slip assessment, and Holly Thorpe’s new project with rangatahi in the region.
“We’re also working on digital ecosystems that can predict flood impacts within specific catchments.”
The research symposium is free but has limited numbers.
Registrations can be sent to info@teweu.nz or phone/txt 027-420-2957.
The event website is: www.kamuakamuri.nz
