Aim to tear down creative-career barriers

Jack Keogh and Kereama Taepa will be speaking at Waiariki's "Inspire" event this week. Photo / Stephen Parker

Waiariki Institute of Technology is launching its inaugural "Inspire" event, aimed at highlighting the career and business opportunities available to self-motivated creatives.

The series of free seminars will be held on Friday from 9am to 1.30pm at the polytech's Mokoia campus. They are open to the public.

The event ties in with the imminent release of Waiariki's new Bachelor of Creative Technologies, which will look at creative arts from an entrepreneurial perspective.

Two of the 11 speakers are Kereama Taepa and Jack Keogh, who told the Rotorua Daily Post one of the aims of the event was to "pull down some of the barriers preventing people from pursuing creative careers".

Mr Taepa, who teaches art at Waiariki, said there was still a stigma about the creative industry, "mainly that you can't make any money in it".

"What we're trying to show is there are a number of ways to make money as a creative person, whether that's pursuing fine arts, photography, fashion or film, for example.

"There is a lot of potential to grow and succeed in the industry, especially in Rotorua with the mayor backing creative pathways," Mr Taepa said.

The seminar would host speakers from a range of backgrounds.

"Some of the speakers include Ahu Boutique owner Adrienne Whitewood, fashion designer Kharl Wirepa, The Arts Village general manager Mary-Beth Acres and native creative Aly Bennett, so there will be a range of perspectives and success stories shared throughout the day."

Mr Keogh teaches in Waiariki's business department and will talk about space for innovation and entrepreneurship and how creative approaches were developed to solve market demands.

"We really want to stress that it's not just the creative industry that craves creative people, many businesses are seeing the value of hiring creative people because they look at problem solving and tasks from a different perspective.

"It's going to be exciting to talk to like-minded people about what actually happens in the real world, when you have to modify and adapt pretty much every week."

Mr Keogh said he would also be discussing how to "take what God's blessed you with and see where that fits in a competitive world. It's about learning how to survive which I think as New Zealanders we are built for."