The creative potential of Māori communities: Music and ideas 
7 September 2011
6.30pm
Venue: Kenneth Myer Centre, 74 Shortland Street
Faculty of Arts Inaugural lecture by Professor Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal.
The Māori renaissance of the last 40 years is an extraordinary New Zealand cultural phenomenon. Much change has taken place in Māori communities and New Zealand generally, driven largely by quests for social justice and cultural revitalisation.
In this lecture, Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal will discuss the transition from a preoccupation with social justice and cultural revitalisation through to the engagement by Māori communities with creativity and innovation. He will discuss his research concerning the Whare Tapere – traditional houses of dance, music, storytelling, games and amusements. He will show how the whare tapere starts life as a creative project delving into traditional Māori knowledge and moves to become a process yielding the creative potential of a Māori community. He will talk about research and creative experiments that include haka, karetao- puppets and taonga pūoro. Importantly, he will move to discuss how this project connects with and enables the creative potential of Māori communities.
A critical challenge facing Māori development is the challenge and opportunity of distinctiveness. What particularly can the Māori world bring to enhance New Zealand generally?
In addition to presenting this lecture, Charles Royal will also perform a number of his new music compositions.
Wednesday 7 September, 6.30pm
Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal is a composer and researcher whose creative interests lie with the creative potential of mātauranga Māori and indigenous knowledge. His research concerns whare tapere (‘houses’ of storytelling, dance, games, music) and whare wānanga (‘houses’ of higher knowledge). These research interests broaden into the arena of indigenous knowledge and indigenous approaches to creativity. Charles Royal is Professsor of Indigenous Development, Faculty of Arts, and Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, a centre of research excellence hosted by The University of Auckland.
