LinC Activator is thrilled to be part of the Learning Days Festival and Impact Week to offer you the opportunity to hear from local community leaders, reflecting on their journey that emerged from the 2010 earthquake until now. The highs, the lows, social innovation, community connection and much more.

The event will kick off with a mindfulness exercise (Hikatia Te Hā) facilitated by Vaea Coe – Health and wellbeing promoter CDHB followed by the speakers below:

Hon. Lianne Dalziel - Mayor of Christchurch

Rachael Fonotia - Manager, Aranui Community Trust

Dr Billy O’steen - Associate Professor of Community Engagement and Director, University of Canterbury Community Engagement Hub

Dr Jessica Halliday - Director, Te Pūtahi (Christchurch Centre for Architecture and City-making)

WHEN: Wednesday 14 October, 6-8pm (doors open 5:30pm)

WHERE: Tautoru / TSB Space, Hapori | Community, Level 1 , Tūranga Central Library

Free event with nibbles provided.

Event Hosts: Erica Austin and Lana Shields, Leadership Lab LinC Project

About the Speakers:

Hon. Lianne Dalziel

Lianne is serving her third term as Mayor of Christchurch after serving for 23 years in the New Zealand Parliament, including serving in Cabinet under the leadership of then Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Helen Clark.

Since the earthquake sequence began, Lianne has been studying post disaster environments, both in terms of the challenges that must be faced and the opportunities that emerge. Christchurch’s experience of the 2010/2011 earthquake sequence and the terror attacks of March 15 this year stand testament to the capacity of communities to instinctively come together and offer meaningful support in times of need. It is within these very human responses that we find the essence of resilience, not as a destination, but as a journey that highlights the capacity of communities to adapt to change and to co-create a new future when there is no going back to the way it used to be.

The theme of Leading from the Heart is very much a part of walking alongside communities on this journey.

Rachael Fonotia

Prior to working in Community Development, Rachael worked 12 years for the Justice Department. Forming and maintaining relationships with community, partners and stakeholders are key for building stronger more connected communities. Her team and her work with, and for the people of Aranui in the areas that have been identified by the community. She is also a sports team manager at all levels and has managed a variety of sports codes.

Dr Billy O’steen

Following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch, Dr Billy O’steen created a community engagement course, CHCH101: Rebuilding Christchurch, that in eight years has resulted in 1,000 students contributing over 30,000 hours to volunteering. To do so, Dr Osteen used his experiences with community engagement as a professor in the US, as a middle school creator and principal, and as a Peace Corps administrator. Throughout his 29-year career in education, Dr Osteen has researched and taught with immersive experiential education, which has led to significant external funding, numerous presentations and publications, his participation on the Board of Engagement Australia, and his appointment as the inaugural Associate Professor of Community Engagement and Director of the University of Canterbury Community Engagement Hub. In 2017, he was given the Zagat Global Educator Award. His work with the Hub has been shared in visits from people around the world including Prince Harry, Dr Jane Goodall, and students and staff from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (where the February 2018 shooting occurred). He is currently working with students and staff about how to teach with community engagement in the age of COVID.

Dr Jessica Halliday

According to her twitter account, Dr. Jessica Halliday is “blessed (and cursed) by love of architecture & Christchurch”. Her passion is finding ways for more and more people to engage and involve themselves with cities, architecture and the decisions made about our built environment. Jessica is an architectural historian and is the Director and co-founder of Te Pūtahi – Christchurch centre for architecture and city-making, a charitable organisation dedicated to growing people and places together. Te Pūtahi grew out FESTA, a biennial festival of celebration of urban creativity and regeneration which Jessica has Directed since the inaugural event in 2012. FESTA brings together tertiary design and architecture schools from Australia and New Zealand with local arts organisations, communities and businesses who collaborate on the transformation and reimagination of vacant or empty central city spaces to provide an opportunity for the public to experience Christchurch anew.

What is Activator?

The LinC Project Activator has been designed to support community leaders across Canterbury with a speaker series aimed at inspiring and growing leaders in their communities. Each Activator event, had a different theme and focus, and offered amazing opportunities for discussion, engagement and learning. These public events are open to anyone ready to be inspired, challenged and motivated.

What Is The LinC Project?

Building communities through supporting local leaders.

The LinC Project started as a 10-month, strengths-based leadership programme for 40+ individuals from communities across Greater Christchurch in 2014. The second group began in December 2015, with 35 leaders from ‘community organisations’ and 10 leaders from Government organisations. In 2018 the LinC project becomes LinC Incubator, LinC Cultivator and Activator.

The intention of LinC is to support and sustain these leaders, their colleagues and their wider communities.

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