Toi Tangata Hui ā-Tau 2026 (ONLINE)
Description
This year, He Waewae Taumaha, He Kiri Mākū, serves as the foundation for the Toi Tangata Hui ā-Tau. This theme acknowledges and honours the endurance and collective responsibility required to sustain the wellbeing of whānau and communities.
Although this whakataukī evokes the warrior returning from battle - feet heavy and skin wet, carrying the weight of all they have endured - it was never confined to warfare. Rather, it acknowledges the sacrifice and collective duty required to protect the mana of our pā, our people, and our shared futures.
While our battles today look different, the responsibility remains. Across Aotearoa, many of us work within systems that shape the wellbeing of whānau and communities. Toi Tangata sits within this space, advancing approaches to wellbeing through mātauranga Māori.
Our Online Hui ā-Tau creates a space to explore this work more deeply. Through pūkōrero and workshops, we will examine how mātauranga informs the design and delivery of kai, research, tākaro, and movement kaupapa. The focus is practical and grounded, ensuring participants leave with tools to apply within their own communities and organisations.
Underlying this kaupapa is a broader question: What does it mean to build systems that genuinely care for people? For Māori, wellbeing cannot be isolated: it is shaped by the interconnected relationships between culture, environment, knowledge, and community.
This Hui invites us to think critically about those relationships and to challenge current practice while recognising that the more we lean into the taumaha, the heaviness of transforming these systems today, the lighter the path becomes for those who follow.
Ultimately, our purpose is to ensure that the work we do now contributes to stronger systems and confident communities for our future, where our tamariki and mokopuna inherit approaches to wellbeing that are firmly grounded in kaupapa Māori.
This year’s Hui ā-Tau is an online two-day gathering of thought leaders, practitioners, and advocates in Māori health, physical activity, kai, and wellbeing. Together we’ll explore how mātauranga Māori and our indigenous systems continue to shape and strengthen the future of hauora while remaining resolute in our purpose and unwavering in our pursuit of wellbeing for our people.
Programme
The event will run from 10 am to 2 pm over two days and will feature.:
2 x Pū Kōrero (Keynote)
2 x Pou Awheawhe sessions (6 x Workshops in total)
2 x Panel Sessions
How will it work?
Step 1) Register for the Toi Tangata Hui ā-Tau 2026 on Humanitix
Step 2) You will receive information on how to register for the Awheawhe that you are most interested in closer to the date. You don't need to register for our Pū Kōrero and Panel Sessions.
Step 3) Attend the online Toi Tangata Hui ā-Tau 2026 from Tuesday to Wednesday to immerse yourself in the kōrero, take part in interactive workshops, and hear from leaders in kai and kori/tākaro!
Nō reira, e te iwi, nau mai, haere mai koutou ki te Hui ā Tau a Toi Tangata!
Why Attend?
Engage in interactive sessions: Participate in workshops on Tākaro, Kori, Rangahau, and Kai, designed to challenge conventional thinking and inspire new strategies.
Build Community: Connect with like-minded individuals and strengthen your network within the Māori wellbeing, research, physical activity and kai sectors.
Innovate and Lead: Ignite innovation and leadership in Māori Health, using our knowledge systems to shape a thriving future.
Enhance Hauora Outcomes: Learn how to reclaim and enhance our tikanga and mātauranga to improve hauora outcomes for our people.
Who Should Attend?
Health providers
Community leaders and advocates
Those working in hauora or related social services
Pū Kōrero and Pou Awheawhe
Kawiti Waetford
Kaiwhakatere and M.C. Of Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Rangi, and Ngāpuhi descent, Kawiti brings a depth of cultural knowledge, lived experience, and leadership grounded firmly within te ao Māori. An acclaimed opera singer, licensed te reo Māori interpreter, cultural advisor, and kaiwhakapaaho, he is widely respected for his ability to weave language, storytelling, and whakaaro Māori into spaces that inspire reflection, connection, and action. Kawiti will help navigate kōrero around our theme -He Waewae Taumaha- acknowledging both the heaviness and responsibility carried by those working to strengthen the wellbeing of whānau and communities across Aotearoa. His facilitation style creates space for meaningful dialogue, balancing challenge, warmth, humour, and insight while ensuring the kaupapa remains grounded in collective responsibility and aspiration.
Awhitia Mihaere and Manu Suganuma
Pū Kōrero/Keynote Day One Tuesday 23 June 2026 @ 10am Awhitia Mihaere and Manu Suganuma bring a deeply grounded and inspiring perspective centred on the practice and revitalisation of rongoā Māori. Awhitia is a dedicated practitioner and advocate for hauora, with a strong focus on reconnecting whānau to traditional healing knowledge, including the use of native plants, holistic wellbeing practices, and the importance of whakapapa and connection to whenua. Manu complements this work with a thoughtful, cross-cultural lens, supporting the sharing and understanding of indigenous knowledge in ways that are respectful and accessible. Together, they offer a rich and engaging kōrero that explores how rongoā Māori can support wellbeing in modern contexts, weaving together tradition, lived experience, and practical insight for individuals and communities alike.
Rereata “Papa Ral” Mahika
Pū Kōrero/Keynote Day Two Wednesday 24 June 2026 @ 10am Rereata Mahika, “Papa Ral”, is a respected cultural leader, educator, and maramataka expert whose work draws on decades of community leadership and deep ancestral knowledge. Beginning as a broadcaster in the 1970s, he is widely recognised for his contribution to the revitalisation of te reo Māori and worked across media and community sectors, supporting Māori development. A passionate advocate for mahi tiaki taiao, he has helped revive traditional environmental practices and whare wānanga teachings and, through his work with the Society of Māori Astronomy, he has played a key role in revitalising maramataka knowledge, helping communities reconnect with environmental rhythms. Grounded, insightful, and engaging, Papa Ral brings together lived experience, cultural depth, and practical knowledge to inspire audiences at the Toi Tangata Hui ā-Tau.
Whānau Milne
Pae/Panel Day One Tuesday 23 June 2026 @ 12.45pm Hailing from Matawaia, Whaea Moe Milne is a respected Māori health leader, long-time nurse, and passionate advocate for te reo Māori as a foundation for wellbeing, with decades of experience supporting whānau and shaping mental health services across Aotearoa. Joining her on this panel are two of her uri, Tukaha Milne and Koha Aperahama, who bring their own lived experience, insights, and energy to the kaupapa, reflecting a strong intergenerational commitment to Māori health and wellbeing. Together, the Milne whānau will share a grounded and practical panel on mātauranga Māori and supporting holistic wellbeing for whānau and communities.
Moana Timoko
Awheawhe/Workshop Day One Tuesday 23 June @ 11.15am Moana Timoko and her partner, Tahu Warmington, have spent over six years cultivating a 30-acre mahinga kai at the Ngāwhā Innovation & Enterprise Park. Under their whānau company, Āteanui Limited, they have established a well-stocked peruperu seedbank and focus on growing for kai and purapura (seed) while also creating value-added byproducts with their odd produce. Moana’s current priorities centre on building a circular peruperu economy model, providing healing gardening experiences, and contributing practically to kaupapa Māori research. Moana is a seasoned educator and the CEO of Te Kotahitanga E Mahi Trust (TKEMT), a Kaikohe-based Private Training Establishment and charitable trust. Passionate about creating community learning spaces and local pathways for school leavers, Moana holds a Master of Professional Studies in Education (University of Auckland) and a Masters in Social Change Leadership (University of Melbourne).
Matangiroa Flavell
Awheawhe/Workshop Day One Tuesday 23 June @ 11.15am Matangiroa Flavell (Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Taranaki) is a former Tall Fern, who successfully transitioned from US collegiate basketball to empowering Māori and Pasifika communities. She is ‘The Boss’ of The Movement NZ, a fitness and wellbeing gym in Hamilton creating a Te Reo Māori-speaking environment to uplift community health. She also drives Mātātoa, a kaupapa Māori competition with her whānau who are prominent entrepreneurs and leaders. Ko taku whāinga he tautoko i te iwi ki te ora. I love helping our community connect with their strength, resilience, and mana through functional movement and mātauranga Māori
Hiraani Hutana
Awheawhe/Workshop Day One Tuesday 23 June @ 11.15am Hiraani Hutana is a māmā of six tamariki and an experienced early childhood teacher two decades of experience in the sector. Passionate about play and Māori ways of knowing, being, and doing, she advocates for giving tamariki the time, space, and freedom to develop their learning, identity, and mana through authentic experiences. Grounded in the understanding that learning emerges through experience, Hiraani challenges the growing tendency to over-structure children's lives and instead champions unhurried, organic play as a pathway for tamariki to thrive with confidence, resilience, and a strong sense of self.
Emalani Case
Awheawhe/Workshop Day Two Wednesday 24 June @ 11.15am Emalani Case is a Senior Lecturer in Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland. She is a writer, teacher, and aloha ʻāina deeply engaged in issues of Indigenous rights and representation, colonialism and decolonisation, and environmental and social justice. She is from Waimea Hawaiʻi. Emalani’s awheawhe will focus on the concept of hope, or more specifically, radical hope, as an essential part of wellbeing. In Indigenous contexts, when we might return from the many battles we face, how do we maintain hope in a future that we may not see ourselves? How is that hope essential for our own wellbeing and for the wellbeing of generations to come? What keeps us in the fight? This workshop will discuss radical hope as a concept and embodying that concept in chant. Coming from Hawaiʻi, Emalani will teach a chant that has been instrumental in social, political, and cultural movements that speaks to an intergenerational practice of hope as an expression of love for the future. Chanting, while not including large physical movement, is about internal movement, reawakening and reenergising all that we need to continue the fight from the inside out.
Glen Skipper
Awheawhe/Workshop Day Two Wednesday 24 June @ 11.15am Glen Skipper is an accomplished visual artist, practical grower, and Co-Chair of The Rautāpatu Foundation. He has spent over two decades on the ground in Taranaki’s kai resilience space, blending creative vision with deeply practical, frontline insights. Glen has dedicated years to the hands-on revitalisation of tūpuna kūmara varieties, anchoring ancestral mātauranga into the volcanic soils of his home region to develop climate-smart Māori agribusiness solutions. Alongside his business partner Bry Kopu, he translates these ground-level experiences directly into strategic regional frameworks, including their Te Taiao Strategy and an upcoming Circular Kai Resilience Strategy, to activate a coordinated network of decentralised Māori land blocks for community thrivance.
Hinemoa Elder
Awheawhe/Workshop Day Two Wednesday 24 June @ 11.15am Ko Te Aupōuri, ko Ngāti Kurī, ko Te Rarawa, ko Ngāi Takoto, ko Ngāpuhi nui tonu ōna iwi. Dr Hinemoa Elder is a Fellow of the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and a specialist consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist with over two decades of clinical experience. She serves as a member of the NZ Human Rights Review Tribunal and as Kaiārahi Oranga Hinengaro at Te Hiku Hauora. Her influence extends into governance through her role as deputy chair of Te Rūnanga Nui o Te Aupōuri, and deputy co-chair of Te Hiku Iwi Development Trust. In 2019, Hinemoa was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to psychiatry and Māori. A celebrated author, her books include the Oprah's Book Club-recognised Aroha, Wawata, Dear Moko, and her latest, Ara: A Māori Guidebook of the Mind. Through her writing and her clinical work, she carries ancestral wisdom into the spaces where it is needed most, a true embodiment of the Hui ā-Tau theme.
FAQs
- Why is the Toi Tangata Hui online this year?
This year, the Toi Tangata Hui will be held online in response to a range of local and global challenges. Severe weather events, cost-of-living pressures, and the ongoing oil crisis are making it harder for many to attend in person.
Moving online helps us keep the hui accessible and inclusive, while still bringing our community together to connect.
- How do I attend the Hui online?
Our hui will be run on Zoom. This can be used on a browser, however we recommend that you download the App onto your computer or phone/tablet as well.
- Will we be getting a registration pack this year?
Kao. Because we are making our Online Hui ā-Tau 2026 free, we will not be sending out registration packs this year.
- How do I register for an awheawhe (workshop)?
Each day, there will be 3 x awheawhe running at the same time. Links to register for awheawhe will be sent in June and capped at a maximum of 70 participants. You do not need to register for our Pū Kōrero and Panel sessions.
- Do I need to attend live, or will recordings be available?
We encourage you to attend sessions live where possible, as this allows you to fully engage in the kōrero, ask questions, and connect with others.
Most nohoanga (keynote sessions) and awheawhe (workshops) will be recorded and made available on our platforms after the hui. These will be available to the public to view.
- Why should I register for the event rather than just watch the recordings later?
Registering for the event gives you access to the full live hui experience. This includes joining sessions in real time, engaging in kōrero, asking questions, and connecting with other participants.
Although most of the sessions and content will be available to view afterwards, you’ll miss the opportunity to take part in live discussions and the shared energy of the hui.
- Do I need to be fluent in Te Reo Māori to attend?
No, you don’t need to be fluent to take part. However, as a Māori kaupapa, you can expect to hear and engage with te reo Māori throughout the hui. If the reo feels a bit dense at times, a member of our team will be there to support with key words, meanings, and themes so everyone can follow along. You’re also welcome to ask questions during and after each session.
- I have a question that you haven't covered…
Email your questions to info@toitangata.co.nz and we will get back to you.
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