Join Anna Parker (Inspiring Communities) and Ole Maiava (Eke Panuku Development Auckland) to learn how we might put community front and centre in organising community events. In this Community Building Block session, we will unlock community events as powerful and transformative tools for community-led development, and we will have fun along the way! Ole will share from his vast experience of community and event organising, and offer strategies and tools that support the growth and leadership of others and what elements make fantastic events happen. We will be putting the unity back into our events - and this CBB will particularly support those who have the Neighbours Aotearoa 'Growing Together' campaign for March on their radar.

Ole Maiava

Ole Maiava is currently a Senior Placemaker for Eke Panuku Development Auckland where he works mainly in South Auckland. He is passionate about working with youth and community development, especially those without a voice. He has developed, through experience at the ‘coalface’ and as a practicing multi-disciplinary artist, a set of skills that enable him to work closely with many different communities but concentrates a lot of his work on Pacific and Māori issues. Prior to his current role, he was Senior Outreach Programmer for Auckland War Memorial Museum 2012-2016. He was also the Pasifika Festival Director 2007-2012 with a brief stint of producing Community Fan Zones for Rugby World Cup 2011. Maiava also piloted the first Youth Transition Service for Porirua City Council after leaving Te Wananga o Aotearoa, an indigenous university, where he held various positions from HOD of Performing Arts at Porirua Campus to Pacific Liaison for the institution. Maiava is part of the (Un)Registered Savages of Aotearoa with Fijian artist Daren Kamali, both currently working on the Ulumate Project.

Anna Parker
Supporting the growth of strong and resilient communities is at the heart of Anna’s mahi. Anna has diverse experience of grassroots community development – having worked on peace building efforts with indigenous women leaders in Bougainville (PNG) to activating the community-led vision for the Valley Project in North Dunedin.