New Zealand's first indigenous leadership summit to be held in Auckland in July

Orakei Marae will be home to 300 young indigenous leaders next month when Te Ara Moana kicks off it's very first summit in Aotearoa.

Te Ara Moana, is being held at the Orakei Marae from July 27 - 28. The programe includes international guests speaker Q'orianka Kilcher, a Native American actress, singer and indigenous rights activist, and local keynote, Herewini Jones. The attendees will participate in interactive workshops, contribute to panel discussions and learn from indigenous leaders and peers.

Te Ara Moana is a youth lead initiative, designed, facilitated and evaluated by indigenous Maori rangatahi.

“We’re really excited for Te Ara Moana. We want to see hundreds of our young people coming together, learning and supporting each other in their indigenous identities. Our tamāhine have put in a lot of work to pull this event together and I know that this is going to be massive”, said Veeshayne Patuwai, Director of the Urutapu Tamāhine Programme.

"We want to celebrate our young, passionate and talented indigenous leaders of Aotearoa. We have such a huge range of cultures here from the Pacific Islands, and all of our young people have significant contributions to make to our future", said Patuwai.

Throughout the summit, Te Ara Moana will be holding creative workshops where attendees will be given the opportunity to add their voice and experience to creating impactful solutions to some of our most challenging issues. There are 5 key kaupapa that will be covered which are as follows:
1. Youth suicide
2. Diversity
3. Environment
4. Freedom from addiction
5. Cyber Bullying

Te Ara moana is a Social Enterprise. All profits raised will be reinvested back into the Urutapu kaupapa, a young Māori Women's Leadership programe.

“Te Ara Moana was the brainchild of our Urutapu workshops. Our tamāhine wanted a space for indigenous young adults to come together, restore traditional knowledge, and learn how to use it to navigate through an increasingly difficult 21st century,” said Patuwai.

The tamāhine involved in the Urutapu programe have delivered a number of initiatives in their communities - from a traditional Maori arts community event in Moerewa, a performing arts event to raise funds for carvings in a school wharenui in Rodney, and most recently, the design and orchestration of the first youth led indigenous youth leadership summit, Te Ara Moana.

Tickets for Te Ara Moana are on sale now on iTicket.

© Scoop Media