Ihirangaranga

Composer, musical artist, Associate Professor of Toi Puoro at Massey University and Arts Laureate Horomona Horo (Ngā Puhi, Ngāti Porou, Taranaki, English Devon, MacGregor Scotland) has fused the traditional instruments of the Māori, taonga puoro, within a diverse range of cultural, musical and educational forms. Mentored by tohunga (experts), Dr Hirini Melbourne and Richard Nunns, Horo is one of the international Māori faces of taonga puoro. He has developed his mastery and skill of not only the performance practice of taonga puoro, but, has continued the vision of the renaissance of the traditional Māori musical instruments by his mentors and has extended his knowledge and skills across diverse music and art genres.  

Balzer (Te Arawa, Ngāti Ranginui, Raukawa and Apakura), is a practicing Māori artist and co-director of a contemporary Māori Arts company. Having completed a Masters in Māori Visual Arts at the prestigious indigenous arts programme at Te Pūtahi-ā-Toi, Massey University, Palmerston North (NZ), (graduating with honours) she continues her comittment to the development of the arts and currently teaches Matauranga Toi Māori at Massey University, Wellington. 

Inspired by the sulphuric landscape of her hometown (Rotorua, New Zealand), vivid contrasting colours, are boldly intertwined in Regan's work. Incorporating elements from Māori visual culture and epistomology, Regan develops visual narratives, in an attempt to share her rich cultural heritage while current issues are suggested that affect her and her people. 

Regan supports the continuance of current successful initiatives in Contemporary Māori Arts locally, nationally and internationally as well as help artists and organisations with initiatives that progress Māori Visual Arts practices. 

A descendant of Ngāti Maniapoto Iwi, Tainui Waka, Taupiri Maunga and Waikato Awa, Michael Moore is a performance poet and Poutohi for Poutama Rites of Passage based in Whaingaroa.  

Michael has performed and hosted workshops across Aotearoa and internationally as a recipient of the Banff Indigenous Writers Residency in Canada and as a feature performance poet in the Red Dirt Festival held in Mparntwe Alice Springs, Australia.  

Currently Michael is developing both written and performance poetry collections drawn from pūrākau māori as a means of flooding the world around him in indigenous stories. 

Dr. Jeremy Mayall is a composer, performer, artist, and researcher from Hamilton, NZ. His work is primarily in music, sound art, installation and multimedia formats, with a focus on exploring his fascination in the interrelationships between sound, time, space, the senses, and the human experience. 

Collaboration is at the core of much of his multi-sensory work, and projects have included work with musicians, dancers, poets, aerial silks performers, theatre practitioners, scientists, perfumers, bakers, authors, sculptors, filmmakers, pyrotechnicians, lighting designers and visual artists.

He is also currently the CEO of Creative Waikato, a Regional Arts Development Agency.