Director’s Quarterly Reflections: Rebuilding, Reviewing & Reconnecting at Tautai.
Talofa lava, o lo’u igoa o Rowena Fuluifaga, and I am the recently appointed Director of Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust, now in its 38th year. After having a long-running relationship with Tautai as an educator, it’s a privilege to be able to continue supporting the Moana arts community in this role. My previous position as a Pacific Arts Lecturer was in service and support of artists, and I’m thrilled to continue to support as the Director of Tautai.
It’s my hope that my experience and leadership will become part of the legacy of the organisation I have inherited, built by the contributions of many. I’m excited to help lead Tautai into a decade of growth, confidence and nurturing, to enable our community and its members to grow within the arts sector. As part of my commitment to sharing this journey with you all, I will be writing quarterly updates to let everyone know what I have been up to in this role and where we are most likely to be heading in the future.
My first six months have been centered on rebuilding, reviewing and reconnecting with Tautai and its many community partners. It's been wonderful to attend so many community engagements and meet with artists and partners of Tautai, both old and new. I’ve also taken the opportunity to meet with and host both local galleries, curators, and connect with our partners from Creative New Zealand and Foundation North, for which we are very thankful to have as partners! A huge thanks to Debs at Creative New Zealand and her team, and Anne Johnson from Foundation North for making things simple and easy during my transition into this role. I still have many corners of our community to meet to help us understand our place in the rich art ecology, both locally and internationally. One of my tasks this year is to review and develop a new Strategic Plan for 2024 – 2029 and to provide Creative New Zealand with an International Plan as part of this wider strategic plan. Part of this will require reconnecting with Tautai’s formed relationships pre-Covid and revisiting new links to our Moana Oceanic community as well as partners abroad.
My focus for this last quarter has been centered on working alongside both Board Members and Staff to develop a draft plan for 2024 – 2029, dedicating our efforts towards propelling Tautai forward as the premier home for Moana Oceanic artists. Part of this has also meant the need to review our financial expenditure as an organisation. In this first quarter, we’ve managed savings of $60k to review aspects of the organisation which need immediate resourcing, like our newly created Tautai Fundraising role. This role will enable us to work towards a more sustainable financial model and help to diversify our income streams, whilst rebuilding our patron connections and support. We hope to advertise this role over the next few weeks. So please keep an eye out on the ‘Come Work with Us’ page of our website. Located here.
Tautai’s new draft Strategic Plan 2024-2029 will incorporate both our national and international goals, with the aim to enhance the support we offer our Moana community. The practicality of this for us as an organisation means growing membership and investment in our databases and partnerships as we recover from a post-pandemic era. Part of this will mean reviewing and looking to expand upon our current Membership database, to better understand who our members are. With this in mind, the Tautai Board and I have endorsed a reconnect tour in Te Waipounamu, to meet with key partners. Our key aims include exploring partnerships with individuals and organisations who will help us to support and deliver new projects and partnerships, but also excitedly to reignite some of Tautai’s hugely popular legacy projects like Fresh Horizons. Thanks to the financial support from Creative New Zealand and our Post-Covid recovery fund injection of 24k for assisting our rebuild. The final Strategic Plan will be launched publicly in December, after we’ve completed the consultation rounds for feedback and guidance.
Our Tautai membership fees, leased spaces and programmes for 2024 are currently in review as we prepare for our Annual General Meeting this coming September (date to be announced next week). Part of the major review projects I lead in the first half of 2023, were about exploring what other local options we have in terms of facilities and what would a renewable lease look like post-2024.
As part of our intention to review and reconnect, I am invested in creating conversations and opportunities for potential new donors. The recent visit from the Auckland Art Gallery Cotemporaries Benefactors (pictured above) group has reignited Tautai’s plans to re-examine our own patron's group and reignite something like the Fetu Ta’i, a patron’s initiative which fell away during the height of Covid-19. We look forward to relaunching a new Fetu Ta’i and inviting patrons to support our Moana Oceanic community, artists and our future. Watch this space for possible new fundraising enterprises as part of our goal to have a more financially sustainable business model.
The first months of my Directorship will hold lasting memories for me, as the Tautai community lost two loved aiga members, Ron Brownson (1952-2023), Senior Curator at Auckland Art Gallery and former Trustee and Tautai Board Member, and our pioneering tamā artist Ioane Johnny Reulu Penisula (1941-2023) who passed away in Invercargill surrounded by his aiga. Celebrating these two amazing individuals on behalf of Tautai and our Patron Tamā o Papali’i Fatu Feu’u and weaving in our Fa’a Moana/Pacific to awhi and serve both families and friends, was an honour. Again, these tributes and support could not have been possible without the contribution of our Pacific Sisters, for their Pulotu Malae opening at Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki, the support from our Founding Patron Tama o Papali’i Fatu Feu’u, le au tapuai o Edith Amituanai, Ane Tonga, Ioane Ioane, Iokapeta Magele-Suamasi, Ani O’Neill, Rosanna Raymond and Siliga Setoga and our formidable speaker Dagmar Dyck with her tribute on our behalf at Ron’s memorial. I, like a few of my colleagues and Moana artists, were lucky to have spent a Saturday with Ron shortly before his passing, both at Ōtara Town Centre’s The Oyster opening and at Māngere Arts Centre (both in February 2023), where he left with me with a gift in our farewell – “you have the gentle wind of Moana behind you”.
The news of our tāmā Ioane Reuelu Johnny Penisula passing was felt by our community, on our social media pages and by the number of messages we received and outpouring from our community. I, again, was fortunate to attend and pay my respects on behalf Tautai, with guidance from Raymond Sagapolutele who welcomed myself and my travel companions Neil Ieremia and Chris Van Doren to the Penisula family home in Invercargill. A dedicated father, husband and artist to the Te Waipounamu, and a treasured friend to our Patron and many others across the motu. He will forever be celebrated here at Tautai as a founding member and a true pioneer of his time and for his legacy we here at Tautai are truly thankful. During his service I shared some upu mafanafana with his talented grandchildren, and left them with a Samoan saying, “A pa’u se toa, e toetu se toa” meaning when one warrior passes another will rise. His legacy lives on in you all. Manuia le malaga tama.
I look forward to sharing an update on new staff and celebrating our up-and-coming show and activations. For now, I wish you all a rejuvenating new Matariki.
Ia manuia
Rowena.