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Remember that gig where you lost yourself in the music?

What about that book that made you feel less alone? The school art room that made you happy? The waiata that makes you whole?

Creativity makes you who you are. And Aotearoa is made by creativity.

Creativity makes us.

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Create!

Auahatia!

In te reo Māori, the kupu ‘auaha’ means ‘to create’. 'Auahatia' is an extension and invitation: create!

Creativity is in all of us. Whether we’re in the crowd or participating ourselves, we’re engaging our creativity.

All it takes is listening to that impulse in each and every one of us to make. To create. To be a part of a creative moment.

Consider this your invitation.

"The art room was definitely my happy place at school. I never wanted art class to be over! Now I see the same thing in my kids."

Marie

Nurse

Ōtepoti

Four young children happily painting together around a table in art class, surrounded by paper, brushes and pens.

"The sharing of Niuean cultural knowledge and values is really important for both our ageing and younger Niuean generations."

Molly

Weaver

Ōtāhuhu

A group of older matua Niuean women sitting around a table weaving in a community hall, wearing bright dresses and fou fou / flower headdresses, surrounded by weaving craft materials.

"By far the greatest moment for me is when they did Kia Mau Ki Te Ukaipo and the Kapa Haka group came out and the music was still going and I just thought hell yes, I’m proud to be a Kiwi."

Joseph

Concert-goer

Tāmaki Makaurau

A heaving crowd of young people enjoying a concert in an event centre, smiling and waving their arms in the air.

"I love world building - creating an environment where artists can come together and actually showcase their true, authentic selves."

Copper

Artist

Tāmaki Makaurau

A performing artist standing on a plinth within a concrete structure, dressed in a black latex costume with a headset with protrusions, spinning in a gold shawl behind them, facing forward.

"Creativity is what makes Aotearoa New Zealand the place it is. Art is everywhere, art is all of us."

Gaylene

Filmmaker

Te Whanganui-a-Tara

Portrait of NZ filmmaker Gaylene Preston, surrounded in bright daylight, standing in front of white columns. A dark black wool scarf around her neck, wearing a sequinned black leather jacket, glasses and a dark brown fedora hat, smiling directly to camera.

Creativity mirrors us

80%

of young New Zealanders say that doing creative things makes them feel excellent or good.

63%

of New Zealanders agree that "the arts help define who we are as New Zealanders."

Happier

Students involved in kapa haka at school are happier to attend school and more disposed to learning.

$17.5 billion

$17.5 billion. The creative sector contributed $17.5 billion to New Zealand’s GDP in 2024.

Ageing

Arts engagement can reduce the risk of developing mental illness in adolescence and in older age.

At school

Art in schools empowers children to learn better in other subjects.

Explore the Creative Fact Finder
A female dancer performing a dance motion, her shoulders and head thrown back. Follow us!
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We’re building support for a future where arts, culture, and creativity thrive, so all New Zealanders flourish.

Our advocacy work promotes the value of arts, culture and creativity in all our lives, and supports the arts sector to make the case for creativity and the arts.

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Creativity makes us — Auahatia!

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