Engagement with Nelson Migrant and Former Refugee Communities
In late 2021, Make/Shift Spaces formed a Shared Communities Consortium with Multicultural Nelson Tasman Inc., Arts Council Nelson and Community Partnerships (Nelson City Council Te Kaunihera o Whakatū).
You can check out their website here. In September 2023, Shared Communities appointed Karolina Serrano as they Cultural Navigator. Her role is to be right in the middle of things, not only helping people to make social connections, but also working with our institutions on how they can be more accessible to new communities.
The aim of Shared Communities is to celebrate the many diverse groups in Whakatū, and build stronger connections between newcomers and host communities.
Whakatū Nelson is still largely viewed as a region lacking in cultural diversity even though 23.9% are overseas born, one of the highest percentages in New Zealand. A recent study found low social connection between newcomers and the host community. Local initiatives (Cultural Conversations) have already demonstrated success in bridging gaps between the migrant and host community through sharing of creative and traditional arts. This is borne out by the findings from the community engagement process that this report is based on. The Shared Communities project provides the opportunity to establish a city-wide programme aimed at improving the sustainability and resilience of the arts, culture, and heritage within our migrant and former refugee communities and the local population.
This project is believed to be the first known city-wide approach of this kind to develop in Aotearoa. The four key pillars of our approach are:
• Community-Led – focus on removing barriers to access
• Make/Shift Spaces – dynamic activation of vacant spaces
• Diverse Consortium – covering different facets of the community with various access points
• City-Wide Approach – amplifying arts to increase the community
The Shared Communities Consortium has scoped the work plan for research/strategy aimed at engagement with the migrant communities, working alongside migrant community leaders and engaging with migrant communities. The outcome of this project will be to remove barriers to enable migrant communities to celebrate their culture through creative mediums they themselves have identified through the research process.
You can read the full Report here.
The consortium members share a passion for the value of connection and wellbeing through arts culture and heritage. The project has set out to access and reveal untapped resources to allow the wider community to experience them. Members have an insight into the possibilities from their unique place to see potential and build the connections to create this opportunity. The project has the potential to be meaningful. Learnings from the research and trial programme will create opportunities to scale up delivery and produce a transformational city-wide three-year community arts programme.
The aim of the project falls into three main challenges and opportunities:
1. Shift the dynamic from current leaders in the space to newcomer-led arts, culture, and heritage programmes.
2. Shift to a structured multi-year programme-based approach, rather than current fragmented events focus.
3. Determine who are the key influencers who can help bring about the change for Whakatū Nelson’s diverse migrant communities. Consortium partners can support this through the provision of space, community access and connection The Shared Communities Consortium Report is funded by Mabatū Taonga, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, and Te Urunga – Innovating Aotearoa.
