A community project to reconnect people to practices of sustainability, natural healing, food growing, dance and storytelling. Festival features speakers, music and entertainment.

..ruia ngā kākano..

A generation ago, whānau shared kai as a means of connection and empowerment, threading lives, whakapapa and community together through the exchange of food, traditional practice and stories.

In this day and age, much of the old ways have been replaced with convenience, entertainment and consumerism. But things are changing..

On the fringes of our communities, there are small groups of whānau who are practicing the ways of their tipuna. They are replanting the seeds of traditional practice, sustainability, hauora and self determination.

On the 28th and 29th of November, the Conscious Roots hui brings gardeners, healers, whānau and kaumātua together to celebrate and strengthen our connection to Papatuanuku and each other. There will be music, stories, creativity, film, workshops, dance, rongoā, karetao, mirimiri, fire, hangi, and laughter in the spirit of community.

‘Ma tou rourou ma taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi’

With my basket and your basket the people will prosper..

For more programme details and to register go to Conscious Roots Website

Wiremu Grace, Ngāti Toa, Atiawa ki Waikanae, Ngāti Porou, has been a visual artist, a carver, dancer, an actor and a Kura kaupapa Maori teacher. He has produced, written and directed for radio, print, TV, film and stage. Wiremu began his directing career creating Māori online games, after which he directed a Maori Television series, two feature documentaries, numerous corporate videos, video installations, education resources and short films. Two of which attended the Cannes and Berlinale film festivals.

Wiremu has written and published several children’s books and collections of short stories for teenagers and adults. He won several awards for writing, completing a masters degree in writing for screen and attending the Binger film Lab in Amsterdam for six months. More recently, Wiremu has been filming and editing education resources in Te reo Māori and producing a self funded documentary.

Linda Lee, Ngāti Kuri, Ngāti Raukawa, is a visual and performance artist, educator and curator currently living in Wellington. She holds an MFA in Photography from the University of Canterbury and is an experienced art teacher having taught in New Zealand and abroad at both tertiary and secondary levels.

Following the natural disasters in both Christchurch, NZ and Tohuku, Japan, Linda became curator and project manager for the Shared Lines: Sendai-Christchurch Art Exchange. For the past year, Linda has been exhibitions manager at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

As an artist of mixed descent (Maori, Chinese, Croatian and Pakeha), Linda’s work explores identity, researching and reinterpreting family histories through a variety of constructed and found media shown through exhibition, installation and book form.