Workshops
1271 Blair Road, Kōtuku, 10k west of Moana on the Moana to Stillwater Road.
Kōtuku Summer Workshop 2025
+ celebration
Noon Saturday 15th Feb to 2pm, Sunday 16th Feb
Saturday 1pm:
Building a timeline of activism in Aotearoa
from the knowledge and experience of those in the room.
(facilitated by Leigh Cookson and Murray Horton)
Saturday 6pm :
Workshop participants will be joined by locals for a
pot luck picnic and celebration of Paul M.’s 80th birthday.
(kaitiaki: Te Whaea Ireland)
Sunday 9.30pm:
Workshop: Exploring the concept of
Hospicing Modernity (Vanessa Machado de Oliveira)
(facilitator: Paul Maunder)
Cost: $70
Accommodation (sleeping platform/we have one private room – locals, you can go home to sleep of course, if you wish. Camping is fine.
Notes: Building the timeline will enable us to see the rich strata of left, environmental and identity activism that have been present in Aotearoa during the last 80 years, many of which will have historic antecedents.
Brazil’s Vanessa Machado de Oliveira’s book Hospicing Modernity argues that the Western project of colonial and technological capitalism, with its cultural and intellectual components is obviously dying because it is unsustainable. Yet it is part of the air we breath, still so radically present, that we must tend to its death with care, unpacking its stories and becoming aware of its multifaceted influences in order to midwife a new world.
Registration form
Summer workshop, (February 15-16)
(please download, fill in form and return by Jan 30th)
Name:
Organisation (if applicable):
Address:
Email:
Phone:
I am interested in car pooling: Y/N (underline)– if so, coming from where?
Dietary matters or any health issues we need to accommodate:
Please bring bedding (duvet or sleeping bag) and towel.
Cost: $70. Payment by bank transfer to Te Puawai Co-operative Society. 389019 0010234 01 with name as reference and Workshop as code.
Directions: 1271 Blair Road, Kōtuku, Moana. Blair Road is off Arnold River Road the main road which links Moana with Stillwater, about 10k on the Stillwater side of Moana, signposted with Historic site.
Lunch available on 15th at 12.30pm
www.doc.govt.nz – jacks mill school
Our kaupapa
In the late 1930s, during Aotearoa’s first social democratic government, Kōtuku, near Moana, became the site of a ground-breaking educational initiative when a progressive teacher at the Jack’s Mill School asked the children to design, build and furnish a model cottage.
Now, in an increasingly catastrophic world, the school becomes a historic site for groups and individuals in Te Wai Pounamu to pursue the work of designing, building and furnishing the house of a sustainable and just future, while acknowledging the already existing whare of tangatawhenua.
Kōtuku operates under the legal umbrella of Te Puawai Co-operative Society and is advised by a support group of representatives from progressive organisations in Te Wai Pounamu
Kōtuku will mount a programme of workshops for activists and those wishing to be active, enabling retreat, connection, reflection, learning, celebration, personal and organisational growth as we create a better world.
Kōtuku will offer workshops for those living on the Coast, especially young people and be available for community use and whanau gatherings orrespite.
Kōtuku is a residential centre in a rural setting, sleeping up to twenty people. It is fully accessible. Camping is also possible.
Kōtuku has a collegial relationship with Kōtare in Te Ika a Maui. We seek networking opportunities with similar groups, both nationally and internationally, with whom we can share goals and tactics and take collective responsibility for the future.
In our brave space, we begin with the knowledge in the room, focus on the practical and move from problems to solutions and are inclusive.
Further Programme for 2024- 2025
Story telling workshop for local rangatahi (11-14 years old): April 22-23. (Facilitators: Jason Johnson, Amy Cunningham and Paul Maunder)
Writers Retreat June 1-3. With tutor input (Paddy Richardson, Jeffrey Paparoa Holman, Paul Maunder)
Building the toolkit: 10.00am Sat 29th June to 3pm Sunday 30th June. Explore the methodology of structural analysis as it is relevant to your group or organisation and practise the tools of cultural work. Plus, enter a space of mutual care and resilience in the late capitalist world with a focus on the hologram. (Facilitators: Sue Bradford, Leigh Cookson, Paul Maunder, Catherine Woollett, Jason Johnson)
Intergenerational workshop for local children and elders. Oct 7&8 (Jason Johnson, Amy Cunningham, Pam McKelvey, Caroline Selwood)
Seeds of Fire: Midday Feb 8 – 3pm Feb 9, 2025. Explore collective memory as we walk through the Pākeha history of struggle in Aotearoa and ask how it informs action now. Followed by a workshop on scripting an imagined demo/rally/action/occupation as a coherent performance (using speech, theatre, story telling, song, artwork and the authentic emotion). It being summer there will be time for a swim. (Facilitators: Leigh Cookson, Paul Maunder, Pam McKelvey).
Open to all West Coast artists and administrators. The aim is to setup a network that can then belong to the Regional Arts Network Aotearoa Network. Advocacy, workshops, website, sharing of resources will all be on the agenda.
Contact: Cassandra at the Left Bank Gallery, Anne at Wetsland Arts Inc or Paul on 0211063669. If people are travelling a long distance they are welcome to stay at Kotuku the night before or the night of the workshop. Lunch will be provided.
Kotuku's address i 1271 Blair Road, Kotuku.