Ōrotokare is a charitable trust. Our Trustees are Willis Kātene, Garry Nicholas, Rawiri Faulkner, Moana Nepia and Hauāuru Rawiri. Our Artistic Director is Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal and our Business Manager is Dene Ainsworth. Please see below for further information.
Willis Kātene (Ngāti Toa, Ngāruahinerangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) currently holds the position of Director, Te Kupenga at Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Porirua, responsible for the academic programmes within Te Wānanga Māori and also student support services. She was previously Kaihautū of Iwi and Hapū Studies at Te Wānanga o Raukawa. Willis is a board member on Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira and a member of the Ōtaki and Porirua Trusts Board. She holds a masters degree in management from Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa.
Garry Nicholas (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Ruanui, Taranaki, Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui) is an arts administrator and advocate, Garry has over 20 years experience in the Contemporary Māori arts area. His principal area of expertise is in the visual arts however within his current role as General Manager of Toi Māori Aotearoa-Māori Arts New Zealand he has a wide appreciation of Māori arts. It is in the area of arts structures and networks he has specialized. In 1987 he was appointed to Māori and South Pacific Arts Council (MASPAC) as Executive Officer. In 1995 as a guest of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs he studied institutions and community arts organizations of African American, Mexican, Latino and Native American arts. In 1996 he was seconded to Te Papa as Iwi Concept Developer for the exhibition based on Te Whanganui-a-Tara. In 1998 he briefly returned to his role as Māori Arts Adviser to Creative New Zealand before taking up his current position as General Manager at Toi Māori Aotearoa. His role in the KIWA exhibition was to coordinate the Māori cultural dimension of the exchange through creating the artist business clusters.
Rawiri Faulkner (Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Huia, Ngāti Toarangatira, Ngāi Te Rangi) Rawiri grew up in Maketū and is currently the General Manager, Māori Strategy at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences. Rawiri was appointed to that role in late 2007 and the main focus is to build strong relationships with Iwi/Māori groups that lead to opportunities in earth sciences and isotope technologies. He also provides support for GNS Science staff and management. Previously Rawiri was a Business Manager for Māori Innovation at the Foundation for Research Science and Technology and he has also worked for the Ministry of Research Science and Technology. In addition, Rawiri has been a Director of his own company specialising in environmental planning and has held roles in local government. He has four beautiful children and one beautiful mokopuna (for now!)
Moana Nepia (Ngāti Porou)is a choreographer, dancer, artist and researcher. He hasperformed with Impulse Dance Theatre, the Royal NZ Ballet, Harris Mantafounis Contemporary Dance Company of Athens, Vienna Festival Ballet, English National Opera, Extemporary Dance Theatre, Voltaire, and Dance Advance (UK). He has also taught for the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Balletís education departments and choreographed for numerous companies in New Zealand and abroad. He is currently leading a major research project towards an exhibition combining film, video, and photography of Māori dance.
Hauāuru Rawiri (Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Pāoa, Hauraki)
Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal (Ngāti Raukawa, Marutūahu, Ngā Puhi) is a researcher, writer and musician. He has written several books (on Māori song poetry, research and tribal history) and in 2001 was New Zealand Senior Fulbright Scholar where he conducted research into indigenous worldviews in the United States (Hawai'i and New Mexico) and Canada. Charles holds degrees from Victoria University of Wellington and Massey University. Charles was awarded a doctorate in 1998 by Victoria University. See (www.charles-royal.com)
Dene Ainsworth (Te Āti Awa) is the Business Manager for Ōrotokare. Born and raised in Waitara, Dene currently runs his own contracting business, Tautoko Tane Ltd. Dene has a background of banking and finance with over 27 years experience in that sector. In 1996 Dene enrolled at Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa graduating in 1998 with a Bachelor Mātauranga Māori following which he tutored in iwi & Hapu studies at Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa for a period of 7 years. Moving back into the private sector Dene worked with a mātauranga Māori based research and policy company as their business manager before setting up Tautoko Tane Ltd in late 2010. A fervent rugby follower and supporter, Dene is equally passionate about male specific cancers and is focussed and active around raising awareness of these cancers and their effects on Māori men and their whānau. Dene is on the Board of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of NZ and is currently Treasurer of that organisation.
(c) Ōrotokare: Art Story Motion Trust
This site and its contents are copyright.