Whatu Kura Toi | Whakaraupo Carving Centre Trust

Course overview

Whatu Kura Toi is a mātauranga based wānanga that focuses on toi Māori, or the arts, as a vessel to piece the foundational frameworks of Te Ao Māori together.

The kaupapa derives from when Tāne Mahuta challenged his oldest brother Whiro to ascend to the highest realm to secure the ngā kete o te wānanga, the baskets of knowledge, for humankind. In one of those baskets were the whatu kura, two stones, which functioned as symbols of tradition and innovation.

Over the years, Whatu Kura Toi has grown to become a digital platform for people from all across the motu. With an emphasis on creative practice and professional development, it also stands to discuss an array of relevant contemporary topics in which many artists find themselves situated.

Our intention is to build community and meaningful social engagement in a fractured and atomised world. Our monthly wānanga aim to cultivate an informed learning environment where knowledge is embedded for the long term memory.

Duration: 12 weeks
2 hours study per week
$175.00 NZD
100% online

Navigate through five modules

Whakapapa

Discover your whakapapa by recognising your position in the broad scope of time. We look at how navigation and discovery is integral to cultural diversity through language, toi, and identity. We understand the role of atua and solidify our understanding of whakapapa by exploring the Creation story.

Taonga

Learn to analyse taonga and toi, not just physically but through its emotional and spiritual elements that connect us to different people and places. By looking at the context of the whenua, we can see what was influencing the creative practice of tūpuna. Lastly, Hinerakatauri, the wāhine atua of music and kaitiaki of kōauau, reveals to us how taonga can have a story to tell themselves.

Kaitiakitanga

Witness the various ways tūpuna maintained relationships to the whenua through practices of care. We open the kōrero of private property, and how we might challenge that idea in the social realm. Looking at the toi discovered from beneath our very own feet, we find why ethics and responsibilities of tikanga (protocol) are crucial when we use natural resources in our creative process. We make sense of kaitiakitanga through the story of Hineahunone, Hinetitama, and Hinenuitepō

Manaakitanga

Identify your mana, know how we acquire it, how we manage it, and how we pass it on. We discuss its relationship to utu in how we all have a part to play in the balance of things, ultimately so that we can ensure the wellbeing of our descendants. How did our tūpuna perceive power? We delve into Māui’s labours to know how.

Toi Principles

The six toi principles employed at Whakaraupō inform creative practice, such as self-management, implementing tikanga, and self-reflection. These principles put the tika (appropriate) steps in place towards creating toi.

Creative Design

Complete the course through a creative design of your choosing. This could be a drawing, a digital design, a short story. It doesn’t matter what your creative skill level is, as long as your design can speak to the frameworks we’ve covered throughout the course, then kei te pai.

Testimonials

‘Awesome to see this Creative Process articulated from a Māori perspective. The creativity is on par with that of Professor Mason Duries Tapa Whā Model. These models rock Ngā Hau E Wha. Māori mātauranga, yet again, punching above it’s weight’

‘I’m gaining some meaningful insights from the course content and resources around the infiniteness and multidimensionality of whakapapa. It has generated some critical and deep thinking for myself about the connectedness of everything around me’

‘This whole course has given me a place to work out what these important concepts mean to me!’

‘These past 10 weeks e hoa have been very healing, eye opening, and informative as I have gone through your Akonga on the Maatauranga Toi Principles. It’s kinda kool to look back and reflect on this hikoi and what it has brought me. The new learnings, the research, and the connection back to my identity as Māori with some critical koorero that I did not know beforehand’

Requirements

A working computer or tablet with a stable internet connection

Learning with Whakaraupō Kura

Your waka, your speed

Courses are divided into modules, each with self-reflective tasks, activities, and steps to keep a steady direction.

Learn through the course text, take mātauranga (knowledge) from weekly wānanga, long and short form audio, and practical activities.

Kōrero with the tauira on board

We communicate through our Discord community server where you can experience the power of social learning, be inspired by thoughts, ideas, and conversations with other learners.

Join voice channels to kōrero, connect, and share in real time. Have your questions and concerns answered promptly by kaiako along the way.

Create discussion threads to the course content, respond to each other’s views in ways that are respectful, and broaden your thinking to take with you.