Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa

rdf:langString Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa

rdf:langString Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa or Māori Weavers New Zealand is the New Zealand national Māori weavers’ collective, which aims to foster and preserve Māori traditional textiles. It has played an important role in facilitating the gathering of weavers of Māori and Pacifica descent to meet, teach and learn from one another. The collective was established when the wider collective of Aotearoa Moananui a Kiwa Weavers, founded by the Māori and South Pacific Arts Council in 1983, was split into the Māori and Pacifika portions of the organisation. This split came about as a result of funding reasons — current Toi Māori Aotearoa funding is specifically targeted at Māori arts. This split of groups occurred in 1994. Te Roopu holds national hui (attendance of which is required by a number of tertiary courses), regional workshops, publishes a newsletter, coordinates with research funding agencies and publishes books. Emily Schuster of Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua was the first chairperson. Diggeress Te Kanawa was a co-founder. Cath Brown was also a founding member and went on to coordinate the production of the organisation's newsletter. Christina Wirihana is the current chairperson and Te Hemo Ata Henare is the deputy chair. There is some overlap of personnel and events with Maori Women's Welfare League, but the League has a much broader remit, longer history and more political outlook.