Storytelling and Tech Festival - Rangatahi

Lee (Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Te Rangi, Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou) is the founder Arataki - a wholly owned Māori tech company based in Tauranga, who have developed NZ’s first proximity activated cultural content delivery platform. In simple terms, it’s a digital storytelling platform that allows you to unlock authentic cultural stories in-location.

Kristy is a digital designer and developer who has experience as a fashion designer, entrepreneur, animator, video editor, illustrator, graphic, designer and front end web developer.
Kristy is now bringing her skillset to the gaming industry, creating the new story franchise Titans of Aotearoa.

Mike and Piripi are key members of the Steambox Film Collective. They are inspirational storytellers who are based in Rotorua and are passionate about the power of tech in film and television production and the potential this holds for Rotorua and our Rangatahi.

NPEW have spearheaded the development of Te Arawa Digital Storehouse a resource not only to introduce learners to Te Arawa stories, but also to encourage user education skills, support enquiry learning and inspire the exploration of existing resources.

Mercia will explain the vision for these stories and how Rangatahi might plan a part in that future.

Nige (Ngāti Raukawa / Ngāti Rangiteaorere) studied traditional 2D hand-drawn animation in the mid-90s under a Disney feature film legend and has been making characters come to life ever since. He has animated cartoons for TV shows, commercials, music videos and webgames.

Craig helps Teachers, Schools and Learners to discover the amazing possibilities technology can provide to education. His kaupapa is focused on students agency and culturally relational and sustaining pedagogy's - and finding the link between this and modern technology.

Robin Hartley is a Forester, who has been actively involved in the development of UAV applications in NZ forestry and firefighting over the past few years.
Currently, Robin works for Scion as a geospatial scientist, where he manages the UAV programme, and likes to get out to the field flying crafts as often as he can.

Ngapera (Te Arawa) helps run Figure.NZ, a tech charity dedicated to making NZ’s public information easy to find and use. She believes access to information gives us valuable knowledge and understanding of our surroundings, and is crucial to help us plan our future.

Mead Norton is an international award winning photographer and has been shooting videos for the last two years. He is drawing on his twenty year experience as a photographer to influence his motion work. He is loving the freedom motion work has given him to tell stories in a dramatic way.

John Maybury brings to the table a 30 year career in media, marketing and performance. As a specialist video marketing producer, content strategist and presentation coach for SME businesses, John helps clients tell authentic stories.

Taku-Anne’s passion for technology comes from extensive experience in applied innovation throughout her career history. Similarly, her interest in Fashion and creative spaces has helped her develop her career in an area she loves.

Chris Parnell works for customers all over the world with his bespoke digital creative agency. He is a firm advocate for people engaging in tech careers and sees the power of tech simply as a tool to communicate.