Kaia the Kaka in flight

Kaia – the virtual kākā – is flapping!

Have you played the adventure app?  

KaIa the Kākā is set to return to Wellington’s Central  Park this summer. HUGE THANKS  to Wellington Community Trust for helping  to support this new season.

The unique, free-to-play journey combines story, art and gameplay to enable you to explore the fate of a virtual kākā, called Kaia, and her family on foot in nature. Using a smartphone and Facebook Messenger, you interact with Kaia answering special nature challenges, aided by artworks on site, to rescue her and her chicks from advancing predators. 

Kaia attracted large numbers of people into the Central Park last spring/summer including kids, parents, whanau, educators, gamers and tourists.  Here’s  a wee sample of what some said:

”What a lovely adventure! We found new nooks and crannies in a park we’ve been to a million times before. We could hear the kākā calling and our boy said “that’s Kaia!” It was a beautiful way to explore the environment.” Parent leader, children’s nature-play group.

“This is a super fun treasure hunt through the bush, with a chance to see wild kākā! We spent over an hour following the trail, guided by messages on the phone. Loved it!” – Parent.

“As a school group, we’d use it in Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC) activities where we encourage the development of cooperation, problem solving and observation skills. We’d reflect on how the team worked together, strategies they used to complete the course effectively, how they used the clues, which clues were the easiest/hardest to crack and why.” – Primary teacher.

Kaia the Kākā aims to Inspire and engage young people and their families, whānau and community to reconnect to their local natural world and biodiversity.

Check out Kaia’s Facebook  and Nature Through Arts Facebook. More information at KaIa the Kākā – Help Defend Tāne’s Realm.

 

Artworks lure kids to explore nature

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Mysterious objects including a miniature communications hut and an interactive aqueduct zigzagging across Wellington’s Mt Cook hillside are luring young Wellingtonians to explore and engage with their local nature in creative ways.

The artworks stem from the imaginings of Kemi Niko & Co as part of their Artist in Resident project ‘Extend Yourself’ and coincide with our  Imagine My City 100 Day Creative Challenge.

Created by Nature Through Arts Collective in partnership with the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO,  Imagine My City aims to ignite young people’s imaginations, visions and dreams for nature-rich neighbourhoods and cities. It forms part of a wider programme which focuses on the development of a youth-led initiative enabling a range of young people to have an active voice and become innovative and critical thinkers in sustainable  development.

Imagine My City- Cassidy Abbot on 'Step' (2) Imagine My City - aqueduct 2

Artists, actors and nature scientists are vital to Imagine My City which forges closer connections between the arts and sciences. They are often seen as two separate strands but they are both essential for working through complex issues. Kemi and Niko’s playful installations are just brilliant because they are all about magic and imagination – sparking ideas and provoking community conversations and connections around nature.  And that’s exactly what we hope will happen during the Challenge. It’s about supporting enabling our young citizens to let their own imaginations run wild to create and share their visions and dreams for a city filled with nature.

Check out how the 100 Day Challenge works and  share your DREAM. You can paint it, film it, sing it, carve it perform it, write it, build it – however you want to envisage Wellington as the world’s wildest capital city.  There are lots of cool creations already like this ‘Moa’ Hunt mini series created by youth ambassador Cassidy Abbot.

Then come and visit our Imagine My City exhibition, March 17-23 at Arts Space, 17 Tory Street, Wellington CBD which features your work! Plus artists’ talks, documentary footage of the challenge, community conversations and any thoughts or doodles you want to add.  

Imagine My City - Wish 2   Imagine My City - Booth Imagine My City - Step

Imagine My City 100 Day Challenge launched in November 2015 with the “rediscovery” of a rogue moa running round the Mt Cook town belt! Film-maker Mike Potton captured the action in his short video. Wellington actors, artists and nature experts collaborated to blend skills and thinking to enable kids, their families and whanau to explore and envision their neighbourhood in fresh and unique ways. At the centre of it all were the young participants who directed the outcome of the drama.

IMC launch - Moa 7   IMC launch - weta 3

Photos: Mary Hutchinson   

Moa mystery launches 100 Day Challenge

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The rediscovery of a moa in Wellington’s inner city suburb of Mt Cook sparked the launch of the  Imagine My City 100 Day Creative Challenge #imaginemycity https://naturethrougharts.wordpress.com/projects/

IMC launch - Moa 5 What began as a seemingly ordinary nature trip for over 40 young Wellingtonians and their families turned into an extraordinary Alice-in-Wonderland style adventure through the town belt and a race against ‘Arthur’ the adversary to rescue the ancient moa from barbecue or sale to overseas trophy hunters!

IMC launch - Moa 4

Mysterious characters, geckos, weta, miniature huts and water artworks and even a granddaddy kokopu freshwater fish in a ditch drain were all part of real and surreal encounters– blending drama, puppetry, art, science and nature – to envision a city neighbourhood rich in nature.

IMC launch - kids with seedlings 3       IMC launch - gecko talk

IMC launch - kaka talk 2   IMC launch - freshwater fish

IMC launch - weta 3   IMC launch - water feature 3

IMC launch - the antagonist 2   IMC launch - mural 2

Wonderful to have the Wellington Mayor at the launch and a big thanks to our partners and supporters who made it happen: NZ national commission for UNESCO, Mt Cook Mobilised, Te Atiawa/Taranaki Whanui, Binge Culture, Kemi Niko & Co, Wellington City Council, Wellington Zoo, Department of Conservation and other special characters in Mt Cook!

photos by our awesome Mt Cook photographer Mary Hutchinson.

100 DAY CREATIVE CHALLENGE!

Let your imagination run WILD this summer

Join our challenge and create your dream or vision of what your neighbourhood or city might look like if it was WILD with nature. Write a story, make a short film, paint or make a sculpture or create a song  – whatever makes you BUZZ!

Email us a photo or publish your work and share it with us online. Great prizes to win. We’re also offering some opportunities to work alongside cool artists to help you make your vision. Plus your dream or vision could be chosen by the Imagine My City team to STAR in a city wide exhibition and showcase.

The 100 day challenge begins during Conservation Week (2-8 November) and runs through to mid February 2016.

Register your interest today and we’ll send you a reminder email when the challenge opens  EMAIL naturethroughthearts@gmail.com or phone 04 385 0087

 UNESCO Logo 70th anniversary
Imagine My City is a Wellington-based pilot project created through a partnership with Nature Through Arts Collective and the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO. Its aim is to inspire and empower young people to join with others in their neighbourhoods to bring nature back to backyards and neighbourhoods.

Thanks to project partners Mt Cook Mobilised, Te Atiawa/Taranaki Whanui, Binge Culture, Kemi Niko & Co, Wellington City Council, Wellington Zoo, Department of Conservation and other special characters in Mt Cook!