Taituarā is Aotearoa New Zealand’s leading membership network for professionals working in and for local government. The theme of the conference was thrive | kia tōnui ai, and it explored what councils have been doing to help their communities thrive through a significant time of change and in many cases upheaval. This conference is always a wonderful time to catch up with colleagues and friends whilst learning more about the amazing mahi local government professionals do every day and the challenges they will face tomorrow.

As a part of our sponsorship, Sheffield was honoured to sponsored Taaniko and Vienna Nordstrom’s keynote speech. Wellington Director Katy Anquetil introduced Taaniko and spoke about how passion, capability, and clear commitment to Kaupapa that leaders like Taaniko possess quite literally change the world. 

Soldiers Rd is a photo studio that use use modern media, props, and photography to recreate vintage style Māori portraits. Founded in 2013, they started to notice the positive impact this had on men, women, children and whanau of all cultures and backgrounds, but particularly for Māori, And have since partnered with NZ Corrections in a ground-breaking pilot which aims to transform prisoner cultural identity and self-perception as an innovative way to approach prison recidivism rates.