Kia ora koutou. The exhibition opening and celebratory weekend was amazing. Thank you to all the many people of Ngāti Toa Rangatira who helped make this day happen. Also our acknowledgements to our past iwi in residence, and all those who came to the dawn opening, travelling from far and wide. There were over a thousand people in attendance. It really was an incredible occasion and a great honour for Te Papa.

 There are a lot of people who have been involved in the development of the exhibition and also those who continue to look after the ongoing partnership between Te Papa and Ngāti Toa Rangatira. A lot goes on behind the scenes to enable these activities to happen. Te Papa always strives for excellence and the greatest aspect of working in a creative environment like ours is, of course, the people.

 It’s been a great privilege for our Te Papa staff to be guided by members of Ngāti Toa on such an important kaupapa, and to have Ngāti Toa as our resident iwi at Te Papa for 2.5 years. We look forward to Te Waari Carkeek and Aunty Rihia Kenny settling in as our Ngāti Toa Rangatira kaumatua.

There’s a lot of public events going on, with a full Matariki Wellington regional programme, so check those out when you can. Watch out for some behind the scenes instagrams taken during the final two weeks of the exhibition’s installation, coming through the Te Papa Website soon.