Justin Hanning (Kāi Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe) is a kaitiaki, writer and independent scholar based in Ōtepoti, with connection to Puketeraki. His mahi weaves mātauraka Māori cosmology, mauri coherence and creative practice — pūrākau, essay, karakia and carving — as living pathways for restoration. He is interested in how making and story return voice, dignity and belonging, and how ancestral frameworks can hold grief, identity and care for whenua and uri whakatipu.

Justin contributes to conversations on Indigenous perspectives on creativity and wellbeing, treating art not as ornament but as the work of bringing people and place back into coherence.

Artsenta is a legendary creative space where art is not about perfection or performance – it is about expression, connection, and belonging. Over four decades, thousands of artworks have been created, countless conversations shared, and many lives strengthened through the simple but profound act of making. Artsenta has witnessed how creative practice builds confidence, reduces isolation, supports recovery, and offers new ways for people to understand themselves and the world around them.

Symposium host, Artsenta, provides an insight into their creative mahi, their community and the way they work together to support creative wellbeing in Õtepoti/Dunedin.

Some people build therapy rooms. Asha Munn builds creative doorways.

A psychotherapist, EMDR therapist, artist, and founder of Breathing Space Charitable Trust and With Wonder, Asha has spent more than 25 years exploring what happens when creativity is treated not as decoration, but as expression, connection, and healing. Her work moves through youth justice settings, schools, homes, galleries, and communities often excluded from care. Asha’s presentation will explore insights from more than 25 years of frontline practice.

A graduate of the Elam School of Fine Arts, she is recognised internationally for innovative trauma-informed creative wellbeing practice, including award-winning work alongside vulnerable young people in Aotearoa and the UK.

Caz Steele is an arts facilitator at The White Room, a charity and community creative space in Ōtautahi Christchurch, with five years of experience in community and therapeutic arts.

Her interest in the intersection of creativity and wellbeing took root when she began working in the disability sector, working with people with traumatic injuries, where she saw how creative tools could meaningfully shape recovery. That experience led her to study in arts therapy, and alongside her studies she took on the role of podcast coordinator for the academic journal by ANZACATA, the professional body for creative therapies in Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Caz is driven by a commitment to making knowledge more accessible to practitioners and communities alike. Her aim is to centre artist voice and self-determination, and to advocate for equitable creative participation.

Caz’s presentation shares a case study of artist Isaac Tait through the development and staging of an original, Creative New Zealand-funded exhibition, and what that journey reveals about creativity, community, and the conditions that make equitable participation possible.

Moewai (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa, Tūhoe) is an artist, arts facilitator and Cultural Lead at Artsenta in Ōtepoti, where she has worked for the past five years supporting tangata whaiora through creative practice. She is passionate about the ways art can create spaces for connection, expression, identity and wellbeing.

Alongside facilitating Artsenta’s workshop and outreach programmes, Moewai supports the development of mātauranga Māori, tikanga and te ao Māori within the organisation. Her own interdisciplinary arts practice explores whenua, maramataka Māori, storytelling, sound and natural materials. Her work is grounded in connection—to people, place, culture and creative expression—and in creating spaces where people can explore who they are and where they come from.

A registered Creative Arts Therapist who loves colour, curiosity, and creative mess, Ruchita helps people of all ages explore emotions, relationships, and self-expression through art, play, movement, and imagination. A place where healing often feels lighter, safer, and even a little fun.

She is highly visual and proudly dyslexic, which means she thinks differently, creatively, and intuitively. Ruchita works in trauma-informed, neurodivergent-affirming ways that honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi in her practice.

“Ruchita’s joyful and engaging approach was an inspiration for us to look outside the box when it comes to embracing our individuality and expressing ourselves.”

Neil Wallace is Kaiwhakahuri Hurihanga (Principal Arts and Culture Assurance) at Arts Access Aotearoa. He provides national leadership for arts and cultural wellbeing initiatives in correctional settings, supporting educator development, sector collaboration, and evidence-informed practice. His work focuses on the role of creativity, culture, and human connection in supporting wellbeing and positive change.

Recently Neil has collaborated with Pooneh Torabian, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Tourism at the University of Otago, on a research project exploring the role of arts in supporting the wellbeing and rehabilitation of Māori men in Corrections through a kaupapa Māori and narrative inquiry lens. This longitudinal study centres the lived experiences of Māori men participating in arts programmes that foster creativity, cultural connection, self-expression, and restoration of mana and explores how engaging in culturally responsive arts programmes shapes Māori men‘s experiences of (re)integration and rehabilitation.

Tony Dudley (Raukawa and Waitaha) works at Moana House in Dunedin as a cultural advisor and addictions practitioner within a residential therapeutic community for men navigating recovery and life change. Over eight years, he has walked alongside men—many with histories of offending and substance use—rediscovering their identity as Māori through mātauranga Māori, whakapapa, and cultural grounding. His observation of how art-based engagement opens pathways to this cultural reconnection—rather than treating recovery as abstinence alone—informs his kōrero. He explores why cultural reconnection isn't optional when men are rebuilding identity after time in the system.

Dr Susan Wardell is a writer, artist, and social scientist. She is Senior Lecturer in the Social Anthropology Programme, and also the Director of the University of Otago's new Centre for Medical Humanities. Susan's academic research and creative work are both interested in wellbeing, emotion, care, health and disability, grief, digital worlds, and creative methods.

Susan’s own creative writing practices includes poetry, essays, children's literature, and flash fiction, with national and international awards, and is published widely in journals and anthologies. She also works with visual art mediums and performance installation.

Mickey Espino is a contemporary artist, psychology researcher, and intern psychologist based in Aotearoa New Zealand. His creative practice is inspired by kintsugi, wabi-sabi, and the ways people make meaning from adversity, change, and imperfection. He holds a Master of Science in Psychology and has training in both Recreational Therapy and Diversional Therapy, with experience supporting wellbeing through creative and meaningful activities across health and community settings.

Mickey’s recent Master's research explored the use of kintsugi as a creative approach to wellbeing through community-based workshops. Mickey is passionate about bringing together art, creativity, and psychology to foster connection, resilience, and a sense of belonging.

Chloe Mackenzie is a researcher and creative practitioner interested in the role of art-making in fostering connection, belonging, and emotional refuge. Her recently completed PhD, entitled Roots of Connection: Arts, Peacebuilding, and Integration, explored arts-based peacebuilding and community creativity with migrant and refugee women in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her dissertation received an Exceptional Thesis award.

Alongside her research, Chloe works across a range of tactile and storytelling-based creative practices, including needle felting and soft sculpture. Between 2019 and 2021 she facilitated a community arts initiative at the Valley Project, aimed at welcoming newcomers and building social cohesion through art. Chloe is passionate about creating welcoming creative spaces where people can slow down, connect, and express themselves without pressure or expectation.

Dr Amanda Woodford is a mixed media artist, registered Creative Arts Therapist (ANZACATA) and approved supervisor working from her therapeutic arts studio – Holding Space in Mornington, Dunedin. She is also an academic, coordinating the MIECAT Institute’s professional doctorate course. As an arts-based researcher, she has an interest in finding ways to amplify voices that are quiet or less heard in traditional ways. Her therapeutic focus is on supporting people living with the impact of experiences that are ongoing and understanding cultural experiences to foster community connection. The arts and design are central to her way of making sense and communicating what she has come to know with others.

Amanda’s presentation will reflect on her and her colleagues research into how creativity has supsported wellbeing for people living with ongoing health conditions. They bring to their work not only their lived experience but also traces of working with other people experiencing disability or disabling experiences and the challenges faced.

Paul has been the Director of Artsenta for 10 years, roughly a quarter of the history of Artsenta. He is passionate about creative spaces and believes the work they do needs more recognition nationally. He has championed creative wellbeing programmes in the Otago region expanding Artsenta's programmes into Wanaka, Cromwell, Oamaru and Balclutha. He loves his work at Artsenta and particularly helping facilitate their weekly creative writing group. Paul has been involved in the arts community all his working life including as the Director of the Dunedin Fringe Festival for 14 years.

Andrew is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of Vincents Art Workshop, an inclusive art space which celebrated 40 years of service to Wellington’s community last year. Andrew has a long history with the organisation, starting as a tutor in 2005, after graduating with a Bachelor of Design (Hons) from Massey University. Andrew has been the Kaiwhakahaere since 2023, following many years as Senior Tutor and curating close to 300 exhibitions. As an artist, he works in a wide range of media, including wood sculpture, jewellery, painting and ceramics, with a strong focus on depicting the life and death of our native flora and fauna.

Andrew is a passionate advocate for creative spaces and would like to see them established in all towns and cities across Aotearoa, and believes the story of how Vincents evolved and developed its kaupapa is an important story to tell.

Cat has a habit of turning problems into successes. She swapped a career in operations and business development for a far more rewarding career in the impact sector. Now she’s leading Crescendo Trust, a Tāmaki Makaurau based social enterprise that supports rangatahi through music and creativity. In her eight years at Crescendo, Cat has grown total income by over 150% and cut grant reliance from 95% to 45%, largely by building Crescendo Studio: a recording studio where rangatahi earn while they learn, and where every dollar of profit funds free mentoring for the next young person through the door.

Cat is proudest of Te Puna Hub, the purpose-built creative hub she helped bring to life through a partnership with Te Kawerau ā Maki and Auckland Council. She is excited to pull back the curtain on what the Te Puna partnership and the pivot into social enterprise really took: the wins, the hard calls, and what she'd do differently.