Shoulder-to-shoulder with creativity
I’ve recently been thinking a lot about the idea of shoulder-to-shoulder connection.
It’s just what it sounds like, and talks about when we sit side by side, rather than face-to-face. We might be doing the same thing, or different things, but we are together in person. It has been highlighted as a thing that is especially important for friendships between men, and people often find it a helpful way to connect with the rangatahi in their lives. It can look like chatting in the car, on a walk, over some kai, or creating something side-by-side.
I am always inspired by the magic that emerges in shoulder-to-shoulder creative spaces. Classes where people get to know new people, and discover whole new communities. Workshops where people instead relish the feeling of being together in a space of quiet and focus, leaving with their introvert cups replenished.
Creative experiences can have all kinds of impacts that can be easy to predict, and some that can be quite unexpected. They can happen by design, as part of the planned outcomes for a session, or through the right combination of people at just the right moment, in the tea break, or the lingering afterwards.
When creative experiences are woven into contexts that we might not be used to thinking of as ‘creative’, the benefits can be really meaningful. Creativity can be a powerful tool for social change.
We know that there are examples of this happening in communities and organisations all around the region, every single day. But we also know that having details around the impact of this work is hard to secure, so we have been working through a range of different initiatives to provide supporting evidence, impact and storytelling around the scope and potential of this socially aligned creative work. This evidence is available free-to-air, so anyone doing this community creativity work in our region (and even beyond!) can use it to advocate for the impact of the mahi. We’re here if you want to talk more about this.
In 2023, Creative Waikato ran a pilot of a programme called Whiria te Tāngata–Weaving the People, which saw 10 artists working in diverse communities in Waikato. These included geographically-isolated communities, LGBTQIA+ communities, migrant, rangatahi, and Māmā. Each of these projects involved groups of folks working together and connecting. As part of the pilot, we undertook impact measurement with the folks at Huber Social, and thanks to survey responses from those involved, learnt some pretty cool things. Respondents reported increased feelings of belonging, connection to community and place, coping, passion and problem solving. They reported decreased frequency of feeling angry, overwhelmed and sad. People shared about reconnecting with a part of them that they may not have connected with for a while:
‘This programme reminded me of how I was able to find peace in the arts and creativity when I was younger. I enjoyed discovering this again.’
In 2025, Creative Waikato ran another pilot initiative called Auahatanga ki te Kāinga: Creativity in the Neighborhood. This was in collaboration with our sister organisation, Community Waikato, community houses and centres in Kirikiriroa including Fairfield, Glenview and Melville, and connected with tamariki, rangatahi and whānau in surrounding neighbourhoods, including whānau who were new to the neighbourhood.
“My family loved going to the community centre to make art every week. My child grew in confidence and enjoyed meeting and working with the others there. He felt so proud to have his hard work displayed at the museum and to bring his family along to see it.”
Creativity has this ability to help us celebrate our strengths, and to meet one another where we are at. It adds something helpful to spaces where people could otherwise be flattened to only the challenges they are facing. When community creatives are enabled to use their superpowers, there is a mana-enhancing effect.
Earlier this year, our CEO Jeremy spoke at an information session which gathered organisations working in the social sector focused on the CBD and the unhoused community, sharing about the value of community creativity and its social impacts. In response to that presentation, the team at Salvation Army sourced funding to commit to a creative workshop with guest artists once a week for a year. This trial was enabled through having CW as a partner to help facilitate connections with the artists and supporting the running of the activity.
I recently had the privilege to head along to one of these sessions facilitated by local artists Leafā Wilson and Abigail Aroha Jensen. The morning I visited, a steady flow of people visited the table to contribute a key kupu or drawing to the shared banner, some staying for a few minutes, and others for an hour or so. The banner came to life through collaboration, and is an inspiring collection of taonga: ‘Kaha’, ‘Aroha’, a beautiful tree with fruit. Folks shared about their lives, and shared about how it felt good to sit down and ‘draw with all the colours’.
A similar opportunity emerged through a kōrero with regional representatives from central government. This conversation was a regional update and information sharing about the impacts of some previous programmes CW had been delivering based on accessible artistic activity in local communities (like those I mentioned earlier in this story). This included sharing snippets from the documentaries and impact reports from previous projects. In response to this information and proof of concept, the Ministry of Social Development was able to support a short-term programme serving whānau living in short-term emergency housing, run throughout June and July. Named ‘Ihi Rangaranga Toi’, led again by community creativity expert Leafa Wilson and supported by other local creatives Leah Bell, Ahsin Ahsin, and Pepi-Joy Gilgen, the programme focused on providing relaxing art experiences for children in the Peachgrove area. Tamariki shared kai, created Matariki-themed art, and in the school holidays collaborated on a mural that is now installed at the emergency whare. The children shared about how they had met new friends, and loved the kai and fun of the programme.
And those are just a few of the shoulder-to-shoulder creativity in community projects Creative Waikato has been directly involved in recently. Awesome creative experiences are enabled across our mighty region every day. These activities and spaces help us as communities to combat loneliness, social division, support our wellbeing, and connect to our neighbourhoods and sense of place.
From museum, library and art gallery programming, to arts centres that support wellbeing and connection, to art classes, performances, exhibitions and more. Classrooms, holiday programmes, migrant centres, retirement homes, workplace wellbeing activities. Youth Open mics and workshops, open studios, creative therapy, kids storytimes, youth theatre, disability support, dance classes and more. You can find some of the beautiful mahi happening on the site, thingstodo.events
This week, I want to celebrate the community creatives who bring us together, shoulder to shoulder, to create, imagine and hold new possibilities through creating something new. Thank you for making our region a more connected, vibrant and resilient place to be. Mauri ora.
(Ps. if you want to talk about how to use these examples or impact evidence to advocate for your work, please shout out to our team hello@creativewaikato.co.nz)
Written by: Dr. Aimee Anderson-O’Connor, Creative Waikato team member