Nelson Airport
Building an iwi partnership and putting shared cultural priorities into practice.
- Client
- Nelson Airport
- Online
- nelsonairport.kopu.nz
O’D&Co worked with Nelson Airport leadership and iwi partners to strengthen their relationships, establish shared direction and develop a programme of cultural expression. Aorere Ararau, the illuminated waka within the terminal, became the first major collaboration delivered through that programme.
The project
Nelson Airport is an important regional gateway. Its relationship with mana whenua shapes how the airport understands its place in Te Tauihu and how that identity is expressed to the people passing through it.
The airport and iwi partners wanted to strengthen their relationship and agree how they would work together. This required time to understand one another’s aspirations, establish priorities and develop a practical approach to delivering them.
Our role
- Māori Partnership Plan
- Relationship development
- Facilitation
- Cultural Design Framework
- Implementation planning
- Project leadership
- Creative and technical coordination
- Communications
We worked with iwi partners and airport leadership to develop a Māori Partnership Plan, supporting the relationships and conversations needed to establish shared direction.
We then helped develop a Cultural Design Framework, setting out mutually agreed priorities for cultural expression at the airport. A phased implementation plan provided a way to progress those priorities over time.
Aorere Ararau was the first major collaboration to emerge from this work. We supported its development and delivery through Kōpū, working across project leadership, iwi partnership coordination, creative and technical coordination, and communications.
Our involvement connected the early relationship and planning work with the practical decisions needed to deliver the installation.
The outcome
The work established an agreed basis for partnership and a programme for bringing the cultural identity of Te Tauihu into the airport.
Aorere Ararau now provides a visible expression of that relationship. Developed with iwi, cultural practitioners, artists and technical specialists, it welcomes and farewells travellers through the stories and ancestral waka traditions of the region.
The wider framework and implementation plan provide direction for further collaboration.
