NZMACI has moved from being a Crown-funded entity to becoming iwi owned under the 2020 Vesting Act. For the first few years there was Government funded Covid-19 support, however that finished March 31, 2025. 

 As Government funding has ceased, iwi are now responsible for supporting the institute. The annual operating cost is significant, and iwi alone cannot sustainably fund it. Introducing fees ensures NZMACI can continue its nationally mandated role to encourage, foster, and promote ahurea and toi Māori (culture and Māori arts) of New Zealand. 

6PM from the bus stop opposite the Pullman Hotel.

No. The institute remains not-for-profit. 

The shift is about sustainability, ensuring NZMACI can continue serving future generations rather than reducing access. 

The mandate remains unchanged.

The Act confirms NZMACI’s national responsibility but does not provide funding. The new model aligns with that responsibility while ensuring financial stability.

Imagine casting a kupenga (net) into the water to preserve the traditions of Māori.

This net, woven with care and precision, represents NZMACI and its tireless efforts to safeguard and promote Māori culture.

For over 60 years, this net has been cast by Te Arawa alone, catching the rich and vibrant heritage of our ancestors without any buoyancy provided by Government financial support.

NZMACI has continued to cast the kupenga (net), to keep Māori traditions afloat, ensuring they remain vibrant and accessible to future generations. The kupenga has captured the essence of Māori arts and crafts, preserving them amidst the changing tides of time.

However, without the necessary support, the kupenga struggles to stay afloat. The weight of sustaining these cultural treasures becomes heavier with each passing year.

Toitū te ahurea Māori.

No. The focus is still led with tikanga, kawa and taonga tuku iho at the centre of decision-making.

Te Puia continues to support NZMACI financially. A percentage of annual admissions revenue goes directly into NZMACI. The wānanga are a key element of the visitor experience offered at Te Puia. The aim with the NZMACI Foundation is to fund NZMACI with 1/3 covered by its iwi owners through admissions revenue, 1/3 covered by partnerships and we’d like to see 1/3 covered by Government. Conversations with Government are ongoing.

Previous to the Vesting Act, the business was a Crown Entity and the Government had the business model set up so all Te Puia revenue went to NZMACI to fund the schools.

However, the 2020 Vesting Act returned ownership to iwi. The iwi owners are comfortable to continue to make a substantial ongoing contribution to the activities of NZMACI, but they do not consider it is fair and reasonable that they should carry all the costs of NZMACI given its activities are undertaken for and on behalf of the benefit of all Aotearoa New Zealand through an Act of Parliament.

Currently, it costs Te Puia NZMACI Limited Partnership (Iwi owners) $6 million per annum to run NZMACI and its mātauranga Māori training, knowledge transfer and cultural outreach model. At full capacity NZMACI has 28 tauira across the three wānanga of wood carving, stone and bone carving and weaving and 26 staff, with Te Puia providing additional support in administration and operations. There are 10 – 12 graduates per year.

The $60,000 per year is a subsidy towards the full cost of training each tauira. NZMACI provides each tauira with a $24,000 annual

Funding directly supports:

• pouako salaries and expertise

• materials and specialised tools

• studio and workshop operations

• The loss of an important Māori cultural taonga for Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Non-delivery of important aspects of the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute Vesting Act 2020.
• Damage to the cultural and tourism leadership position of Te Puia | NZMACI. In turn this will lead to kaupapa driven staff leaving and the loss of the centre of excellence knowledge transfer system that has taken years to build and strengthen.
• Damage to a skilled pool of carvers and weavers who can effectively undertake significant cultural projects and commissions.

• Ensure the survival and continuation of a unique institution that has for over 60 years built an unparalleled reputation of excellence in training tauira in Māori material art forms and the IP and knowledge transfer systems that underpin this.

• Baseline certainty – continuity of NZMACI training programmes. This is fundamental to retention of staff as they are the ones who have built the knowledge base that is passed onto the tauira and integrated within wider NZMACI programmes. NZMACI only employs ex-graduates as Wānanga Whakairo Rākau staff, and this is critical to the knowledge transfer process and the centre of excellence approach.

• Ensuring and enabling the next intake of tauira – keeping a flow of new intakes from Iwi around Aotearoa New Zealand into the training and knowledge transfer system. NZMACI is currently in the early stages of activating the intake for 2025 (approximately 10-12 new tauira).

• Enhance tauira (student) outcomes – ensuring we honour the commitments NZMACI has to its current and future tauira inside the training programmes. There are 10 – 12 graduates per year across the three wānanga of wood carving, stone and bone carving and weaving. Annual tauira intakes are of a similar size.

• Continue to enable the various national and international outreach programmes. For example, there is currently a focus on undertaking a domestic Tuku Iho Exhibition tour in partnership with Creative NZ in 2026 which will take the globally acclaimed experience nation-wide, also sharing the message of the work and role of NZMACI into communities throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. Early planning is also underway for taking Tuku Iho Exhibition offshore internationally again from 2027.

Our tauira can’t access student loans as we are not under the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA system). And, we don’t want to be – we have our own Act of Parliament first established 99 years ago in 1926 by Tā (Sir) Apirana Ngata. It allows NZMACI to confer qualifications in Māori arts, crafts and culture.

This approach has allowed NZMACI to retain tino rangatiratanga over the matauranga that is passed on to tauira through its unique approach to education. By having to fit within the NZQA framework, it would strip tino rangatiratanga from NZMACI to determine its own path according to its tikanga.

Operating independently allows the NZMACI to maintain full control over its curriculum, ensuring it remains true to Māori values and practices. The qualifications conferred by Tohunga (master carvers and weavers) are deeply rooted in Māori tikanga, kawa and traditions, carrying unique authenticity and respect within the community. Integrating into NZQA could introduce external influences that compromise the authenticity and heritage of the Institute’s teachings.

In discussions with the Ministry of Education in early 2024, it was indicated that a NZMACI graduate qualification is considered equivalent to a Master’s Degree in the NZQA system.

To maintain the centre of excellence we have nurtured, there is a relatively high cost per average tauira. However, NZMACI emphasizes 80-90% practical, hands-on learning, and 10% theory and research. If we take the context that it is equivalent to a Master’s Degree, a key difference is that NZMACI tauira are with tohunga and pouako (tutors) face-to-face at a 1:3 ratio for 40 hours per week and material costs are also significant when using resources such as pounamu, whale bone, tōtara and more.

Yes — maintaining excellence is non-negotiable.

The programme, facilities, support, and cultural environment will remain at the highest standard.

NZMACI is committed to removing financial barriers, including:

• iwi sponsorship pathways

• scholarship programmes being expanded

• payment and support structures

No tauira should feel cost prevents them from applying.