In partnership with National Services Te Paerangi, Victoria University of Wellington has been delivering the He Kāhui Kākākura Strategic Leadership Programme for five years running.
He Kāhui Kākākura is specifically designed to cater for the strategic leadership development needs of senior managers and governors of organisations within the arts, culture, and heritage sector. In 2005, there were seventeen participants representing museums, libraries, tourism, and other culture and heritage-related organisations.
Derived from a partnership between National Services Te Paerangi and Victoria Executive Development Te Whare Whakarae, the programme has now trained more than eighty leaders from museums, galleries, iwi (tribes), heritage management, libraries, archives, and the visual and performing arts.
If you are interested in attending this programme in the future, keep a lookout for our e-newsletter where we will announce the dates for the next programme.
The 2005 programme
The programme in 2005 attracted seventeen participants from Auckland to Gore. Topics included strategic thinking; biculturalism, governance, marketing, financial management, problem-solving, organisational dynamics, and leading change.
The programme also featured presentations from Sir Neil Cossons, Chairman of English Heritage, and Alex Reedijk, General Director of The NBR New Zealand Opera, as well as a debate eloquently argued by Jeanette Atkinson, David Chin, Tracy Puklowski, and Pat Stuart.
Participants returned to Wellington for two days in early December 2005. They presented their plans for tackling the strategic challenge that each had identified as being critical to the future of their sponsoring organisation.
What participants said
‘I really got a lot of value out of this programme, not only in terms of the content and the people who were delivering the content, but also in sharing with other participants who have different networks and experience. It gave me a lot of contacts and ideas for my personal project. I was also expecting it to be a little more academic but am really pleased that it wasn’t. Throughout the programme, I was always directed back to focus on my own project which was really useful.’ - Makuini Kerehi of He Kāhui Wairarapa
‘The course was intense and demanding. Every day we were bombarded with more information. After a few days most of us were saying we’d never remember it all. But that issue had been taken care of - we each received a huge folder of material we could refer to after the course. For me, the value of the course was hearing the latest thinking on many management and leadership topics. These often challenged the received views we operate under in our daily lives - so much so, that you wish everyone else you work with could go on the course.’ - Athol McCredie of Te Papa Tongarewa