Amber Curreen

Amber is a kaupapa Māori focused producer who has been delivering professional theatre since 2009, formerly with SmackBang Theatre Company and currently with Te Rehia Theatre Company and Te Pou Theatre. Amber has co-produced many innovative main stage shows, Te Reo Māori works and youth shows.

She has facilitated the script development process for playwrights and provided industry workshops and development opportunities. Amber is a leader of Te Pou Theatre and the festival director of Kōanga Festival. Amber’s mahi is driven by a strong tikanga based arts practice and focuses on high quality, innovative storytelling that brings te ao Māori to the stage and supports the reclamation and revitalisation of te reo Māori.

What does leadership look like to you?

Amber: When I think about leadership, I think about the whakatauki that so many of us know, Ma whero ma pango ka oti te mahi, and the space of leadership being a circular structure where you have leadership that passes through the front and the back in a fluid way depending on what people’s individual strengths are and what is needed at that time.

What are you hoping to get out of this experience?

Our Creative Leadership Programme supports the development of a rōpū of artists and emerging arts leaders.

It aims to foster a powerful movement of activists and enablers within the creative sector.  The first group of participants brought together ten wāhine toa from across theatre, film, visual arts, literature and community arts.

The rōpū participated in a series of intensive workshop days and one-on-one mentorship especially crafted to support them in their mahi. Alongside guest speakers and mentors, they shared their knowledge and perspectives, forging imaginative and people-focused ways forward.

Amber: Having the opportunity to meet with this group of incredible leaders is extremely inspiring. As soon as you get the opportunity to sit in any kind of deep conversation with a leader, there’s so much value that comes from it. Whether it’s direct from their experience, or tangential from outside of the main wananga, you get a sense of affirmation or new learnings about ways to approach things and move forward. I’m also looking forward to the opportunity to work with a tuakana/mentor in an area that I’m unfamiliar with and would like to grow and learn.

How does your community show up in your practice?

Amber: The community is what we represent and do our work for, who we art for. That’s our sector, for me it’s the Māori performing arts sector. They are constantly in my mind and my practice. I’m always thinking about how we can create opportunities and whakamana our amazing Māori artists. Also in my practice are our kids at our kura kaupapa and our nannies in our kaumatua flats and how we can create work that will be enjoyed by them, and everyone in between. Making work that encourages Māori to feel like this is their place is the constant driver for all that we do. I think about how tikanga Māori can make a difference in the arts – whether that’s behind the computer or in the workshop room or on the stage.