Lewis Contini (Ngāpuhi) is a team member of Te Pou Theatre, and a Tik Toker, participating in the #Tepoutheatrechallenge. Contini says it’s a challenge, to anyone who incorporates te reo Māori and theatre.
It is the first fundraising campaign for Te Pou, and the Māori theatre company, based in Tāmaki Makaurau, is using TikTok to help raise $40,000.
@brownscouse Help support Māori performing arts! #maori ♬ Say So (Instrumental Version) [Originally Performed by Doja Cat] - Elliot Van Coup
The Liverpool-born Māori (aka brownscouse on TikTok) applied to work in Te Pou Theatre when he first moved to Aotearoa five years ago. Despite not being “well-equipped” for the mahi at the time, he says he spent a few more years learning and gaining experience and is now working on the company’s social media pages this year.
“I think it’s a got a really great Māori community in TikTok,” he says. “There’s a space for people to connect Māori like me who didn’t grow up with it. I feel a bit detached and want somewhere where you can talk to other people in the same boat about your Māoritanga.”
@brownscouse Lets start at the very beginning 📕#maori #uk #aotearoa ♬ original sound - Brownscouse
It wasn’t until he saw a message from his aunt on his father’s side and took a DNA test five years ago that Contini, Liverpudlian accent and all, learned he was Māori.
“I didn’t know what a Māori was. I didn’t know anything about it until I decided to make the jump, come over and meet everyone.
“I came straight over, met all the whānau here. I think it’s been a big change moving from England to New Zealand,” he laughs. “There’s so much culture that I didn’t know about, I’m keen to learn the language, I’ve been connected to my whānau up north, so it’s been an amazing experience.
“It’s an amazing culture. I encourage anyone to get involved. It’s fantastic.”
For kaumātua who might not be too familiar with technology but could be keen to give the challenge a go, Contini says they can still do it and other challenges too.
“They’ve seen a lot of change over their time and I think TikTok is just another medium that they can access, to connect to each other and to their tamariki. If they don’t feel like doing a TikTok, we also have heaps of other challenges that they can choose to do their own wero. They can do Panga which is the Māori version of Wordle, so there are a few options for them if they’re not too interested in TikTok.”
@brownscouse That time I put my foot in it on my first day at mahi 😬 #fyp #nz #maori #kiwi #tereomaori #storytime ♬ Lo-fi hip hop - BADMYTH