June 18, 2024
Toitū Te Reo festival for every level
The project director for New Zealand’s first Māori language festival, Jeremy Tātare MacLeod, says it will be an opportunity for all to embrace te reo Māori.
Toitū Te Reo in Hastings on August 8 and 9 is a collaboration between Ngāti Kahungunu Inc, Hastings District Council and Mr MacLeod’s cultural advisory company Kauwaka.
He says they want to create a welcoming environment, whatever your level of proficiency.
“Our language has never needed allies more than now, as we face a brutal assault. So one of the symposium areas is dedicated fully to those who are at the beginning stages. And you know, we have worked hard for our non Māori and our own Māori people who are petrified of the language because the language isn’t going to survive in an elite circle of grammarians, we have to accept that,” Dr Tatere-McLeod says.