Toitū Te Reo transitions to charitable trust to secure festival’s future

Toitū Te Reo transitions to a charitable trust to secure the Hastings festival’s future.

Toitū Te Reo, Aotearoa New Zealand’s national festival celebrating Māori language and culture, is to transition to a charitable trust model with five inaugural trustees.

During closing events for this year’s festival, held across two days in Heretaunga Hastings and hosted in both te reo Māori and English, founder Jeremy Tātere MacLeod outlined plans for the new body.

“This is a natural progression for Toitū Te Reo and a transition that needed to happen.”

The two-day Toitu Te Reo festival drew a large crowd to Hastings city centre.

The new trustees are Aperahama Edwards, Karepa Wall, Pānia Papa, Dr Hana O’Regan, and MacLeod.

Sir Tīmoti Kāretu has expressed his support for the transition and for those who have agreed to come on board as initial trustees.

MacLeod’s language revitalisation agency, Kauwaka, has been behind the festival for two years.

“It’s been incredible to come together and uplift our first language and culture for the second year running, but behind the scenes, we’ve faced tough economic conditions and were struggling to maintain institutional support.

“The charitable trust structure provides a more robust foundation for the festival’s operations and helps secure its future growth. Toitū Te Reo is a celebration that belongs to the motu, and trustees are language champions from iwi all over the country.”