It is our belief that learning should be fun and should promote the development of individual and collective genius. It is our belief that te reo Māori together with the version of NZ history that incorporates the Māori perspective should be accessible to all tamariki. It is our belief that self awareness, self knowledge and strong sense of identity allows our tamariki – and us all – to grow more fully and effectively into our potential as effective contributors within the fields of our interests, within our communities. These beliefs form part of the modus operandi of Hei Tiki Creatives.

So how do we purpose that belief? We make media that educates effortlessly, produce games that teach, write stories that sit in multiple dimensions and make music that expands knowledge. We look for ways to innovate, that we might best serve Māori language learners in any given moment of the changing times. And we aspire to influence feelings of belonging and greatness.  

The resources and media we make are aimed at tamariki from ECE through to college, and their families. We also keep teachers in mind when we produce. We know how heavy their workload is and if we can lighten that load by making tweaks in production, we will. 

There are three things it is fair to say about Hei Tiki Creatives. The first, is that we are a family oriented business. The second is that our core management and vision is guided by women. The third is that education is the family trade and we are happy to be consciously applying our efforts as creators in this field.

Company co-founder RJ and I are sisters and while RJ loves haka and singing and I love making media and music, actually we come from a  family of teachers. Our grandmother Rangi Koopu attended Queen Victoria School in the 1930’s before training to be a teacher. She went on to spend the next five decades in teaching and six of her children including our mother Kiri, also became educators. While we might have sworn off teaching after our exposure as youth to the hard work involved, it seems that the need to educate couldn’t be overcome. And here we are today.

RJ and I grew up with books, board games, singalongs and what on reflection was probably a privileged upbringing amongst our immediate and extended whānau. It is likely the values and lessons of this upbringing claim expression in our work. Certainly we love what we do and produce. 

– Maraea Davies Co-director