NEWS — TREM DAYS will be in Aotearoa, New Zealand on the 30th of July and the 4th of August 2025.

Nau mai, haere mai ki Aotearoa! 

As I write this, it is exactly one year until the conference in Aotearoa, New Zealand.  On this day we will walk together, as a group, into the building called ‘Te Whaea’ - ‘The Mother’ - home of Toi Whakaari: The New Zealand Drama School. 

We may be welcomed with whakatau, or accorded a pōwhiri, a traditional Māori welcome of speeches, song and movement, which recognises the importance of the guests and welcomes them into the space. If offered, the pōwhiri will be a collaboration between Toi Whakaari and Te Atiawa Taranaki Whānui and Ngāti Toa Rangatira iwi: The Drama School, and the iwi who support it.

The traditional pōwhiri has a finely crafted structure. Voice, space and relationship is deliberately woven to bring us together - to make links between the home people and the visitors, articulating a clear purpose for our time together.  

The opportunity to be in each other’s presence ‘kanohi ki te kanohi’ as Māori say - 'face to face', is so precious. Catherine has taught us much about the value, the complexity and the dimensions of presence. This conference is very much about the deliberate and purposeful act of ‘being together’, in Aotearoa. The act of venturing to the other side of the world to connect to the land, the people of this land, and to each other is no small thing.

It is my heartfelt wish that this conference be inextricably connected to place, to the land which will host us and its traditional Māori guardians, and to people: our hosts at Toi Whakaari, who will give us a home for this time, to those we will reconnect with and those we meet for the first time.

We look forward to welcoming you. Registrations will open in January 2025.  Our theme is Voice is Action! Make space in your lives for this time next year in Aotearoa!

Ngā mihi maioha,
Perry