⚽ Rangatahi Mahi: Soccer Ball Bling with Te Toi Mahana at Newtown Park Apartments ⚽

In May we teamed up with Tyrin from Te Toi Mahana, and were lucky enough to deliver our first rangatahi-focused workshop together!

Te Toi Mahana was established as a Charitable Trust in February 2023 and has taken over housing services from Wellington City Council. Home Ground started an arts-based residency in the Newtown Park Apartments in 2022, thanks to Te Aho Tini, Wellington City's Arts, Culture, and Creativity Strategy. Te Toi Mahana has continued to nurture our mahi in Newtown, and we have built a beautiful partnership.

Thanks to Tyrin and the generosity of Te Toi Mahana, who donated the footballs, we were able to host a football painting workshop where kids from the community could come after school to customise their new footballs and explore their creativity.

It was an awesome afternoon filled with colour, laughter, and connection, just the beginning of many more creative community moments to come!

As Home Ground continues to grow and adapt to our surroundings and circumstances, working with rangatahi in our community has been a long-standing goal. Now that we’ve had the opportunity to engage in this work, we are super excited to deliver more youth focused projects.

The energy, insight, and creativity that rangatahi bring to the community is inspiring. Their presence strengthens our kaupapa and reminds us why inclusive, community-led work is so vital. This experience has reaffirmed our commitment to making sure rangatahi voices are heard, valued, and woven into the future of Home Ground.