This is the second of six weekly reflections from my LiA in New Zealand working with YANZ! 

While the second week of my LiA was still very focused on onboarding and getting used to the team and the environment, it was very eventful and exciting. 

I was introduced to some members of Rangatahi on Stage (ROS), which is a Youth Arts New Zealand initiative connecting young performers with paid gigs, community events, and creative projects across Aotearoa. ROS acts as a bridge, giving rangatahi artists real-world experience on professional stages and offering event organisers access to passionate, diverse, and well-supported young talent. 

As part of New Zealand Music Month, YANZ is working with the agency Fresh Concept to host young performers (including those from ROS) for lunchtime pop-up gigs. As part of this initiative, last  Wednesday, two of our ROS artists performed at a pop-up gig in the lobby of an office building in the centre of Auckland. We attended this gig as a team; it was very pleasing to see the people from the office use their break to come down for some coffee and watch the performance. The day after, there was another pop-up in Wellington organised by YANZ. While I wasn’t yet working here in New Zealand when these pop-up gigs were in their planning stages, it has already become obvious how much work goes into event organisation in a small team. I have learnt that a free one-hour event takes months of planning, and I am looking forward to getting involved in this process myself over the next few weeks. Event planning and facilitation are both on the agenda. 

Our next event was the Youth Week Open Mic this Saturday. This is a major recurring event that YANZ runs every few months. This time, the Rangatahi Open Mic was held as part of Ara Taiohi Youth Week, which is a nationwide campaign running from the 18th to the 24th of May. Youth Week celebrates young people and their contributions to New Zealand’s social and civic impact and brings all creative organisations together to champion a society that supports rangatahi to thrive.

As part of the Youth Week, this Open Mic featured a special collaborative mural created by young people. The prompt was: “If you had a worldwide microphone, what would you say?” I was in charge of event support, which included facilitating this mural. We began by placing an empty sheet of paper on the table and writing prompt ideas next to the main question, such as “Young people need more of…” or “Something that keeps me going is….” These prompts intended to provide some direction for those who were unsure how to answer the question at first. This sparked discussions about why we create, what gives us hope, what young people need, and many other important questions that are worth reflecting on, making for a supportive and accessible space where creativity is at the heart.

In the meantime, I produced a newsletter piece on Beehiv for YANZ’s mailing list, covering all our events taking place this May. Next week, I will be writing post-Open Mic write-ups, including a thank-you-for-coming newsletter and a more reflective piece in my personal voice. 

A challenge I encountered this week was my own confidence at the Open Mic. Approaching attendees and performers to start conversations and gather informal feedback initially felt quite nerve-wracking. One of my goals was to collect insights that YANZ could use when planning future events, including Open Mics, but my hesitation to approach participants sometimes made this slightly more difficult than it needed to be.

However, as the evening progressed, I reminded myself that the best way to overcome this discomfort was simply to take action. Rather than overthinking how conversations might go, I focused on being genuinely curious and engaging with people naturally. Once I began talking to participants, I found that most were enthusiastic about sharing their experiences and reflections. This reminded me that leadership often requires stepping outside of your comfort zone and trusting yourself to learn through doing.

Another learning opportunity was presented to me when I came across the variety of different contexts and range of different voices in YANZ’s communications. For example, I learnt the difference between the language used in funding applications and that used in written pieces for newsletter subscribers. I am still learning to accept and adapt constructive feedback in a work environment, and YANZ’s incredibly supportive team definitely makes this easier.

Looking forward to applying what I have learnt this week to the rest of the placement, and to attending and participating in more events!