Manawa Ora Roses in Concrete

Ten young South Aucklanders are collaborating with musicians Laughton Kora, Coco Solid and Bailey Wiley, actor Jess Holly Bates (Shortland Street, Awkward Love), and filmmaker Chris Graham to create fresh new works described as 'challenging and beautiful'.

Returning to the Herald Theatre for the fifth consecutive year, the Manawa Ora season showcases one-act plays, performance pieces, installation works and music, created by the rangatahi with their one-to-one mentors over an intensive series of workshops. Theatre director Aroha White brings together the individual works to form a transformative audience experience like no other. The production will then head home to South Auckland for two shows.

The annual live performance is the flagship project of Ng? Rangatahi Toa, an education and creative arts initiative based in love, kindness and compassion that provides long-term wrap-around support to young people dealing with a variety of issues. The Rose in Concrete theme, from Tupac, represents the freedom and possibilities embrace by the young people growing up in chaos.

Your donations will go directly to supporting Manawa Ora: Roses in Concrete. Your generosity will allow us to re-stage the production in South Auckland, support our artist-mentors to spend even more intensive time with our young people, and ramp up the production and technical side of things to make Manawa Ora: Roses in Concrete our slickest show yet.

We are aiming to raise $18,000 to go towards the cost of staging this production in Central Auckland and South Auckland. We have secured a match funder who will donate $9,000 if we reach our Boosted goal.

The honesty, creativity and connection of these young people reminds us all that when we own and tell our own stories, we get to write the ending. We would love for you to help make this happen.

Thank you for your support!