Hikitia! partners with Nelson Arts Festival

This year, the Nelson Arts Festival is thrilled to partner with Hikitia! - RISE’s family violence and sexual violence primary prevention team.  

Hikitia! presents #METOO DOWNUNDER, a powerful conversation between authors Ali Mau (No Words for This) and Sonia Orchard (Groomed) on justice, survival and cultural change, chaired by Dr Nikki Evans (Manager, Hikitia!), and YES YES YES, the award-winning theatre piece on consent and teenage relationships, created by Eleanor Bishop and Karin McCracken.

By partnering with the Nelson Arts Festival to showcase creative, community-led approaches to preventing family and sexual violence, Hikitia! is helping to strengthen our communities. This collaboration activates protective factors by fostering connection, belonging, and celebration of community voice. Festival audiences are invited to engage with artworks inspired by whānau stories, which promotes empathy and helps reduce isolation.

Embedding prevention messages within the arts sector creates new resource flows by funding and supporting artists, while also disrupting the mental model that violence prevention belongs only within health or social services. In doing so, the partnership shifts prevention practices into everyday community spaces.

Through theatre and storytelling, the initiative addresses the root causes of violence by challenging harmful norms and amplifying positive narratives of whānau strength, resilience, and aroha. The books and performances highlight the importance of safe whānau connections, respectful relationships, and intergenerational wellbeing. 

Importantly, survivors and their whānau were able to see stories of harm and healing acknowledged, which reduces stigma and supports collective healing.

Hikitia!’s Manager Dr Nikki Evans.

Ali Mau will speak about her memoir No Words for This, with Sonia Orchard whose memoir is called Groomed in a Pukapuka Talk #METOO DOWNUNDER chaired by Hikitia!’s Dr Nikki Evans.

What the partnership with Hikitia! means to the Nelson Arts Festival

Janelle Bish, Artistic Director:

When I first saw the theatre show YES YES YES (created by EBKM and touring both New Zealand and Australia this year) it had a profound impact on me, making me realise that I had never been taught how to interpret, value, or really understand sexual consent. Performances like these can shift our perspectives in powerful ways, but it can be difficult to know how to keep the conversation alive once the lights go down.

With the support of Hikitia! RISE, audiences for YES YES YES won’t be left holding that weight alone. For me, this feels like a moment of mass empowerment for our attendees that will have a genuine impact on how they navigate the world. Being guided through a workshop following the performance will not only deepen awareness but also better prepare our rangatahi to navigate their way through complex life experiences and self-discovery with courage.

Kerry Sunderland, Pukapuka Talks Programme Lead:

 In this year’s Pukapuka Talks programme we are featuring the authors of two memoirs – Sonia Orchard (Groomed) and Ali Mau (No Words for This) - who are both sexual harm survivors and advocates who challenge out-dated narratives. When I read these books earlier this year, I immediately knew what a powerhouse session we could deliver by bringing them together. We are the only festival in Aotearoa that has been able to do this and we couldn’t have made it happen without the support of Hikitia! RISE. Giving Ali and Sonia a platform to share their stories shows the power of storytelling – it can change the way we think, shapes how we engage with others, achieves cultural shifts, and creates a more cohesive community.

Nelson Arts Festival Program 2025

If you would like to support Hikitia!’s work preventing family and sexual violence, come along to our Nelson Arts Festival events, and encourage others to join you – the more we bring these topics into everyday conversations the safer our communities will be.

Thursday 23 October 6:30pm - 8:30pm: Theatre show, YES YES YES.

Friday 24 October 1-3pm: #METOO DOWNUNDER, the Pukapuka Talk Dr Nikki Evans is chairing featuring writers Sonia Orchard and Ali Mau.