Aotearoa needs to invest in training more indigenous conservators and curators to preserve and care for the thousands of nationally significant taonga held in museums, iwi and Pacific collections and other cultural institutions.

The draft Māori and Pacific Conservators & Curators Workforce Development Plan (WDP), Torona Pakiakatia | Stretching Deep, released for public consultation today by Toi Mai Workforce Development Council, highlights the barriers constraining Māori and Pacific people from working in the cultural practitioner space and makes recommendations to address them.

Te Tumu o Toi | Toi Mai Chief Executive Dr Claire Robinson says with thousands of taonga held in public and private collections across the motu, the demand for indigenous curatorial and conservation services far outstrips the Māori and Pacific workforce supply.

“With low numbers of indigenous people working in the culture and heritage sector, culturally appropriate conservation practices are often not applied when handling taonga.

“Serious attention needs to be paid to training pathways, programmes and qualifications to mitigate the risk of further loss of cultural knowledge when current Māori and Pacific practitioners retire or leave the sector.”

The WDP identifies the cost of acquiring skills as one important barrier contributing to the shortage of Māori and Pacific conservators. All conservator training is offered overseas, which is expensive to access.

Dr Robinson says this is yet another example of a strategically important training and workforce need unique to New Zealand that is unable to be accommodated within the current vocational education system and funding settings.

Toi Mai has called on the government to develop a National Skills Strategy, to identify skills needed by industry today and into the future, and then design more appropriate funding and system settings to meet those needs. The government’s current vocational education and training reforms are simply shifting parts of the system without addressing the root causes of the gap between industry need and skills provision.

Dr Robinson said before its disestablishment at the end of 2025, Toi Mai will explore opportunities for work-based training and continue to advocate for investment in vocational training for indigenous curators and conservators.

Dr Robinson encourages industry, education providers and those with an interest in the Conservators and Curator workforce to provide feedback on the draft WDP.

Click here to read the draft Torona Pakiakatia | Stretching Deep – Māori and Pacific Conservators & Curators Workforce Development Plan and provide your feedback by completing the survey.

Consultation is open until 10 August.