Animation Industry Needs More Māori

Renowned Māori digital animator, Nikora Ngaropo (Te Rarawa, Tuhoe, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu) from NNMD and Young Animators (YA) wants to inspire more young Māori into the animation industry. 

At a two day wānanga hosted at Kaitāia Intermediate and supported by Te Rūnanga o Te Rarawa, 30 students from around Kaitāia were taught the basic foundations of digital animation by Ngaropo and his team. The rangatahi were taken through the animation and motion design process to produce an animation about the Tinana waka and Te Rarawa story. 

After years of working on a number of blockbuster movies as Lead and Head of Department roles with groundbreaking Computer Generated Graphics company WETA Digital, Ngaropo founded NNMD and Young Animators, a Māori-led Design & Animation technology business. The company aspires to enable capability and capacity to all peoples of Aotearoa through education and technological enablement.

By using pūrākau, Ngaropo and the team at Young Animators are not only coaching youngsters in digital animation but also revitalising these stories and histories in a way that youth can identify and interact with.

For more information about the workshops, head to https://www.younganimators.net/