Centre for Arts and Social Transformation

The Centre for Arts and Social Transformation  (CAST) was established in 2020, building on the work of the Creative Thinking Project.

Thank you for considering donating to CAST. Your gift will support the CAST team to engage in research which is interested in not only how people are creative but in the difference a more creative New Zealand would make for us as citizens in a troubled world. The research is making an impact through practical applications and focuses on how we might make a difference to people’s health and wellbeing through genuinely transformative education.

CAST's current areas of focus include:

The Arts and Wellbeing

CAST partnered with the New Zealand Principals’ Federation, the New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa (NZEI) and the Sir John Kirwan Foundation to launch an online resource called Te Rito Toi  to assist teachers to help their students make sense of traumatic and challenging situations, like the coronavirus global pandemic/natural disasters/mass shootings. The focus is using an Arts-based approach for wellbeing and centring the Arts in the classroom. This has blossomed into an international effort for the Arts to lead the return to school across the globe, focusing on children’s mental health. Te Rito Toi will be a touchstone for schools in coming years as schools continue to deal with crises.

The Arts and the Homeless

A significant area of social concern is the growth of homelessness within developed nation’s economies. CAST is conducting applied arts research in New Zealand, Los Angeles, and Sydney on the role and the capacity of the arts for social transformation in homeless communities.

The Arts and Corrections

CAST is working with corrections providers to develop research projects focussed on the relationship between the Arts, tikanga Māori and rehabilitation in prisons. The aim is to help guide the development of corrections policies and policy solutions involving the arts, corrections, and justice facilities.

The Arts and Refugees

CAST is developing programmes with the Refugees as Survivors Trust and plans to research the role and place of the Arts in revealing resiliency and developing individual and group well-being with traumatized communities. CAST is exploring arts praxis as part of community anti-racist work especially as it relates to the rise of new nationalisms. CAST also works with the Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies in the Faculty of Education and Social Work to create synergies in understanding the role and place of creativity in resettlement.

Your support will provide an opportunity for our work to be deepened, extended and made more sustainable.