New co-pilot for transformation at CAST

Professor Peter O’Connor knows how troubled youths can be restored through the power of drama to find a gentler way of being in the world; how the people in a community torn apart by natural disaster can be brought together again through the power of storytelling; how our children can be equipped – through painting, performance, poetry, music – with the tools to build a better world.

“Art is the superpower at the centre of education,” he says. “The arts have the power to change people’s lives.”

And that was the vision that sparked the creation of the Centre for Arts and Social Transformation (CAST). It also resonated with the legendary Bob Dylan, who became and remains the Centre’s patron.

CAST now has a dedicated team of 17 artists and researchers who are creating rich resources in art education and researching their effects, sometimes after calamitous events all around the world, including the recent severe flooding in New Zealand.

With demand increasing worldwide for the work of CAST, Peter O’Connor, who is its founding director, is happily welcoming a new co-director – Poet Laureate Professor Selina Tusitala Marsh, best known for her powerful poetry, her “Mophead” series of children’s books and for being chosen as Commonwealth poet by Queen Elizabeth II.

Selina, says Peter, is the perfect match for the role .“Her poetry has power and beauty, just right for the Centre’s work, and she has a special energy that connects her with others and allows her to create the resources they need.”

“We call ourselves co-pilots,” he says.

Selina has, for the last two years, been working on a project the Centre is conducting with the Sir John Kirwan Foundation to build mental health and life satisfaction in primary school children.

Teased as a child for her wild, curly hair, she is now inspiring other children with her journey from “mophead” to Poet Laureate, with a “crowning glory” instead of a “mop”. Through her “Mophead” series of children’s books – three so far – she encourages the children to value their points of difference and to work out how to use their own interests, talents and imagination to create the lives they want to lead.

The co-director role, she says, will allow her to be open to research opportunities, to work with people and communities to bring about change that she knows they really want and need.

During Covid, CAST contributed strongly to the response to the worldwide crisis, with arts programmes created to cope with lockdown and its aftermath that were downloaded 500,000 times and used in 114 countries. Members of the CAST team, in one of its many current projects, are refreshing and enhancing the art curriculum at all levels in New Zealand schools. Others are currently creating and researching a transformative arts programme for Maui Island in Hawaii, to help heal people and rebuild strong communities after the recent disastrous wildfires.

Much of CAST’s work has been made possible by the wonderfully generous support of The Chartwell Trust, the principal and founding donor.

“This is a real philanthropic partnership based on trust and confidence,” says Peter. “Further generous funding over five years gives our team the freedom both to plan in advance and to respond to invitations to do high-value work when a sudden need arises.”

A visit last November to the royal palace in London for the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition awards gave Professor Selina Tusitala Marsh, ONZM, a unique opportunity to increase awareness of the work of the Centre for Arts and Social Transformation.

Her gift for Queen Camilla, who hosted the awards, was a copy of her recent book, Wot Knot You Got: Mophead’s Guide to Life.

In a brief chat she mentioned the purpose of the book and the real-life stories of the children who had inspired it.

Queen Camilla said she found it charming, says Selina.