Full Name
Hone Kouka
Job Title
Artistic Director/ Chief Executive
Organisation
Kia Mau Festival
Speaker Bio
Hone Kouka (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Kahungunu, Kai Tahu) M.N.Z.M.
Hone is a father, an acclaimed Māori director, producer and writer for theatre and film. He is the youngest winner of the Bruce Mason Playwrights Award and multiple award winner, he has had plays produced in South Africa, Britain, Hawai’i, Canada, Australia, Japan, New Caledonia, as well as throughout New Zealand, with plays being translated into French, Japanese and Russian. Hone has also been a writing and teaching fellow at Otago and Canterbury Universities.
In 2004, Hone, along with Mīria George, founded theatre and film production house Tawata Productions, producing the works of tangata whenua and tangata moana artists. He became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his Services to Contemporary Māori Theatre in June 2009 and was awarded the New Zealand Writers Guild Mentors Award in 2013.
In 2015, he was founder and Artistic Director of Kia Mau Festival - a tangata whenua, tangata moana and international Indigenous multi arts platform based in Wellington. It is now seen as one of the most influential Indigenous arts festivals globally.
He had two films screened at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival - Born to Dance (Screenwriter) and Mahana (Executive Producer) and in 2017 he was awarded the Arts Category for Wellingtonian of the Year. Hone is the producer of numerous multi-award winning short films nationally and internationally, most recently fire in the water, fire in the sky by Mīria George in 2021.
In 2022, he was awarded Te Tohu Tiketike from Taki Rua Productions in relation to the life of Taki Rua and the wider Māori Theatre Industry and received an Arts Laureate Award 2022. He is now Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Kia Mau Festival.
Hone is a father, an acclaimed Māori director, producer and writer for theatre and film. He is the youngest winner of the Bruce Mason Playwrights Award and multiple award winner, he has had plays produced in South Africa, Britain, Hawai’i, Canada, Australia, Japan, New Caledonia, as well as throughout New Zealand, with plays being translated into French, Japanese and Russian. Hone has also been a writing and teaching fellow at Otago and Canterbury Universities.
In 2004, Hone, along with Mīria George, founded theatre and film production house Tawata Productions, producing the works of tangata whenua and tangata moana artists. He became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his Services to Contemporary Māori Theatre in June 2009 and was awarded the New Zealand Writers Guild Mentors Award in 2013.
In 2015, he was founder and Artistic Director of Kia Mau Festival - a tangata whenua, tangata moana and international Indigenous multi arts platform based in Wellington. It is now seen as one of the most influential Indigenous arts festivals globally.
He had two films screened at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival - Born to Dance (Screenwriter) and Mahana (Executive Producer) and in 2017 he was awarded the Arts Category for Wellingtonian of the Year. Hone is the producer of numerous multi-award winning short films nationally and internationally, most recently fire in the water, fire in the sky by Mīria George in 2021.
In 2022, he was awarded Te Tohu Tiketike from Taki Rua Productions in relation to the life of Taki Rua and the wider Māori Theatre Industry and received an Arts Laureate Award 2022. He is now Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Kia Mau Festival.
Speaking At
