Creative Sector Mentoring
Given the pre-eminent position of Taitokerau in Toi Maori (the Maori Arts and Crafts sector), Tautoko Enterprise Support has a strong focus on supporting the specific and specialised needs of the Arts sector. We provide mentors with proven experience in establishing, sustaining and growing creative sector businesses, as experts, practitioners and support services providers. In 2006 Tautoko Enterprise Support mentors in partnership with Te Puni Kokiri and BIZ North delivered a High Impact programme for mentoring and training of Maori artists and artisans of Taitokeru. This programme, which used both industry exponents and experts, aimed to provide a pathway for Maori artists and artisans to reach higher levels of business professionalism, and culminated in attendance by a number of hui participants at the inaugural Maori Market showcase event in Wellington in 2007.
Tautoko Enterprise Support expects to soon announce its participation in a new enterprise training initiative for Taitokerau artists and artisans in the 2011 New Year.
Tautoko Toi - Taitokerau Region Mentoring Team
Kara Dodson 
| Kara comes from an arts and retail background that includes working as an assistant director in the NZ film industry, setting up the Moa clothing design collective in Grey Lynn, teaching screen-printing in several institutions and working as a graphic and fabric designer. Kara has a Bachelor of Architecture from Unitec and currently runs her Toi Iho registered retail store and art gallery, Tuatara, in Whangarei. Kara is especially passionate about Maori arts and is committed to helping any artists and small business owners make a sustainable living by sharing her knowledge of retail, design and Maori Arts. She has since extended her skills to events management, including the highly successful establishment of six-weekly Pecha Kucha nights in Whangarei. |
Melissa Irace
| Melissa has worked in Marketing and PR for 16 years. After graduating with an honours degree in history, she worked her way up to marketing manager level and by the age of 30 she had managed marketing departments for large international companies in industries spanning IT, engineering, tourism, corporate relocation and television. In 2009 Melissa established the Waka Huia Treasure Trove in Kawakawa along with her husband Wiremu Wilson-Diamond. Her marketing expertise and sectoral specialisation in the tourism industry provided valuable and complementary skills to Wiremu, who specialises in Maori sculpture and the use and construction of traditional Maori tools. These are showcased through education programmes and cultural tourism experiences at their gallery. . |
Dianne Ludwig 
| Dianne has over 20 years business experience working with SMEs and was founding Principal of the WHK Business Growth, a team which has helped develop and championed business and export advisory programmes for New Zealand businesses. Whilst Dianne works across a variety of industry sectors, her expertise includes specialist workshops and coaching for the tourism and creative sectors in business development, marketing, media and branding and focuses on profitability improvement , taking a practical approach. She has extensive public and private sector networks. Since retiring from WHK at the end of 2007, Dianne has continued to advise and mentor business owners, and sits on a number of advisory boards and on the board of the New Zealand Fashion Museum. |