te aho tapu, the first line of whatu on a kākahu
On Saturday the 1st of March 2025, we held our first ever meeting!
There are officially two of us! Laughing face with tears coming out emoji!!!
It was wonderful and we really nailed it in an hour.
So far we have figured out a basic meeting format and structure and how we would like things to operate.
We haven’t quite got the purpose and vision clear, but I’m sure that will unfold in time.
The three main areas of discussion are business, personal development and future projects.
That’s our loose structure.
Because there’s only two of us we will both have to share all the jobs between us. For now that’s only scheduling our meetings and taking minutes.
Business-wise, neither of us has much experience, but we are wanting to aim for economic growth and development, whatever that looks like, basically, more money! We’ve identified a number of structures that we would like to learn more about, such as, social enterprises, charitable trusts or just straight proprietorship.
Social media, blogs and websites are definitely a big part of things. We’ve both had some experience with the usual suspects in the social mediaverse. I aim to be more specific and regular with posting. Being more strategic is also something I’m aiming for.
Personal development is important. It will be lovely to reflect with a fellow weaver on areas that need work. We can also discuss the different resources available to continue that development.
And lastly future projects.
I’ve found it easy to get really off track and put things to the side as an artist. Having a planning meeting once a month feels as though it will be really helpful. Accountability, pressure, and support are all things that would have been helpful at different times in my to-date, artistic life.
And last of all was anything off-topic, or stuff that just arose while meeting. We identified some ideas to grow our little group. These were not deliberate but included small actions we could take. We shared about our activities and how to present them. This way, we might attract others who want the same things in their own artistic journey.
Reflection: I came away from our meeting feeling really refreshed, excited. Isolation as an artist can sometimes be difficult and while we won’t be living out of each other’s pockets, I appreciate knowing that I will be meeting with my two-person collective next month to report on how things are and to plan ahead.
I will be trialling some apps for taking minutes, scheduling and collaboration and report back next month on what I’ve found.
ko au te kete 
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