In March 2023, we were grateful to @earthbeatfestival for providing the space for our youth/rangatahi to have their own stage/tent, run by youth, for youth, and get to experience all of the wonders of being a young person at a transformational music & arts festival, in a safe, whānau orientated environment.

We had the privelege of hosting a youth workshop for the young men of the festival aged 12 - 19 years old. This was a crucial phase in our own development as young men, so we called the young men forth into an experience that was missing for us as we transitioned into manhood - leaving the village, fighting like warriors, celebrating life, and sitting in circle, surrounded by elders, fathers, and grandfathers in the grounding, healing smoke inside the tipi.

We were joined by fellow fathers, uncles, and brothers to help hold the space, notably many from ManKind Project Aotearoa, to help link together the generations in an unbroken thread of love and support.

Working with the 25 youth that joined us has really inspired us, and we are looking forward to some big plans for the year of 2023.

If the fires that innately burn inside youths are not intentionally and lovingly added to the hearth of community, they will burn down the structures of culture, just to feel the warmth.”

- Michael Meade

Brotherhood is the cure.

Photos by @thebuzzykiwi