Published on 28 Oct 2025

Reimagining Stewardship of the Cultural Sector: Developing a Strategy for Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Projects
4 ANTON 1x1 PORTRAIT 1
Anton Davis Director Consulting (NZ) Contact me
9 FIONA 1x1 PORTRAIT 1
Dr Fiona Scott-Melton Performance + Impact Lead (NZ) Contact me

In the wake of significant investment and the shockwaves of COVID-19, Manatū Taonga found itself at a strategic crossroads. Critically, the Ministry's existing strategy no longer reflected its ambitions or the complexity of the cultural landscape it stewards. A new, durable and illustrative strategic framework was required - one that would empower internal transformation and enable the wider cultural system to thrive. 

The Ministry commissioned Allen + Clarke to facilitate the development of a forward-looking framework to:

 

  • Clarify its role and responsibilities across the culture, heritage, broadcasting, and sport sectors. 

  • Support a shift toward greater system leadership, equity, and cultural wellbeing. 

  • Embrace Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnerships as a core operating principle. 

  • Provide a high-level intervention logic and measurement framework to guide delivery and demonstrate impact.
Grounded in a deeply collaborative process and shaped by Te Ao Māori worldviews, the framework charts a two-decade journey to cultural resilience, equity and inclusion.

Bringing clarity to a complex cultural sector

Allen + Clarke partnered with Manatū Taonga to co-design and deliver Te Rautaki o Manatū Taonga 2021 - 2024, a bold new strategic framework that redefines the Ministry's purpose, priorities, and pathways for achieving cultural wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand. Grounded in a deeply collaborative process and shaped by Te Ao Māori worldviews, the framework charts a two-decade journey to cultural resilience, equity and inclusion. 

Our facilitation methods included in-depth interviews, high-engagement workshops, stakeholder testing and visual prototyping. We maintained an iterative design process and 'no surprises' project management style that supported genuine partnership and adaptability. 

 

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Co-designing with stakeholders

Allen + Clarke led the development of the strategic framework through a five-phase project plan. At the heart of our approach was a commitment to: 

  • Co-design with stakeholders, including Te Kāhui Mataaho (the Ministry's strategic leadership group), Tier 3 managers, and Ngā Uri o Kiwa (representatives of Māori and Pacific peoples). 

  • Design thinking, to visualise strategy, test concepts and distil complexity into clarity. 

  • Systems thinking, to understand the Ministry's place within an interconnected cultural ecosystem. 

  • Cultural responsiveness, ensuring Te Ao Māori perspectives were not only acknowledged but embedded throughout. 

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Colourful speech bubbles overlapping silhouettes in conversation

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Supporting a Cultural Sector in Transformation

Throughout this engagement we developed the following deliverables in close consultation with the Ministry and tested through regular validation and feedback loops: 

  • Te Rautaki o Manatū Taonga 2021 - 2040 - the Ministry's new strategic narrative. 

  • Te Waka Hourua - a dual-hulled intervention and wellbeing framework grounded in He Ara Waiora and the Living Standards Framework. 

  • A high-level measurement framework - to assess progress against long-term wellbeing outcomes. 

  • A series of visual storyboards - enabling staff and stakeholders to easily grasp and communicate the strategy. 

  • An implementation roadmap - including phased change management and leadership development pathways. 

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The strategic framework and its storyboards were immediately put into use across the Ministry, informing work planning, engagement, recruitment, and decision-making.

A Strategy Built to Endure

The result is a powerful, future-facing strategic framework that positions Manatū Taonga as:

  • A leader in the cultural system, with the capability and confidence to convene, influence and deliver. 

  • A Treaty partner, with Te Arataki - its internal commitment to Treaty excellence - embedded across all roles and functions. 

  • A system steward, using a contemporary intervention model to support equity, resilience, and intergenerational wellbeing. 

  • A change-ready organisation, equipped with a phased roadmap for internal development, system engagement, and cultural transformation. 

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Interconnected coloured pathways forming abstract network diagram