Toi Paematua - Diploma in Māori & Indigenous Art - Visual Arts

Study contemporary Māori visual arts at an intermediate-level through deeper exploration of the tikanga and practices of artistic expression.

Grow your confidence in Ngā Toi (the arts) through completing practical projects, and strengthen your creative processes through experimentation with different media. This programme is designed to enhance the development of your specialist skills in Toi Ataata – visual arts.

Depending on your study location you might be able to use different mediums such as paint, print, digital, clay, film or other materials.

When you pass this programme, you'll get this qualification:

• New Zealand Diploma in Ngā Toi Level 5 (Toi Ataata)

• media practices
• creative processes - ways to make work
• time and project management
• other toi practitioners
• rangahau and research
• history, tikanga and cultural practices relating to toi

• apply technical, theoretical and operational skills and knowledge in area of specialty to inform art form development
• analyse standard and non-standard processes of artistic evolution and variation, and apply to art form practice in area of specialty
• apply a range of technical skills and knowledge to create solutions for a range of familiar and unfamiliar Ngā Toi problems in area of specialty
• create and complete a body of work within area of specialty
• assist in the management and/or support the leadership of a Ngā Toi project in area of specialty

This qualification is intended for practitioners seeking to broaden operational, technical and theoretical knowledge, consistent with tikanga and reo in Toi Ataata.

Graduates of this qualification will contribute to New Zealand as self-managing practitioners of Ngā Toi within defined contexts able to complete projects, and assist in the management, leadership, and kaitiakitanga of Ngā Toi.

This is a full-time programme that consists of 120 credits delivered over 38 weeks. Some of our locations offer different delivery modes. These will be confirmed by your local campus and might include:

Option 1 Face to face delivery

• kura whakaako - compulsory tutorials (10 hours per week)
• 4 x 1-day wānanga (10 hours each)

You'll also need to complete learning activities designed to enhance your learning for approximately:

• 22 hours per week

Option 2 Noho delivery

• 10 x noho marae (25 hours per noho)
• 1-day wānanga (10 hours)
• kura whakaako - compulsory tutorials (4 hours per week)

You'll also need to complete learning activities designed to enhance your learning for approximately:

• 22 hours per week

Some of the learning activities will need to be completed online. You'll need access to an internet-connected device for this programme.

To enrol in this programme, a potential student must:

• be at least 16 years of age
• be a New Zealand citizen or resident (or citizen of Australia, Tokelau, Niue or the Cook Islands)
• reside in New Zealand
• have successfully completed Kāwai Raupapa Level 4, or an equivalent Level 4 Ngā Toi qualification of at least 120 credits, or a portfolio showing evidence of equivalent experience
• attend an interview and selection process to demonstrate suitability to the programme

I want to keep studying

Enrol on our 3-year Māori visual arts degree programme, Maunga Kura Toi - Bachelor of Māori Art (Rauangi). If you're interested in teaching, you can apply to study He Korowai Ākonga - Bachelor of Education (Primary Teaching).

I want to use my qualification

With skills at this level you can be a practising artist, work in community arts, or take on entry-level roles at art galleries.

Completion of Toi Paematua is a pathway into year 2 of Maunga Kura Toi (Rauangi).

The 2025 fees for this programme are:

• $1,568 GST inclusive

Are you eligible for fees-free study?

The Government has announced a final-year Fees Free policy starting from 1 January 2025.

If you are a first-time tertiary learner in 2025, you may be eligible for Fees Free support in your final year of study. You still need to arrange payment of programme fees to Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Once you have completed your first qualification you may be able to claim the fees back from the IRD from 2026 onwards.

For more information about the final-year Fees Free policy, visit: feesfree.govt.nz.

Toi Awe - Creative Process | 30 Credits

Apply broad knowledge, practical and conceptual skills in the production of creative work. 

Toi Iro - Exploration | 30 Credits

Analyse own and others’ artistic evolution and variation, applying insights to creative work.

Toi Raupapa - Organisation | 30 Credits

Assist in the management, creation and completion of a toi project.

Toi Hanga - Creation | 30 Credits

Create and complete creative work in a chosen Kaupapa Toi.