Touch Compass
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VISION_VALUES_KAUPAPA
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Touch Compass is Aotearoa’s leading professional performance company that is disability led. We produce high quality performance works and arts activations. This vision recognises Te Tiriti O Waitangi principles which signify a partnership between Māori and immigrants with our values reflective of kaitiakitanga (guardianship), reciprocity and care guiding us. Our miss
Touch Compass secures offer of multi-year Creative New Zealand investment to advance the future of crip-led arts, culture and creativity
TĀMAKI MAKAURAU, AOTEAROA - Touch Compass is proud it has secured a multi-year funding offer from Creative New Zealand (CNZ) under the new Arts Organisations and Groups Tier 3+4 Fund.
While the investment is not at the full level we sought, and leaves us with our own hard decisions to make around our future personnel and programming, it represents a vital commitment to our kaupapa, and provides a crucial foundation block for the next three years, directly supporting the rollout of our new five-year strategy: TIPUA | TOA | TIHI - Crip. Bold. Leading.
As we build towards our 30-year anniversary in 2027, this investment affirms the critical importance of lived experience leading in Aotearoa’s arts, culture, and creativity sectors.
Touch Compass Poari Tiamana Co-Chairs Andrew McMillan and Beckie Lockhart said:
“This funding represents both encouragement and responsibility. We are grateful that Creative New Zealand has recognised the strength of our vision and the impact of our work. This investment allows us to continue building on nearly three decades of artistic excellence while laying foundations for the future. Every dollar invested carries with it a responsibility to our artists, our communities and the wider arts sector. We intend to honour that responsibility. Our deepest thanks to our leadership team and all the contributors who helped pull our comprehensive funding proposal together. It takes a village."
Touch Compass Kaiwhakahaere Mātua Executive Director Jon Tamihere-Kemeys says,
“Mā te huruhuru, ka rere te manu, Feather the bird, and it will fly. This funding allows us to platform, promote, and produce high-quality crip-led art, and reimagine pathways for the next generation of disabled creatives."
Jon adds,
"We also stroll and roll in solidarity with the many incredible organisations and artists who were unsuccessful in this round. A thriving arts ecosystem needs all our voices."
♿ 💪 🆙
VD: Some short performance scenes from two of Touch Compass recently premiered disability-led works WHITE NOISE and ABILITOPIA, and a interview response about the importance of greater access in Aotearoa by two of Touch Compass artists Rodney Bell and Alisha McLennan Marler.
12/07/2026
Kua hinga te tōtara i te wao nui ā Tāne. A great tree has fallen in the forest of Tāne.
It is with heavy hearts that the Touch Compass whānau acknowledges the passing of our former company member, Bronwyn Hayward ONZM.
The striking images of Bronwyn in performance accompanying this tribute captures her in motion, but her impact went far beyond the stage.
Living with a lifelong spinal condition, Bronwyn was a fierce social justice activist who spent her life reshaping Aotearoa to ensure there was space for everyone.
Joining Touch Compass in the early 2000s, her love for dance was her greatest joy. She lived by the truth she championed:
"If you can breathe, you can dance."
Beyond her staggering resume, it was Bronwyn's deeply human spirit that defined her.
Touch Compass's Lusi Faiva remembers her perfectly:
"How warm, funny, and full of character she was - her caring spirit touched everyone who knew her."
She didn't just advocate for equity, she lived it. This is beautifully captured in her short film, Beauty, where a character appears with only one line: "Just dance!" In that simple instruction, you hear Bronwyn's entire life's work. Lifting others up and inviting them into their own time and space.
Bronwyn wasn't just a mover, she was a movement. One that will continue to be carried by artists, advocates, activists and allies across Aotearoa.
Recognised in the 2022 New Year Honours for her services to people with disabilities and the arts, Bronwyn's legacy is secured in the hearts of those she empowered.
With heartfelt condolences to her whānau and friends.
Haere, haere atu rā, Bronwyn. Ka nui ngā mihi e hoa.
The Touch Compass Whānau
Image description:
1. Bronwyn in full flight, draped in fabric and suspended above fellow Touch Compass dancer Maaka, in a striking high contrast black and white image.
2. Bronwyn in a costume of vibrant colours 'held aloft' during a dance sequence by fellow dancer Matt.
3. Bronwyn dressed all in white in an ensemble performance activation outdoors, alongside a diverse group of other Touch Compass dancers also dressed in white.
4. Bronwyn sits alongside the Governor General of Aotearoa New Zealand after receiving her NZ Order of Merit Award for services to the Arts and Disability.
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