Trustee Recruitment

Rekindle Charitable Trust is seeking new voluntary trustees to help govern the ‘Resourceful Craft’ programme. We are looking to appoint up to 3 trustees, with the priority being a treasurer. We are also looking for someone who has experience in health/wellbeing but these areas of expertise are not requirements, we welcome applications from anyone who is committed to this kaupapa. 

Applications close 6 October 2024.

For further information please email info@resourcefulcraft.org.nz 

About us:

Resourceful Craft is a programme of craft workshops teaching resourceful skills for the wellbeing of people and planet. It is based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, with additional opportunities in Whakatū Nelson and Ōtepoti Dunedin. The organisation supports a team of highly skilled craftspeople, connecting them to people who are eager to learn and facilitating those workshops. Resourceful Craft is an offshoot of Rekindle Ltd., supported by funding from Creative New Zealand and Christchurch City Council. We share traditional craft practices that will provide people with new skills and a refreshed relationship with the local materials and resources that surround them. A crucial part of our approach is growing in understanding of our relationships to the whenua, and the impact of colonisation on craft practices and in many other areas of life in Aotearoa. In Ōtautahi we acknowledge the awa (rivers) Ōtākaro Avon and Ōpāwaho Heathcote which give life to this area, and mana whenua Ngāi Tūāhuriri, and Ngāi Tahu whānui. We also mihi to those who whakapapa to Waitaha and Ngāti Māmoe, who are closely connected to this land. We are committed to honouring te Tiriti o Waitangi, and understanding its vital relevance today. 

Role:
Trustees would be expected to attend monthly meetings and engage in all communications external to these meetings (emails, phone calls, external meetings with other members of the trust and/or trust manager). The hours will vary according to what is happening within the charity but can be estimated at around 6-10 hours monthly. Trustees would also be expected to attend annual strategic planning workshops, and they will be invited to attend optional social events e.g. pot luck dinners. 

TO APPLY, PLEASE PROVIDE: 

• Letter introducing yourself and explaining why you are applying for this role. Please tell us the main things that you do with your time (paid and unpaid), why you are interested in joining the trust and what skills you would bring.
  Confirm that you are eligible to be an officer of a charitable trust 
• Curriculum Vitae. Please include any governance experience and referees.
• Email to info@resourcefulcraft.org.nz by or before 6 October

Further information about Resourceful Craft

The materials for many of these workshops include locally foraged and carefully harvested fibres and foliage, green wood supplied by friendly urban arborists, and repurposed textiles that might otherwise have gone to waste. We also offer chances for people to learn to care for their tools and breathe new life into worn out clothing. In addition, we provide opportunities for people to come together with others on a regular basis to practise their skills at our monthly club sessions, where the craftspeople can get to know the participants and better support them in their resourceful craft journey. From spoon carving to basket weaving, drop spindle spinning to soap making, brush making to eco-printing, whether it be all weekend or for just a few hours, we aim to offer something for everyone in our Ōtautahi Christchurch workshop programme. We are also travelling to Whakatū Nelson in March to teach a full programme at Fairfield House, and heading back to Ōtepoti at Labour Weekend with support from the team at Otago Polytechnic Te Kura Matatini ki Otago. 

The word resource was originally derived from the Latin resurgō meaning rise again. Life on Earth is deeply resourceful in the inherent ability of all life to continually rise again, to resource itself. Perhaps the form of life will change or decay, but it will always rise again in some shape or form. Resourcefulness requires us to engage with our inner resources whilst strengthening our relationship with the life around us, and in this ongoing exchange we realise the inseparable nature of life on Earth. Through the lens of resourcefulness the relationship between human and non-human wellbeing is inseparable and so when we care for earth we cannot help but care for ourselves. We live in a world confronted by social and environmental challenges. These problems are inextricably linked yet so vast and complex it is difficult to face them together. As these challenges worsen, the need to find solutions that address both human and environmental wellbeing in an interconnected manner grows increasingly vital. Professor Tim Haywood (2006) says “Resourcefulness involves the development and exercise of human capacities, and thus fulfils part of the substance of a good human life; it also eases pressure on finite natural phenomena that are needed as resources in (roughly) inverse proportion to resourcefulness.”