Praying Mantis Productions aims to empower communities through creative experiences, and activate social change as we create better lives for ourselves and future generations.
Praying Mantis Productions.
Praying Mantis Productions was created in response to the social realities woven through Aotearoa's justice system - inequity, racism, trauma, addiction, and mental illness carried in stories too painful to share.
Most women in prison have whānau on the outside. More than 23,000 children across Aotearoa have a parent in prison. This does not start and end behind bars. It starts at home, in our communities, in the gaps where support should be.
We believe every person deserves to feel valued, to have a voice, and to be truly heard. When people are given space to understand and share their own stories, something shifts. For them, and for the communities around them.
Through creative collaboration, Praying Mantis Productions amplifies the voices of people affected by the justice system, opens space for difficult conversations, and works toward the social change we all need.
This kaupapa extends beyond the justice system into the wider community. Through projects like Spark in the Park, our pop-up performance series at Newtown Park Apartments, we create moments of connection, surprise, and collective joy for whānau of every age, culture, and background. Because transformation doesn't only happen inside institutions. It happens in courtyards, at street festivals, and one dance party at a time.
Jacqui.
Jacqui is the Creative Director of Praying Mantis Productions. She has worked previously as the Arts in Corrections Advisor for Arts Access Aotearoa, and as an advisor to the Chief Censor of the Office of Film and Literature Classification. Jacqui has experience mentoring families engaged in social services, delivering and designing prison arts programmes, coordinating arts events, and has a background in community performing arts.
In 2020 Jacqui was a finalist in the Women of Influence (Arts & Culture) Award, and Home Ground received the Highly Commended Whai Tikanga Award from Arts Access Aotearoa. In 2019 she received the Sonja Davies Peace Award, and in 2017 was a finalist in the Wellingtonian of the year Arts & Culture Award.
Jacqui manages Home Ground. This project creates opportunities for women in the justice system to participate in high-quality arts process and practice. Artists are given the opportunity to work with this community, inside the probation and prison system.
Home Ground uses creative arts practice such as performing arts, photography, creative writing and music as a non-threatening, strengths-based approach to self-empowerment and community connectedness.
Jacqui managed the Arts in Youth Justice Residences pilot 2020–2022. This initiative increased access and participation in the arts for young people in youth justice residencies.
Other projects.
Arts in Youth Justice Pilot 2020 - 2022
Praying Mantis Productions managed the delivery of the Arts in Youth Justice Pilot 2020.
Arts Access Aotearoa, with support from Oranga Tamariki and Creative New Zealand, initiated this pilot project to increase arts engagement and participation for rangatahi in youth justice facilities.
Over 2020, 2021 and 2022, we designed and programmed a diverse range of artists and organisations to deliver multi-disciplinary art forms, with initiatives spanning toi Māori, visual, performing and literary arts.
Through this pilot we provided rangatahi with access to the arts and strengthened the youth justice residence’s connection to its community.
Home Ground.
Home Ground is a collaborative creativity and wellbeing initiative for women who have experienced incarceration or are engaged in the justice system.
The projects use creative arts practice, such as theatre, photography, creative writing and music, as a non-threatening, strengths-based approach to self-empowerment, community connectedness and wellbeing.
Artists both inside and outside of prison are encouraged to create artistic response to the issues women and whānau face in the justice system.
Spark in the Park
Creativity, Connection & Community.
Praying Mantis Productions brings pop-up performances, creative activities and workshops to Newtown Park Apartments, growing out of Home Ground's creative space within the flats, where our relationship with this community first began to bloom.
Newtown Park is part of the Te Toi Māhana community housing network, Wellington's largest community housing provider, and home to a diverse mix of whānau, elders, new arrivals and long-time Wellingtonians living side by side in the heart of Newtown.
Set within the shared courtyard - a vibrant green space at the heart of the community - these events create moments of connection, surprise, and collective joy. True to its name, each event offers a bright spark in the day, bringing the community together one dance party at a time.
Designed to be welcoming and accessible, our performances are safe and inclusive for all audiences, embracing people of every age, culture, and neurotype. Residents can choose to actively participate or simply enjoy the experience in whatever way feels comfortable.