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New Zealand

The best of the chamber music world converges on Queenstown, Wānaka and Central Otago this spring for the return of At the World’s Edge Festival. Over seven programmes, this year’s festival explores the line in all its human, artistic, and natural dimensions:  boundaries and pathways, connection and division, limits and thresholds. Here, music crosses borders of time, geography, and identity, asking what it means to hold a line, to cross it, blur it, and ultimately weave separate lines into something that could not exist alone.

International artists including Tanja Tetzlaff, Florian Donderer, David Fung and Matthew Lipman will join leading Kiwi musicians Julia Joyce, Matthias Balzat, Monique Lapins and Festival co-founders Benjamin Baker and Justine Cormack, performing works from composers as diverse as Bach, Bacewicz, Shaw and Michael Norris (this year’s Composer in Residence) in some of the region’s most intimate and stunning venues.

birdsong + orange sunrise is a fundraising concert to support my journey as an emerging conductor/composer from Aotearoa

 

All proceeds and donations will help me take up a life-changing opportunity to hone my craft on the world-leading postgraduate conducting programme at the Royal Academy of Music in London — starting in September.

 

The costs of living in London are substantial, and my fees as an international student total c. $70,000 (NZD) per year across the programme.

 

Your generous support will make a decisive difference in my ability to take up this opportunity and develop into a leader in my field, and in time, to return to Aotearoa and make a lasting impact in our musical landscape.

 

Saturday 8 August: 6.30pm — St Peter’s on Willis

 

Join me, a chamber orchestra of players from the NZSO, STROMA, and Orchestra Wellington, and soprano Barbara Paterson for an elemental programme of music new and old.

 

Our programme opens with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll — a tranquil, and luminous work signalling the birth of a new day.

We then move on to award-winning Aotearoa composer Ihlara McIndoe’s ‘curio’ for soprano and 14 instruments — music that unspools through a series of unique sound-worlds: the sea, the burning sun, and the scintillating air that vibrates around us.

We finish the concert with Haydn’s ‘Fire’ Symphony — a fresh and exhilarating work by this early master of the symphony.

Meridian Table

​Some conversations shift the temperature of a room.

​Meridian Table is a recurring gathering curated by global arts and culture strategist Yijin Liu — a table where ideas move across disciplines, cultures, and life stages, and where conversation itself becomes the reason to gather.

​For this edition, Meridian Table takes place in a private space overlooking the Waitematā Harbour. Over a shared afternoon tea experience, a small group sits down together — not to network, not to perform, but simply to talk.

​This gathering welcomes Nick Falzon, Columbia University faculty member and former Disney executive, joining the table during his brief visit to Auckland. Together, participants explore creativity, education, and navigating global pathways in an increasingly interconnected world.

​Each seat is intentional.
Each conversation unfolds differently.

​

​What to Expect 

​Expect an intimate afternoon shaped by open conversation. Ideas move fluidly across arts, education, and global pathways, guided by curiosity and shared experience. The atmosphere is relaxed yet attentive, allowing dialogue to unfold organically around the table.

​Each seat includes The Shared Table afternoon tea, where savoury and sweet creations inspired by Sri Lanka, India, Hong Kong, and New Zealand accompany the conversation.

 

​Who This Table Is For

​If you are building a life across cultures, disciplines, or sectors — or imagining what that might look like — this table may resonate with you.

​You might be a student, a creative, a policymaker, a founder, or somewhere in between. Titles differ, but we are united by a sensitivity to culture, a global outlook, and a desire for dialogue that feels meaningful rather than strategic.

​If you are drawn to thoughtful conversation, to perspectives beyond your own field or city, and to connections that unfold naturally over time, you are warmly welcome at the table.

​For any questions about the event or seating, please contact [email protected]

Connected Leadership opens 2026 with a conversation about leadership entering a new era of transformation — when an organisation is strengthening foundations, improving services for tenants, and lifting the quality and performance of housing delivery across Aotearoa.

Join Tracey Taylor (Chief Executive, Kāinga Ora) and Caroline McDowall (General Manager Housing Delivery) as they share how they are leading Kāinga Ora into this new era.

You’ll gain insights into:

  • How leaders play a role in setting the direction for the transformation work – delivering a simpler, more effective organisation
  • Establishing early steps for transformation
  • Strengthening culture, capability and performance
  • Building partnerships across a complex system
  • Staying grounded in people and purpose during change
  • Taking a customer centric approach to provide clarity and alignment 
  • Leading people and culture into a new era
  • Why partnership, accountability and purpose matter most now

Empower your leaders to make smarter, faster and more trusted decisions

 

In a world of tight budgets, time pressure, and public scrutiny, even the best intentioned decisions can go wrong. From poor infrastructure planning leading to water and road management problems, to misguided small business decisions, there is often a gap between what’s pragmatically possible and what we settle for.

Many of our biggest challenges arise not just from poor choices, but from a failure to imagine better alternatives. People are often unaware of what is possible. Even under difficult time and budget constraints: we repeat old patterns, overlook viable alternatives and substitute urgency for clarity.

Are we doomed to live this way? No! Viable alternatives often exist – but they depend on utilising a systematic framework for more discerning evidence and values based decision making. Business optimisation is not enough. What values are we optimising?

Transform good intentions into better outcomes

Debugging Decision Making is a fast paced, one day roundtable that helps participants uncover hidden assumptions, test values and avoid the traps that distort well intentioned choices. Participants in this inclusive roundtable use real-world case studies, open dialogue and a systematic decision framework to build stronger, more resilient decision habits. The result: turning good intentions into more possibilities for future actions, and better outcomes.

 

Led by Neil Jacobstein, an Aspen Institute moderator and technologist with decades of industry and government systems and seminar experience (full bio below).

“This program has equipped me with the skills to make informed, effective policy choices that genuinely reflect the needs and values of our communities. The comprehensive approach to integrating evidence with ethical considerations has profoundly enhanced my ability to contribute to the betterment of our society and country. I am confident that the knowledge gained will significantly impact my work in public service.”

– Nancy Lu, National List MP, Evidence Based Decision Making, May 2024

 

“This thought-provoking course gave me a practical framework I now apply in every leadership decision. A brilliant return on investment.”

– Evidence Based Decision Making Alumnus, November 2024 

 

Why it matters 

  • The stakes are high. Every sector – from business and government to social impact and innovation – faces decisions made under pressure with incomplete information.

  • The opportunity is real. A systematic decision making framework can improve performance, resilience, and public trust – whether leading a boardroom, project, or policy team.

Inside the day 

Through guided roundtable discussions, a systematic decision framework, and shared reflection, participants will:

  • Identify recurring decision traps and patterns.

  • Learn to surface hidden assumptions and frame problems more effectively.

  • Explore how values and evidence work together to improve decision-making.

  • Engage with a framework built from New Zealand and international experience.

Who should attend 

Leaders, managers, and community members who want to:

  • Make better choices under complexity and constraint.

  • Strengthen ethical and strategic decision making.

  • Build the capacity to act with clarity, confidence, and impact.

Join us

Debugging Decision Making: A Framework for Improved Outcomes 

  • Tuesday 24 February 2026, 9am – 6pm  

  • In person at Taramea, Queenstown 

  • Unrecorded, candid format – Chatham House Rule applies.

  • Earlybird: $750 + GST (available until 31/12/2025); includes lunch
    Standard: $825 + GST (from 1/1/2026); includes lunch

  • Limited to 24 people

 

Led by Neil Jacobstein – a founding AI faculty member and past President of Singularity University. He has extensive decision consulting experience in industry and government. Neil spent 15 years as a MediaX Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Stanford University where his work focused on augmented decision systems. Neil was appointed by the US National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to the Earth and Life Studies Committee, and worked on the Academy’s 2021 Strategic Plan. Neil is a Mentor to the New Voices Program at the Academy. He is an Enterprise Fellow at the University of Otago, a Henry Crown Fellow, and a founding Board Director and seminar moderator at the Aspen Institute in New Zealand. Neil has an inclusive moderating style. He communicates clearly in plain English, ensuring that seminar participant’s perspectives are honoured and common decision biases are addressed. Neil led three longer versions of this successful programme (Evidence and Values Based Decision Making), including one with Māori leadership and two with MPs from across the house at the Beehive. He is committed to creating a learning community, with more rational long term perspectives and better outcomes for participants.

Don’t miss this chance to hear from James Sampson, Founder & CEO of FileInvite, as he shares his journey and insights with our community!

Building a company isn’t one big “ta-da” moment.. it’s a long game. Messy middles, surprise pivots and those classic 2am “what now?” thoughts all come with the territory.

That’s what our I Wish I Knew series is about. Real talk with founders who’ve been in the trenches. They’ve taken hits, made tough calls, and still turned up the next day. Expect the kind of lessons you only learn by doing (and sometimes by getting wrong first).

If you’re a founder, part of an early-stage team, or a leader who’s serious about growth, this is for you. We do screen registrations to make sure the room’s filled with people who’ll get and give value.

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