2024 - Highlights and ngā mihi nui for your support

Kia ora from Jess and Lizzie,

Throughout 2024 we’ve seen the power of good narratives to bring us together and help us navigate the tough issues we face. Across Aotearoa our colleagues and collaborators have been doing inspiring work to build a thriving society, leading with compassion, pragmatism, curiosity, and care for each other and the environment. Ngā mihi nui, thank you.

Now as we approach the highly-anticipated summer holidays, our team is taking a beat to reflect on the year and what has been a time of change and adaptation for many of us working to shape a great future for generations to come.  You can read our highlights and reflections below.

2024 in focus:

Some of our framing research from this year

Our narrative team has been busy producing research and insights on a range of topics this year.

We released the framing and messaging guide for councils on ‘How to talk about Community Planning for Climate Disruption’ which aims to build public support and understanding on how to plan together for climate disruption, and demonstrate to decision makers that people are on board for bold and necessary action. 


The briefing paper ‘How to talk about redesigning our economy to prioritise people and the planet’ offers narratives and frames to guide communications and conversations when talking about an economy which supports people and the planet. We are now looking at possibilities for producing Aotearoa-specific research on framing a redesigned economy, as we talk more about responding to the big challenges that are coming our way.

Top of mind for us this year has been finding productive ways of talking about Te Tiriti. As a founding document based on mutual respect and sustaining Māori ways of living, te Tiriti | the Treaty offers a guide on how to make a good future together - one where we look out for each other and the environment. That’s the kind of future we’re here for, and framing the conversation well is one way we can help make that happen. Have a look at ‘Understanding how Pākehā think and reason about te Tiriti | the Treaty’ to get our advice on where we can start. 

To access all our published research visit our publications page

Our clients and collaborators

Frames need to be used and shared to be impactful, and that is why we love working with organisations who are keen to learn about effective narratives and frames and how to weave them into their projects and communications.

This type of work looks different depending on what is going to be most helpful for those using the frames.
To give you a taste, this year we:

  • worked with Auckland Council to help them use effective frames for climate disruption

  • walked alongside Wellington Regional Healthy Housing Group members to apply helpful frames across their communication and campaigns

  • joined Department of Conservation and the National Animal Management Coordination Group to find frames to talk about wild animal management

  • continued to support Creative NZ, artists and advocates to tell the story of how arts, culture, creativity and ngā toi Māori are core to our collective wellbeing 

  • worked with the Public Health Advisory Committee to help them frame their focus on healthy food systems

Talks, training and fellowships

We have had the privilege of working with a diverse range of people and organisations in 2024. Our team has delivered talks on framing poverty, public health, economy, climate disruption, housing, science, and the importance of framing as a tool to deliver change.

We’ve facilitated customised and public training for dozens of groups - from public sector organisations to community advocates to teams working on local health initiatives - and we launched a new (and timely!) training on tactics to respond to false information.

Over the year we’ve helped fund thirty-five people to attend our training sessions through scholarships and grassroots discounts. Altogether we’ve had the chance to spend time with over 300 wonderful people who are working to make a positive difference in Aotearoa. Mīharo!

Thanks to the ongoing support and commitment of the Peter Mckenzie Project we’ve welcomed twenty people from across the motu to be part of our first narrative fellowship. This year the fellows learned about foundations of narratives, framing, and movement building, before heading into research and message development in 2025. The Workshop is now planning topic-specific fellowships for the near future, designed to boost narrative and framing skills for people working on important kaupapa. 

Before we sign off for the year, we want to let you know that we’ll be taking a break from Friday 20th December until Wednesday 8th of January. If you need us urgently during this time please get in touch with Lizzie. We wish you a beautiful summer, and we’ll see you again in 2025!

Hei konā mai, bye for now

Jess, Lizzie and The Workshop team

From left Kirsten, Carolyn, Lizzie, Jess, Julie and Minette. Not pictured Ellen and Sarah.