Overview
The college fosters research, hands-on practice and scholarship across fine arts, design, music and media production.
Our staff and students believe in the power of creativity to drive positive change. We are committed to growing Māori and Pacific arts and artists and supporting indigenous creative practice.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi at Massey
We are deeply committed to being a Tiriti-led college, demonstrating authentic leadership in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand as we uphold te Tiriti o Waitangi, the founding document of our nation, and its principles through our practice. We embrace this not just as an obligation but as a real opportunity for the nation and its people.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi ki Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – The Treaty of Waitangi at Massey
Study with us
From design to fine arts, screen arts to music and Māori visual arts, the College of Creative Arts offers a rich variety of learning options.
Our research
Meet the College of Creative Arts researchers and find out about our research themes and strengths, projects and news.
National Academy of Screen Arts
The academy is home to New Zealand’s most comprehensive screen arts community, advanced screen technologies and production facilities, and the nation’s leading screen arts qualifications.
About us
Find out about our people, schools, facilities, rankings and accreditations.
Engage with us
Engage with our research, facilities and enterprises. You can also find out who we partner with and how to visit us.
Who we are
Our staff are diverse, collaborative, caring and celebrated. Meet leaders in the College of Creative Arts.
Professor Margaret Maile
Margaret has a strong international academic leadership background with a diverse skill set and innovation focus that has seen her deliver a wide range of impactful initiatives.
She has served on a number of governance boards, and continues her service as ambassador for Good Design Australia.
Her research focus is on the history and theory of lighting design and the modern designed environment.
Professor Ngatai Taepa
Ngatai is one of Aotearoa's most significant and innovative contemporary Māori artists. He has produced an impressive body of work that combines Mātauranga Māori with contemporary expression.
He has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, and was a leading member of Te Kāhui Toi: the artistic team behind the award-winning Te Rau Karamu Marae.
Professor Kingsley Baird
Kingsley Baird is a visual artist, writer, and professor of fine arts at the Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts. His research is an investigation of memory, memorialisation, and remembrance, primarily in relation to war, culture, national identity, mythology, place, and new conceptual, aesthetic, and material ways of creating memory forms. www.kingsleybaird.com
Professor Johnson Witehira
Johnson is a leading Indigenous artist, designer, and academic whose work bridges Mātauranga Māori and creative technologies. An innovator in decolonised and indigenised design, his practice spans visual arts, game development, and storytelling. He is widely known for championing Māori design, with work exhibited nationally and internationally.
Associate Professor Sven Mehzoud
Sven Mehzoud has directed design programmes at New Zealand and Australian universities for over 20 years and is originally from Switzerland where he practiced architecture. Sven’s creative practice encompasses exhibition design, scenography and interior architectural design, and currently focuses on narrative constructions in museums and exhibition design.
Schools
Our college is home to three schools.
School of Art
The School of Art – Whiti o Rehua expands and challenges people's perceptions of the world.
School of Music and Screen Arts
Responding to Aotearoa New Zealand’s reputation for innovation and creativity in both music and media production.
Wellington School of Design
Wellington School of Design – Ngā Pae Mahutonga has a global reputation for innovative problem-solving through design.
Design competitions
Spatial Design Awards
Entries are now open for the Spatial Design Awards for year 9, 10 and 11 students in New Zealand secondary schools.
From finalist to judge: how Smokefreerockquest shaped a Massey lecturer’s music career
Lecturer Dr Jesse Austin-Stewart’s experience as a Smokefreerockquest finalist while at high school shaped a career in music, marking a full-circle moment as he returned to help run this year’s competition.
Massey graduate’s menstrual cup steriliser wins James Dyson Award
Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University industrial design alumna Sophie West is the New Zealand winner of the James Dyson Award for her product designed to make cleaning menstrual cups easier.
All four of student’s projects selected as Best Design Awards finalists
Industrial design student Toby McGuffie has been named as a finalist in the 2026 Best Design Awards for four of the projects he completed during his time at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University.
Massey design alumna takes out top prize at WOW
Seventeen years of creativity, experimentation and determination have led to design alumna Kayla Christensen taking out the Supreme Award at this year’s World of WearableArt (WOW) show.
Contact the College of Creative Arts
College of Creative Arts – Wellington campus
- creative@massey.ac.nz
- Phone
- Location
Physical address
Block 1
Te Whare Pukākā
Mount Cook
Wellington 6021Use our Wellington campus maps or find us on Google Maps.
Looking for a staff member? Visit our staff directory or use Expertise search.