Fresh Horizons brings alumna Sosefina full circle

When Sosefina Masoe-Filo talks about Fresh Horizons, she’s speaking from authentic experience. She knows the benefits firsthand and is now helping with engagement for this year's event.

The programme is a long-running collaboration between Tautai Pacific Arts Trust and Toi Rauwhārangi, Massey University’s College of Creative Arts. It has been connecting Pacific rangatahi with practising artists for more than a decade and returns to Wellington from 9 to 11 June.

For Sosefina, Fresh Horizons helped find her direction in life. “I didn’t know what to do when I was in Year 11 and Year 12,” she recalls.

It was a teacher at her school, Wellington East Girls’ College, who pointed her toward Fresh Horizons.

“My teacher told me to go to this activity that they do at Massey University. And I was like, ‘oh, why not? I’ll go and try it’.”

As part of the programme she decided to take a closer look at fashion and took a workshop led by Lindah Lepou.

That decision set her on a path that would take her through a Bachelor of Design (Hons) in fashion design and back to the programme that first opened the door.

“Without Fresh Horizons, I didn’t know what opportunity I would take.”

Today, Sosefina is the Pacific creative navigator at Massey’s College of Creative Arts and the schools coordinator for Fresh Horizons 2026. She is responsible for helping connect students with the programme and guiding them through it. Her role reflects one of the programme’s core aims: creating visible, accessible pathways for Pacific students into creative industries.

The programme sees students and their aiga receive information packs through schools, outlining the artists involved and the workshops on offer. From there, they choose the creative stream they want to follow across the three days.

“They can pick which one they want to take for the three-day event,” says Sosefina.

“It gives students that exposure to things they may not know are out there. I feel like it’s a great opportunity for Pacific students who are very creative.”

Sosefina says the programme is especially valuable for students who are unsure of their next step. For those students, she says, the programme offers a starting point.

Last year featured interdisciplinary artist Telly Tuita with support from Toi Rauwhārangi academic Israel Randell and singer/songwriter Teremoana Rapley.

This year’s programme has workshops led by Pacific artists working across contemporary and cultural practices.

Niue artists Katrina Iosia and Joy Sipeli-Antipas will guide students through sessions that combine digital technology with heritage-based knowledge.

More than just creative workshops

There is a new partnership element for 2026, where students will visit Te Papa Tongarewa and go behind the scenes with the Pacific curatorial team and engage with both taonga and contemporary collections.

The aim is to broaden students’ understanding of where creative practice can sit, not just in studios, but in institutions, communities and careers.

Belinda Palolo Weepu, director Māori and Pacific pathways at Massey University, says that wider context is critical.

Belinda has been closely involved in shaping the programme over several years through her role. Based within Te Ranga Tai Kura (Massey's Māori and Pacific arts development team), she has helped strengthen the connection between schools, communities and the university, including establishing the Pacific creative navigator role that Sosefina now holds.

That role is designed to provide both pastoral support and practical guidance to help students not only access opportunities but also stay connected to them. It’s part of a wider system that Fresh Horizons feeds into.

Students who take part are encouraged to consider submitting work to Kohara2Shine, a Wellington secondary school exhibition that showcases fashion, textiles, industrial design and visual communication.

The exhibition provides a next step moving students from workshop environments into public creative spaces, reinforcing the idea that their work has value beyond the classroom. The programme has continued to evolve over time, with different artists involved each year and a growing network of connections across the creative sector.

Pathways in practice

For many students, stepping onto a university campus can feel out of reach. Fresh Horizons shifts that dynamic, offering a structured introduction to the environment and the people within it.

Sosefina says students are not just learning skills, they are seeing what those skills can look like in people who share their cultural backgrounds and experiences. She adds that representation is a key part of what makes the programme work.

“Different people come in and always change every year. So it’s a great opportunity for students to see who other artists are.”

That exposure, she says, can be the difference between seeing creativity as a hobby and recognising it as a viable pathway. For students who may not have considered tertiary study or who don’t see people like themselves in creative industries, the programme offers a practical entry point.

By connecting students with working Pacific artists, it provides a clearer picture of what those pathways can look like in practice and the different directions a creative career can take.

While the workshops run for three days, the impact is often longer lasting. For Sosefina herself, Fresh Horizons is more than a programme; it’s proof of what can happen when Pacific students are given early access, support and belief.

Now, she’s helping create that same inspiration for others, helping to open doors they didn’t know were there.

“It was an amazing opportunity – it was like a chance.”

This article was first published in the Education Gazette