LOUISE EVANS
Director

Louise was raised in Hokianga but now calls Tāmaki Makaurau home. Born into a strong community that fostered young people and their creative ambitions, she started off with organising ceilidhs, concerts and exhibitions in her hometown of Kohukohu, before moving to Auckland in 2006. From there she has worked for a number of organisations, including The Depot Artspace, The Stringed Instrument Company, Auckland Arts Festival, Circability, NZ Barok Orchestra, The Outlook For Someday, and For The Love of Bees.

Since 2016 she’s been a parent and therefore moved very much into the local community space, becoming a active Playcentre parent and revising her ideas about creativity, urbanism and community connection – with a whanau and accessibility lens.

Since 2022 she has been contracted to the Albert-Eden local board, and now Puketāpapa local board, to deliver community development work, and so Common Folk was formed.

In terms of folk music, she’s been playing fiddle since the age of seven. A bit of a fiddle polymath, her infinite curiosity for traditional fiddle styles has taken her around the world to learn fiddle styles, and to performing throughout Aotearoa. She’s currently the fiddler for Hot Diggity, an all female bluegrass band, and plays regularly in Celtic sessions in Auckland, organising the Nix Session.

She ventured into event organisation in the late 2000s, running a small folk music touring agency for international artists. She then went on to found the Folk in the Park events in Devonport, and produce the city-wide Folk Fortnight in 2014. She was trustee and programming committee member for Gaidhealtachd NZ, New Zealand’s pan-Celtic summer school, from 2016 – 2023.

CIARA DOELMAN
Communications
Coordinator

Ciara came to Tāmaki Makaurau in 2016 to complete her BFA(Hons) and BA in psychology, then stuck around when she realised how much the city feels like home.

Intrigued by the idea of art as a connection point within communities, she loves hosting art workshops and taking on unique commissions. She volunteered with Samoa House Library as a library minder, was an artist for Aum New Years Festival, and collaborated with The Charlotte Museum in creating a set of sapphic playing cards.

Aotearoa’s folk scene was uncharted territory for her until just a couple of years ago, when she was chuffed to stumble upon this space bursting with talented musicians whose tunes strengthen bonds between people. She’s enjoying the journey of discovering where her art goes when inspired by a philosophy that feels distinctly different from what she absorbed in art school.

Ciara spends the rest of her hours around words – a copywriter by day and ecological fantasy writer by night, when she’s not glued to a book.

HANNA WISKARI-GRIFFITHS
Folk Promotions Coordinator

Meet Hanna, originally from Sweden, based in Tāmaki Makaurau since 2016.

For the past 20 years Hanna has worked as a freelance musician and educator and has been involved in numerous bands and projects, both in Sweden and here in Aotearoa. Firmly rooted in Scandinavian traditional music, she is a musician driven by curiosity to branch out and find new ways to explore and express. Passionate about sounds from around the world and human connections through the arts, Hanna’s main source of inspiration is her strong belief in the power of music as a tool to support positive connections and changes, both within ourselves and with others.

For the last 15 years, she has worked as an Artistic mentor for the worldwide movement Ethno, an intercultural project for young adult musicians from around the globe. When Hanna moved to Aotearoa New Zealand she decided to start Ethno here as well, becoming the co-founders and the musical director of Ethno New Zealand as well as Arts Connections Oceania.

When Hanna isn’t playing her saxophone or teaching through Tironui Music Trust or her private students, you may find her in action as the Concert Manager for Chamber Music New Zealand or facilitating Transglobal Music Sessions