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The Sleepout Project is a kaupapa Māori creative research and development company dedicated to experimentation, collaboration, and community-led knowledge creation.
Inspired by the concept of the sleepout as a space apart from the main house, we create room for new ideas to emerge, evolve, and grow. Through creative research, digital engagement, and collaborative practice, we support individuals, communities, and partners to explore possibilities, develop capabilities, and realise meaningful outcomes.
Operating on the periphery allows us to think differently, test new approaches, and foster innovation in ways that strengthen cultural, social, and economic wellbeing.
The Sleepout Project is a platform for inquiry, creativity, and transformation, nurturing ideas and supporting the people who bring them to life.
Nau Mai.
Founder, Director and Lead Researcher: Dr Zena Elliott (Ngāi Awa)
Co-Founder, Co-Director and Communications: Tia Barrett (Ngāi Tahu, Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto)
Image: Barrett, T. (2021). Uku whakairo and hue workshop outcomes [Workshop Facilitated by Dr Zena Elliott].
The Sleepout Project has aligned its values with Māori atua, whose stories, attributes, and teachings provide a framework for our work and reflect who we are as a kaupapa Māori organisation.
Our Values
Mahuika: Magic, the Innovation reactor core.
Indigenous knowledge as a capacitor of new methods and new technologies
Hine-nui-te-pō: Courage, Brazen Theory.
Dynamic expanding holding bays challenging existing systems
Maui: Game Changer, Disruptive R&D
World building, new paradigms, new prototypes, different ways of knowing
Tāne Mahuta: Wonder, Curiosity-driven research
Investigative, unearthing, creative excavation