WORD Community Guidelines

WORD is all about bringing communities together through a love of words in all their forms. By engaging with WORD either online or in person, you’re a part of the WORD Christchurch community. Welcome!

We develop and present events, programmes and projects about books, storytelling and ideas that excite, inform, entertain and inspire.

Our values guide how we work, and how we engage with our people, partners and communities. As an overarching principle, WORD Christchurch is committed to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the impact and relevance of the bicultural relationship between Māori and tauiwi. We are dedicated to reflecting and contributing to the vibrant multicultural society of Ōtautahi Christchurch, Waitaha Canterbury and Aotearoa New Zealand. We strive to embed principles of partnership, inclusion and cultural respect in all we do.

We value: 

Hononga: Profound and Meaningful Relationships

We foster meaningful connections and community collaboration, from the audience experience to organisational partnerships. Our programming is designed to connect ideas,art forms, writers, artists and audiences.

Manaakitanga: Generosity and Care

We create an environment where people feel welcomed, supported and enabled to thrive whether they are an artist, audience member, staff, volunteer, or partner. We hold space for others with respect, humility, kindness and authenticity. 

Māia: Boldness and Bravery

Being bold means being smart, innovative and resourceful in all we do. We push creative and conceptual boundaries, take initiative, testing new ideas and developing new possibilities for our writers, artists, audiences and supporters. We lead cultural conversations in our rohe and our nation.

To uphold our values, it’s important that all members feel safe and supported. To help everyone have the best possible experience, please take a look at our community guidelines:

• People from all walks of life should feel welcome at WORD, both online and in person
• Treat others as you would treat them in real life
• Be polite and communicate with respect
• Respect the privacy of other community members
• Contact us directly with feedback at admin@wordchristchurch.co.nz
• Don’t post explicit, rude or aggressive content online
• No discrimination or harassment: heckling, personal attacks, trolling and abuse will not be tolerated 
• Don’t share personal or private information of other people
• Don’t post irrelevant messages online
• Don’t post promotional content that isn’t related to what WORD is about.

In the event of someone violating these guidelines, we will take action to protect other members of the group. This might include a warning or in the event of extreme or repeat behavior, the member may be banned from the community. 

If you experience or witness any behavior that doesn’t follow our community guidelines, please contact us directly at admin@wordchristchurch.co.nz. All reports are kept confidential.