There's barely a VIP that visits the region that doesn't stop by Toihoukura's Maia Gallery. It has become a true showcase of all that is good about Gisborne and the wider Tairawhiti region. It's a hub for artists to exhibit, create and share – in so many ways.

It is places like this that are slowly changing the perception of artistry, and gently rearranging the community hierarchical pyramid to what it used to be in centuries gone by.Until the 1860s Tairawhiti was very much the area where other iwi came to be educated in everything – from oral histories to ta moko. There was a time when that fell out of favour but now, that is changing. Toihoukura is the contemporary face of that tradition.

The Maia Gallery – named for the ancestor – functions as a marae where they hold, among others, weaving, clay, painting and ta moko wananga, and students sleep where they learn - these are most often the Tairawhiti Polytecnic students studying one of Toihoukura's six programmes - list - however Maia Gallery also open their doors to other students.