Sep 28, 2026 · @Carolina N
Sample report. This illustrative engagement report is structured as if the Canterbury Refugee Resettlement and Resource Centre (CRRRC) had commissioned Artecture to investigate the inclusion of immigrant women in Ōtautahi Christchurch. It is based on Artecture’s programme Inclusion of Immigrant Women through Brazilian Culture, delivered in partnership with CRRRC in June–July 2023.
Executive summary
Activities chosen by the women themselves built belonging faster than activities chosen for them. Over 10 workshops in June–July 2023, about 30 women from seven communities took part in a programme that used Brazilian culture as a shared starting point.
The programme was deliberately flexible. After early cooking and drumming workshops, the women voted for more dance, so the remaining workshops were redesigned around traditional Brazilian dance. One dance, Samba de Roda do Recôncavo, carries a history of Black women’s resistance to oppression. Its story created a strong sense of identification across participants from very different backgrounds.
Women who began as strangers ended the sessions talking, sharing and supporting one another. We recommend that CRRRC fund programmes that give participants a real vote in their content, and that pair each activity with the cultural story behind it and time to talk.
The brief
CRRRC asked which activities genuinely build belonging for newcomer women, so it knows what to fund and continue.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Client | Canterbury Refugee Resettlement and Resource Centre (CRRRC), Ōtautahi Christchurch |
| Focus | Immigrant and refugee-background women |
| Client’s question | Which activities genuinely build belonging for newcomer women, so we know what to fund and continue? |
| Decision it informs | Which programmes to fund and continue |
| Period | June–July 2023 |
Many migrant and refugee-background women face barriers to social connection, confidence and participation, especially early in settlement. Programmes are often designed for women rather than with them, so CRRRC needed evidence of what works from the women’s own experience.
Our approach
The programme was designed as human-centred research: participants shaped its content as it ran, and their choices became evidence.
- Open with a range of options. The first workshops offered different ways in: cooking Brazilian dishes while sharing the story behind each dish, and a drumming workshop led by Ricardo Stuani.
- Let the women decide. Participants voted on which activity they wanted more of. They chose dance.
- Redesign around their choice. The remaining workshops were rebuilt around traditional Brazilian dance, led by dancer Camila Rodriguez.
- Connect each activity to its story. Each dance was introduced through its cultural and historical meaning.
- Close with conversation. Every session ended with tea, cake and open conversation about how the women related to the dance and its story.
All listening was done in person by Artecture. The conversations at the end of each session were where participants explained, in their own words, what the activity meant to them.
Who we heard from
About 30 women took part across 10 workshops. They came from seven communities: African refugee-background women, and Brazilian, Colombian, Chinese, Filipino, Māori and New Zealand women.
The mix of newcomer and local women was central to the programme. It turned the workshops into a meeting point between communities, not a service delivered to one group.
What we asked
We asked through choice and conversation, not a questionnaire.
- Through a vote: which activity do you want more of?
- Through the activity: cooking, drumming and dance invited the women to share their own stories, starting from the story behind each dish or dance.
- Through closing conversations: after each session, how did you relate to the dance and its story? What did it bring up for you?
What we heard
Three themes came through the women’s choices and conversations.
1. Women want a say in what they do. Given a vote, the women chose dance over the other options. The programme followed their choice, and participation deepened once the content was theirs.
2. Shared stories of resistance create identification. Samba de Roda do Recôncavo comes from enslaved Black women in Bahia. They could not speak freely, but on the path to the river to wash clothes, carrying the washing on their heads, they talked and danced. The women recognised their own experiences in this story of oppression and resistance, across very different backgrounds.
3. Informal care turns strangers into a group. Tea, cake and time to talk after each class mattered as much as the class. Women who did not know each other ended sessions hugging, talking and sharing, which showed a clear shift towards belonging, participation and engagement.
What this means
Belonging was built by the combination of choice, story and care, not by any single activity. Dance worked because the women chose it, because it carried a story they could recognise themselves in, and because each session left space to talk.
For CRRRC, the question is less “which activity?” and more “how is the activity run?” A programme that lets participants steer its content, roots each activity in its cultural story, and builds in informal time together is more likely to create belonging than a fixed programme of the same activities.
Recommendations
| Recommendation | Based on |
|---|---|
| Fund programmes with a flexible structure, where participants vote on content as the programme runs | Theme 1: women want a say |
| Introduce every activity through its cultural and historical story, and invite participants to share their own | Theme 2: shared stories create identification |
| Budget time and simple hospitality (tea, food) at the end of every session for open conversation | Theme 3: informal care builds a group |
| Mix newcomer and local women in the same sessions, so programmes connect communities rather than serve one group | Participant mix across seven communities |
| Record participants’ choices and closing conversations as evidence, so future funding decisions rest on what women actually valued | The vote and conversations were the programme’s strongest evidence |
Consent and closing the loop
Participants gave permission for the programme to be documented when it was organised. The closing conversation at the end of each session worked as a continuous feedback loop: the women heard back how the programme was changing in response to their choices, and saw it change.
Team and partners
- Carolina Nery, Artecture: research design, coordination and facilitation
- Camila Rodriguez: dance workshops
- Ricardo Stuani: drumming workshop
- Canterbury Refugee Resettlement and Resource Centre: programme partner