Have you heard about Gizzy’s first ever ESCAPE ROOM? It opened to the public during Youth Week this Saturday 7th May 2022. If you’ve somehow missed the escape room hype, an escape room is a themed room that you are ‘locked into’ and you have one hour to solve a series of clues and ‘escape’. Challenging, team building fun for you and your whānau, friends, colleagues and neighbors.
Next Gen Escapes is bringing some well needed joy and entertainment to our community while also supporting rangatahi leaders and entrepreneurs. Profits from the escape room mean that the youth pop up shop (in the front half of the building) is rent-free for rangatahi to build their marketing, product design, customer service, budgeting and financial skills.
Tāiki e Next Gen was established at the beginning of 2021. The rōpū includes rangatahi responsible for organizing night markets, gigs, murals, podcasts, a youth zine, a trip to Wellington’s Festival for the Future, an online night market, an online platform (like Fiverr for youth), pātaka kai (reducing hunger), Pikup (reducing food waste), as well as supporting over 30 independent youth run enterprises.
When rangatahi were asked back in April last year what should be done with the empty shop in Treble Court, the idea of an escape room was put forth and overwhelmingly supported. Rolling their sleeves up, the wider Tāiki e! Impact House whānau embarked on a journey with rangatahi to see the initiative come to life. And it’s been a big one. Cain Kerehoma, of Tāiki e! says “this is for community by community. Too often rangatahi development is siloed in a way that doesn’t allow us to truly recognise the mana and value that rangatahi bring to our community. To me, the escape room stands as a testament to what we can achieve when we work with youth in empowering and meaningful ways.”
Follow @nextgenescapes on social media and @taikienextgen to watch their journey unfold. You can book a session in the Escape Room via nextgenescapes.com