Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture | |
---|---|
Genre | Pacific Islands music and dance |
Dates | Quadrennially |
Location(s) | Oceania; host country varies. Future hosts: 2024: Hawaii . |
Years active | Since 1972; see table below |
Website | Festival history, Current festival (redirect page) |
The Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, Pacific Arts Festival, or FestPAC is a traveling festival hosted every four years, in the same year as the Summer Olympics, by a different country in Oceania (map). It was conceived by the Pacific Community (former "Secretariat of the Pacific Community") [1] as a means to stem erosion of traditional cultural practices by sharing and exchanging culture at each festival. The major theme of the festival is traditional song and dance. The 2008 Festival of Pacific Arts was hosted by American Samoa from 20 July to 2 August 2008; it was the 10th Festival of Pacific Arts. [2] [3]
The Pacific Cultural Council (former "Pacific Arts Council" or "Council of Pacific Arts," originally "South Pacific Arts Festival Council") [4] selects the host country and recognizes that each participating country desires the opportunity to showcase its unique indigenous culture by hosting the festival. Host selection is based on principles of equity and preference is given to countries which have not yet hosted. The festival host country pays participants' costs of local travel, accommodation, meals, and other forms of hospitality. Entry to all artistic events is free to the public thereby maximizing cultural outreach and inclusion.
By its vastness, the Pacific Ocean inhibits social and cultural interchange between the inhabitants of its mostly island countries. The festival, not a competition but a cultural exchange, reunites people and reinforces regional identity and mutual appreciation of Pacific-wide culture. Participating countries select artist-delegates to represent the nation at this crossroads of cultures, considered a great honour.
About 2,000 artists attended [5] the 2008 Festival of Pacific Arts from these participating countries: [3] American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Easter Island, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna. [2] Taiwan was allowed to send a delegation of 80 performers and artists, most of whom were Taiwanese aborigines, to the Festival of Pacific Arts for the first time in 2008. [6]
Doreen Kuper was the Chair of the Festival of Pacific Arts that was held in Honiara in 2012. [7] [8] [9] [10] The festival attracted an audience of 200,000 people, with 3,000 performers from twenty-four countries taking part. [11] During her time as Chair, Kuper led calls for the repatriation of art and artefacts to the Solomon Islands from non-Pacific countries. [12]
Iteration | Year | Dates | Location | Theme and notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 1972 [13] | 6 May-20 May | Suva, Fiji | "Preserving culture" |
2nd | 1976 [14] | 6 March-13 March | Rotorua, New Zealand | "Sharing culture" |
3rd | 1980 [15] | 30 June-12 July | Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea | "Pacific awareness" |
4th | 1985 [16] | 29 June-15 July | Tahiti, French Polynesia | "My Pacific" |
5th | 1988 [17] | 14 August-24 August | Townsville, Australia | "Cultural interchange" In this year, Aboriginal Australian playwright and screenwriter Bob Merritt was chair. [18] |
6th | 1992 [19] | 16 October-27 October | Rarotonga, Cook Islands | "Seafaring heritage" [20] |
7th | 1996 [21] | 8 September-23 September | Apia, Samoa | "Tala Measina" |
8th | 2000 [22] | 23 October-3 November | Nouméa, New Caledonia | "Words of past, present, future" [23] |
9th | 2004 [24] | 22 July-31 July | Koror, Palau | "Oltobed a Malt – Nurture, Regenerate, Celebrate" [25] |
10th | 2008 [26] | 20 July-2 August | Pago Pago, American Samoa | Su'iga'ula a le Atuvasa: Threading the Oceania 'Ula |
11th | 2012 | 1–14 July | Honiara, Solomon Islands | "Culture in Harmony with Nature" [27] |
12th | 2016 | 22 May-4 June | Hagåtña, Guam | “What We Own, What We Have, What We Share, United Voices of the PACIFIC” ~ “Håfa Iyo-ta, Håfa Guinahå-ta, Håfa Ta Påtte, Dinanña’ Sunidu Siha Giya PASIFIKU” |
13th | 2020 [28] | 10-21 June 2020 | Honolulu, Hawaii, | Not held on grounds of COVID-19 pandemic. |
2024 | 06–16 June 2024 | "Hoʻoulu Lāhui: Regenerating Oceania" |
Oceania is a geographical region comprising Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Australia is regarded as an island or a continental landmass contained inside of the larger continent of Oceania. Spanning the Eastern and Western hemispheres, at the center of the water hemisphere, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of about 9,000,000 square kilometres (3,500,000 sq mi) and a population of around 44.4 million as of 2022. When compared to the other continents, Oceania is the smallest in land area and the second-least populated after Antarctica.
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ; two smaller, inhabited islands ; and several smaller, uninhabited islands, including the Aleipata Islands. Samoa is located 64 km (40 mi) west of American Samoa, 889 km (552 mi) northeast of Tonga, 1,152 km (716 mi) northeast of Fiji, 483 km (300 mi) east of Wallis and Futuna, 1,151 km (715 mi) southeast of Tuvalu, 519 km (322 mi) south of Tokelau, 4,190 km (2,600 mi) southwest of Hawaii, and 610 km (380 mi) northwest of Niue. The capital and largest city is Apia. The Lapita people discovered and settled the Samoan Islands around 3,500 years ago. They developed a Samoan language and Samoan cultural identity.
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The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum (SPF), and changed its name in 1999 to "Pacific Islands Forum", so as to be more inclusive of the Forum's Oceania-spanning membership of both north and south Pacific island countries, including Australia. It is a United Nations General Assembly observer.
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