Pasifika Festival

Last updated

Dancers at the Cook Islands stage, 2010 Cook Island dancers at Auckland's Pacifica festival.jpg
Dancers at the Cook Islands stage, 2010

The Pasifika Festival is a Pacific Islands-themed festival held annually in Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand. Celebrated since 1993, it is the largest festival of its type in the world and attracts over 200,000 visitors every year. [1]

Contents

The event is owned and hosted by Auckland Council.

The festival presents a wide variety of cultural experiences, including traditional cuisine and performances from Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Tahiti, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Kiribati and the Tangata Whenua (New Zealand Māori).

History

Beginnings

The original driving force behind the festival was a secretary of the South Pacific Forum, Roy Vaughan. His idea to create an event to celebrate the cultures of the South Pacific came to realisation in February 1991 when he showed his proposal to several high-ranking officials of South Pacific nations: Cook Islands Consul General Bill Te Ariki, Papua New Guinea Consul General Alister Martin and others. [2] Initially the festival was supposed to take place in Central Auckland. [3] The newly formed South Pacific Island Nation Development Agency accumulated feedback from the community and changed the location to Western Springs a week and a half before the event; [4] Western Springs was supported by the mayor, Les Mills, and the City Council. [5]

The first Pasifika Festival was held 6-12 March 1993; its community day was visited by 30,000 people. [6] The scope of the festival broadened at the very first event as several Micronesian and Melanesian groups chose to participate. [7] Despite some initial scepticism and remarks on lack of representation in an evaluation report delivered by Nancy Sheehan, overall it was successful. [8] The festival was awarded the Creative New Zealand Creative Places Award next year. [9]

Annual events were held for the first four years without significant change. In 1997, after a reorganisation, Auckland City Council encapsulated[ clarification needed ] the Pasifika committee and the support from the South Pacific Island Nation Development Agency became redundant. [10] After that, the new event coordinator Pitsch Leiser worked towards making the festival sustainable during the two years he was involved with it. [11] From that time onwards visitor numbers started to grow rapidly. [12]

The mid-years

Niuean dancers at the Pasifika Festival (2002). Niuean dancing.jpg
Niuean dancers at the Pasifika Festival (2002).

The Pasifika 1999 was the first Pasifika festival with a large company sponsorship. Although the involvement of KFC as the main sponsor was deemed highly controversial, it helped to increase the budget and attracted other major sponsors to the consequential events. [13] The other important development of that year was the concept of 'national villages' that were presenting culturally appropriate items and performances. [14]

After the event Leiser stepped down from the coordinator role. The new coordinator, Michelle Khan, re-established communication with the communities, raised the stallholder's fees and worked on improving and increasing the role of villages that were mainly just market stalls while the performances mainly occurred at the main stages. [15] The organisers started to express their concerns to the performing groups if they felt that the performance quality was lacking, advising them to gain more experience at smaller local festivals. [16]

The Pasifika Festival 2000 was attended by close to 100,000 people. [17] The 2001 festival was awarded with the Creative New Zealand Creative Places Award. [18]

The 2002 festival was jointly organised by Mere Lomaloma Elliot and a non-Pacific event manager, but it was deemed unsuccessful due to the lack of mutual understanding between them. [19] Elliot was appointed the festival's director in 2003 and held that position until 2006. [20] The position of the full-time festival administration was vacated in 2004 and filled by Rebecca Knox, who in 2006 initiated splitting of the director position into 2: the operations manager (Knox) and the strategic/relationships festival director (Ole Maiava, an artist and an event manager who was earlier involved in the Tu Fa'atasi festival and the Creekfest). [21]

2010s onwards

Dancer on the Tuvalu stage, 2011 Pasifika festival Dancer, Tuvalu stage, 2011 Pasifika festival.jpg
Dancer on the Tuvalu stage, 2011 Pasifika festival

Maiava reworked the compensations model for the participants. The auditioning process was streamlined by Tanya Muagututi’a who also established a workshop for emerging artists. [22] Around that time the preparations started taking the whole year, and many staff members do it as a full-time job. [23] After the 2010 festival Pasifika was moved under the Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development jurisdiction. [24]

The question of Māori exclusion bothered many people, but the organisers could not immediately find a solution that would be appropriate for all parties involved. [25]

The 2012 festival was only two days long, and its length is limited to 2 to 3 days as of 2019. [26]

Pasifika Festival 2014 had 11 unique villages showcasing the cultures of 11 Pacific Island nations: Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawaii, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, Tokelau, Tuvalu and Aotearoa. [27] The 11th Hawaiian village was added that year. [28]

In 2015, the festival was moved temporarily to Hayman Park in Manukau after the discovery of Queensland fruit flies in the Grey Lynn area near Western Springs. [29]

In 2016, it moved back to Western Springs. [30]

In 2019, the festival was cancelled for safety reasons on account of the Christchurch mosque shootings. [31]

In 2020, the festival was again cancelled, because of the Coronavirus Pandemic. [32] It was held in 2021 at Mount Smart Stadium.

Notable people

See also

Related Research Articles

Pacific Islander Person from the Pacific Islands

Pacific Islanders, Pacificer, Pasifika, or Pasefika, are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Oceania.

Michael "Michel" Cliff Tuffery is a New Zealand artist of Samoan, Tahitian and Cook Islands descent. He is one of New Zealand's most well known artists and his work is held in many art collections in New Zealand and around the world.

Tusiata Avia New Zealand poet and childrens author

Donna Tusiata Avia is a New Zealand poet and children's author.

Karlo Mila New Zealand poet

Karlo Estelle Mila is a New Zealand writer and poet of Tongan, Pālagi and Samoan descent. Her first collection, Dream Fish Floating, received the NZSA Jessie Mackay Award for Best First Book of Poetry in 2006 at the Montana New Zealand Book Awards. She has subsequently published two further poetry collections, A Well Written Body (2008) and Goddess Muscle (2020), the latter of which was longlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry.

Pacific Music Awards

The Pacific Music Awards are an annual New Zealand music award ceremony since 2005 that honours excellence in Pacific music in New Zealand. The awards honour musicians who primarily work in the Pacific Island style of music from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Tokelau or Tuvalu, and also in urban and gospel genre categories.

Pacific Media Network Radio station

The Pacific Media Network is a New Zealand radio network and pan-Pasifika national broadcasting network, currently owned and operated by the National Pacific Radio Trust and partly funded by the Government. It includes the PMN 531 radio network, PMN News and Auckland-only broadcast station PMN NIU combined are accessible to an estimated 92 percent of the country's Pacific population. The network targets both first-generation Pacific migrants and New Zealand-born people with Pacific heritage. As of 2009, it was the only specifically pan-Pacific broadcaster in New Zealand.

Fa'anānā Efeso Collins is a New Zealand politician who is an Auckland Councillor of Samoan and Tokelauan descent. Collins carries the Samoan matai title of Fa’anana from the village of Satufia, Satupaitea, Savai'i.

Courtney Sina Meredith is a poet, playwright, and short story author from New Zealand.

Nina Nawalowalo New Zealand theatre director

Nina Nawalowalo is a New Zealand theatre director and co-founder of the contemporary Pacific theatre company The Conch.

Moana Pasifika Rugby union team from various Pacific island nations

Moana Pasifika is a rugby union team made up of players from various Pacific island nations as well as New Zealand or Australian born players of Pasifika heritage, including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands.

Phylesha Brown-Acton New Zealand activist

Phylesha Brown-Acton is a Niuean fakafifine LGBTQ+ rights activist. In 2019 she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her work with LGBTQ+ communities from Pacific countries.

<i>Gaualofa</i>

Gaualofa is a reconstruction of a va'a-tele, a double-hulled Polynesian voyaging canoe. It was built in 2009 by the Okeanos Foundation for the Sea. It was given to the Samoa Voyaging Society in 2012, on the occasion of Samoa's 50th anniversary of independence. It is used to teach polynesian navigation.

Joana Monolagi is a Fijian artist and masi weaver, whose work is in the collection of Auckland Art Gallery. She was awarded the Creative NZ Pacific Heritage Art Award in 2015, recognising her work in supporting art and culture, her role as Fijian coordinator for the Pasifika Festival, and her own unique artistic practice.

FAFSWAG Arts collective

FAFSWAG is an arts collective of Māori and Pacific LGBTQI+ artists and activists founded in Auckland, New Zealand in 2013. They explore and celebrate the unique identity of gender fluid Pacific people and LGBTQI+ communities in multi-disciplinary art forms. In 2020 FAFSWAG was awarded an Arts Laureate from the New Zealand Arts Foundation, and they also represented New Zealand at the Biennale of Sydney.

Cynthia Ta'ala is a sportswoman who has played rugby league for the New Zealand women's national rugby league team and has captained the Samoa women's national rugby union team, of which she is now its assistant coach. She has also played for the New Zealand women's national basketball team.

Kulimoe'anga Stone Maka, is an interdisciplinary artist of Tongan heritage who lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2011, he was awarded the Emerging Pasifika Artist Award from Creative New Zealand. Maka's work has been exhibited in museums and art galleries in New Zealand, Hawai'i Australia and Tonga. In 2020 he was selected to represent New Zealand at the 22nd Biennale in Sydney.

Andy Leleisi’uao is a New Zealand artist of Samoan heritage known for his modern and post-modern Pacific paintings and art. He was paramount winner at the 26th annual Wallace Art Awards in 2017 and awarded a Senior Pacific Artist Award at the Arts Pasifika Awards in 2021.

Pacifica Mamas Arts collective in Auckland, New Zealand

The Pacifica Mamas Arts and Cultural Trust is an arts collective based in Auckland, New Zealand, with the mission to pass on traditional Pacific arts.

Amanaki Prescott-Faletau

Amanaki Lelei Prescott-Faletau is an actor, writer, dancer, choreographer, producer and director of Tongan descent, living in New Zealand. As a playwright, she became the first fakaleitī to have her work published in New Zealand with Inky Pinky Ponky. This play was awarded Best Teenage Script (2015) by New Zealand Playmarket. As an actor, she was awarded best performance at the 2015 Auckland Fringe Festival for Victor Rodger's Girl on the Corner. Her acting credits include The Breaker Upperers (2018), SIS (2020), The Panthers (2021), The Pact (2021) and Sui Generis (2022), in which she is also a writer for the TV series. Faletau competed as a dancer in the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in 2011 and has been a judge at the National Hip Hop Championships in New Zealand over several years.

Pasifika New Zealanders Ethnic group in New Zealand

Pasifika New Zealanders are a pan-ethnic group of New Zealanders associated with, and descended from, the indigenous peoples of the Polynesian islands outside of New Zealand itself. They form the fourth-largest ethnic grouping in the country, after Asian New Zealanders, indigenous Māori, and European-descended Pākehā. There are over 380,000 Pasifika people in New Zealand, with the majority living in Auckland. 8% of the population of New Zealand identifies as being of Pacific origin.

References

  1. ↑ Tapaleao, Vaimoana (8 March 2008). "Thousands attend Pasifika". The New Zealand Herald . Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  2. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 71
  3. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 101
  4. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 101
  5. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 72
  6. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 73
  7. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 73
  8. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 74-75
  9. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 82
  10. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 77
  11. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 78
  12. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 78
  13. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 78-79
  14. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 79
  15. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 80-81
  16. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 82
  17. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 81
  18. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 82
  19. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 82
  20. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 82
  21. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 84-85
  22. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 86-87
  23. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 89
  24. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 90
  25. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 87-88
  26. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 90
  27. ↑ Pasifika Festival 2014 website | http://pasifika.aucklandnz.com/pasifika
  28. ↑ Mackley-Crump (2015). p. 90
  29. ↑ "Fruit fly war: Pasifika festival forced to move". The New Zealand Herald . 25 February 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  30. ↑ Pasifika to go back to Western Springs | https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/manukau-courier/70368809/pasifika-to-go-back-to-western-springs
  31. ↑ RNZ – https://www.rnz.co.nz/. "Auckland's Pasifika Festival cancelled". RNZ. Retrieved 13 March 2020.{{cite web}}: External link in |author= (help)
  32. ↑ RNZ – https://www.rnz.co.nz/. "Auckland Mayor Phil Goff on Covid-19's implications for the city". RNZ. Retrieved 13 March 2020.{{cite web}}: External link in |author= (help)
  33. ↑ "About - The Veiqia Project". 5 October 2021. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  34. ↑ "Fiji Village Co-ordinator | Aucklandnz.com". 5 October 2021. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.