In a first for the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, FESTPAC 2020 in Hawai'i will include Ka Hao Te Rangatahi, a youth leadership ambassador programme from NZ. Six rangatahi will accompany the artists who have been named in the NZ delegation by Creative NZ.
Stevie Davis-Tana, 24, is one of the youth ambassadors selected from 43 applicants for the programme and is looking forward to attending what is considered the premier arts and culture event for the pacific region.
"I want to go to FESTPAC to meet, inter-relate and learn about the leaders and other youth within the Pacific," she says.
Davis-Tana is passionate about the creative arts, education, culture and young people. "I'm working for Action Education as a youth worker and spokesperson," she says from her weekend workshop with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa at Umupuia Marae in Maraetai.
In total, 27 projects representing 65 artists were selected and $125,241 awarded to support these initiatives.
Young weaver, Te Atiwei Ririnui who recently attended an arts residency in America is also excited to be attending.
"It's having the opportunity to showcase my mahi in the international stage. I'm still a rangatahi in 'te ao raranga', I mean I've been at it for over 25 years now. Just being given the opportunity is just a huge honour," he says.
Supporting the vision of Creative NZ's new Māori arts strategy, Te Hā o ngā Toi, customary Māori art forms will be complemented with contemporary art forms such as dance, theatre, moving image and visual arts.
Photographer Qiane Matata-Sipu is attending for the first time as an artist.
"Some people tell stories through whakairo, through raranga, through taonga puoro, through tā moko. I just happen to do it with modern equipment and do so through audio and visual", she says from a joint exhibition at the Corban Estate Arts Centre in Henderson.
The Waiōhua, Tainui artist says she is really looking forward to connecting with those traditional practices to see how they can inform the mahi that she does and also to share some of the modern practices with others.
The Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture takes place every four years, bringing together 3,000 delegates and other cultural practitioners from pacific nations. New Zealand has sent a delegation to every festival since 1972.
Matata-Sipu says, "I'm really excited about the theme because it aligns with a lot of the mahi I do which is changing the narratives, owning our own narratives, writing our narratives, taking hold of our own paddles, steering our waka and being who we are, not who we've been told to be."
The delegation also includes waka knowledge and navigation to coincide with the festival's theme, Take Hold of the Steering Paddle.
Representatives of Ngā Tūmanako will also be there, as winners of Te Matatini are invited to be a part of the Aotearoa delegation each festival.
Aotearoa delegation - Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture 2020
Māori artists
Urban Contemporary Street Art (visual arts)
Janine and (Bud) Charles Williams
Ngā Kaihunga Uku: Nga Ahi Ki Roto - The Fires Within (uku – clay artistry)
Baye Riddell
Rhonda Halliday-Inglis
Carla Ruka
Noelle Jakeman
Iwikuamo'o, The Backbone of the Night Sky from Hokupa'a to Māhutonga (visual arts)
Nikau Hindin
Tā Moko ki Hawai'i (tā moko - Māori tattoo)
Derek Lardelli
Anikaaro Harawira
Joni Brooking
Henare Brooking
Tawata Productions - Fire In The Water, Fire In The Sky (theatre)
Miria George
Te Hau Winitana
Mapihi Kelland
Amanda Noblett
Celebrate Atamira (dance)
Jack Gray
Bianca Hyslop
Nancy Wijohn
Sean MacDonald
Matiu Hamuera
E Hinemoana, e Tangaroa | Facing the Rising Tide (literature)
Nadine Hura
Pūrākau (taonga pūoro - traditional Māori musical instruments, karetao Māori - Māori puppetry)
James Webster
Hinemoa Jones
Horomona Horo
Hinewirangi Morgan
Toi Āmai: Papa (theatre)
Juanita Hepi
Tola Newbery
Scotty Cotter
Hina whakamau tai - Hina the tide controller (craft/object)
Moanaroa Zagrobelna
Neke Moa
Te Rehia: SolOthello (theatre)
Amber Curreen
Regan Taylor
Toi Whakaata - Into the light (visual arts)
Jasmine Horton
Vanessa Edwards
Samantha Farquhar
Sis/Tita ... Ngā Tuahine - working title (painting)
Natasha Keating
Bethany Edmunds
Ngā Puu Tapatoru (craft/object)
Rangi Kipa
Hera Johns
Matthew McIntyre Wilson
Haumi E (storytelling)
Te Kahureremoa Taumata
Horomona Horo (also part of the Pūrākau work)
Khali Philip-Barbara
Te Kahupakea Rolleston
Ipukarea| Ihumātao (photography)
Qiane Matata-Sipu
Traditional weaving
Te Atiwei Ririnui
Christina Wirihana
Edna Pahewa
Multimedia work
Amber Bridgman
Kapa Haka
Ngā Tūmanako
Ka Hao Te Rangatahi (Youth Leadership Ambassador) Programme
Māori:
Sonny Ngatai
Stevie Davis-Tana
Maia Abraham
Pasifika:
Etanah Fuimaono-Lalau
Zechariah Soakai
Emily Muli
Pasifika Artists
Contemporary Tatau Practice (visual arts)
Tyla Ta'ufo'ou
Poetry readings from “The Goddess Muscle”
Karlo Mila-Schaaf
Fine Fatale: Geish/Tuiga Hawai'i (dance)
Mario Faumui
Amanaki Prescott-Faletau
Valentino Maliko
Raukawa Tuhura
Petmal Petelo
Peruvian Slave Trade (Black Birding) in Tokelau 1800s (sculpture)
Jack Kirifi
Moses Viliamu
Daughter of a Housegirl (music)
Tere Rapley
Bill Urale
DA-KU SET: Nostalgia_Ultra (graphics)
Alex Aoki
Darelle Teau
E toa lou loto? Do you have the WARRIOR spirit? (poetry)
Daisy Lavea-Timo
Podcasting with D.A.N.C.E. art club (storytelling)
Ahilapalapa Rands
Tuafale Tanoa
Vaimaila Urale