Maori and Pacific Island students who fancy a creative career can have funding support for their education with Champions for Success, the Media Design School’s scholarship programme. Five scholarships will give students $1000 towards their fees in a diploma of digital creativity and the use of an iMac at home for the year. The diploma of digital creativity is a one-year foundation course suitable for school leavers, teaching them graphic design, web design, digital video and 3D animation to provide the skills for higher level diplomas. Applications close on Thursday 28 January 2010 and are available for digital creativity intakes on February 1 and March 15. Interested individuals should contact the Median Design School on (09) 303 0402 or email inquiries@mediadesign.school.nz.
 Reuben Friend’s solo exhibition (K)iwi Notion of a Nation kicks off another exciting year of exhibitions at Fresh Gallery Otara. Reuben Friend is a contemporary K(iwi) artist who describes his works as a bi-cultural amalgamation that utilises Māori and Western forms of abstraction as a metaphor for identity. The exhibition opened last week and runs at the Gallery until 13 February 2010. Fresh Gallery Otara’s January – June 2010 exhibition programme can be found in the current issue of Arts in the City available at libraries, arts, leisure centres and CABs in Manukau City. Content is also downloadable from the Manukau City Council website.
(Haki – Black Union (2009), acrylic on canvas, 1210×1520mm. Private Collection. Image courtesy of Fresh Gallery Otara)
Auckland-based playwright Louise Tu’u is directing Mandragora in the 2010 international “Short + Sweet” festival in Auckland. Mandragora is a stunning work by Australian playwright David Sharpe which has already won several short play awards. It stages at the Herald Theatre in Auckland from Tuesday 26th till Saturday 30th January 2010. “Short + Sweet” is the biggest festival of ten-minute theatre in the world, each year featuring over 150 of the best ten minute plays from local and international writers. Tu’u is the author and director of Le Tauvaga (2004). She was the first New Zealand and Pacific Island playwright to be selected to participate in the 2005 Royal Court International Theatre Residency in London. She has also written and directed a number of short films. Her most most recent play Providence was presented exclusively to the homeless community in central Auckland. Tickets for Mandragora are only $25 from the Edge: www.the-edge.co.nz or 0800 BUY TICKETS.
 Pacific music celebrates its sixth year of presenting its best loved talent to the nation with an updated award catalogue for 2010. Entries are now open for the S3 Pacific Music Awards with an added gong for radio airplay and recognition for the promotion of Pacific languages. Entries close on February 22 and the finalists will be announced on April 21. The awards are to be presented on May 29 at the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre in Manukau. The awards acknowledge the success of Pacific artists in New Zealand and encourage young Pacific musicians to aspire to higher levels of achievement. Awards are being presented in the following categories: Pacific Group, Gospel Album, Urban Artist, Female Artist, Male Artist, Pacific Song, and Pacific Music Album. Four awards are granted for People’s Choice of Best Pacific Artist, Lifetime Achievement, the Phillip Fuemana Award for Most Promising Artist and the Radio Airplay Award. Nominations are not accepted for these awards. The sponsor, S3 (pron. ess-cubed), is a Pacific community initiative dedicated to promoting road safety among young drivers and pedestrians. It aims to reduce the risk, hospitalisation rates and harm that road accidents have on the nation’s Pacific people. For terms and conditions see the redesigned website at www.pacificmusicawards.org.nz.
 In the Māori language the word kāinga is derived from the term ahi kā, which means to keep one’s home fires burning. It is said that if a person loses touch with their roots then these fires are extinguished. Urban Kainga showcases the art of four young male artists who explore the effects of urbanisation on Māori and Pacific communities. Reweti Arapere’s work fuses knowledge of te ao Māori and te reo Māori with influences of street art and hip hop culture. Nick McFarlane considers the evolution of urban gangs as an alternative to traditional tribal groupings. Siliga David Setoga talks about his parents creating a ‘mini-Samoa’ in New Zealand, and explores the influence of mass marketing aimed at Pacific Island communities. Terry Koloamatangi Klavenes addresses the uncertainties Pacific immigrants experience when they come to Aotearoa/New Zealand. His images take us on a photographic journey, introducing us to important people and events which have shaped his identity. Urban Kainga is curated by Reuben Friend and runs from 16 January to 28 March 2010 at the new Deane Gallery, City Gallery Wellington, Civic Square, Wellington. (Image of works by Siliga David Setoga from Fresh Gallery Otara.)
 Island Summers is a Pacific arts exhibition that commemorates a decade of Christchurch’s Pacific Arts Festival. Curated by Stephanie Oberg, the show features a snapshot of art work from the last ten years of the city’s popular festival. Two accompanying exhibitions, “Tiare Maori” and “What-cha Say?” are a reminder that Pacific arts, both traditional and contemporary, continue to flourish in the garden city. The first exhibits the traditional Cook Island art of tivaevae and the relatively new but related art of cotton flower making. The second is an exhibition of talented young Pacific and Maori artists whose work sheds light on what is meaningful for young people today. It includes a video by Browhi productions featuring a local crew of shuffle dancers. Island Summers runs from 12 January to 10 February 2010, at Our City O tautahi, on Worcester St Bridge/ Oxford terrace in Christchurch.
 Samoa-born and Southland-based contemporary artist Chavah Kinloch has had a great start to 2010. Bajidoo Bangle Boutique, based in Orlando, Florida has picked up three of Chavah’s paintings and transformed them into bangles, making her their first featured artist. Chavah submitted her piece titled QueenC to the company and was then asked for permission to use more of her paintings. Four new designs have been created and are to be sold at the largest craft U.S. tradeshow, showcasing to over 10,000 people. In the same week, Chavah was contacted by the organisers of Auckland’s “First Thursdays” show to feature her painting, photography and bangle collections in the 2010 February show. The bangles can be viewed on Chavah’s website www.chavahkinloch.com. For more information contact Chavah Kinloch on 03 216 4652, 027 4909 532, or email chavahkinloch@xtra.co.nz.
(Image courtesy of Chavah Kinloch)
Music personality, Martha Samasoni, says the MuzicHeadz website is a cheap way to get music produced an ideal way for Pacific musicians to get connected with worldwide talent. MuzicHeadz connects young musicians with producers on the site and helps them to purchase equipment for recording at home: “Basically, you can purchase a beat from any of the producers and record your singing over that – using [audio editing programme]. They will also take the guitar ideas you record at home and do all your backing music for you”. Samasoni is a partner in the enterprise alongside founder, Beat Masta Wes, who has worked with several celebrated hit makers including Mary J. Blige, Tatyana Ali, and gospel music legend Andrae Crouch. Samasoni is currently producing two albums with Ritmo Records in the USA. The first album is a collaboration with Ritmo’s CEO, Daniel Mendoza, and the second is a solo.
 Pacific Underground will host the 10th and final annual Pacific Arts Festival in early February 2010. “Ten – Pacific Arts” marks a significant milestone for Pacific Underground, the Christchurch-based performing arts and events collective. Over the past decade, many Pacific artists from NZ, Australia and the Pacific have performed, displayed, demonstrated or created at this festival. Following its mission of supporting emerging Pasifika and Maori artists, Pacific Underground has organised an “all Ages” gig at the Bedford with several headliners including J Williams. The workshops at the Canterbury Museum return as does the Family Day at the Arts Centre on Sat 6 February. The Family Day features local Pacific musicians and dancers as well as the popular Adeaze and Mark Vanilau. Our City O-Tautahi will feature the final art exhibition for the festival curated by Stephanie Oberg. “Island Summers” explores the history of the festival as well as an exhibition of emerging artists.
(Image of Pacific Underground’s Pos Mavaega, from the Christchurch Music Industry Trust – CHART – website)
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