Creative New Zealand is now accepting applications for the first round of 2011 grants. Its contestable funding guide on how to apply is now available online from the Creative New Zealand website. Pacific language translations of the funding guide information are available. Creative New Zealand will be funding the following Pacific priorities:
- Projects that preserve, develop and transmit, Pasifika heritage art forms.
- Projects that develop New Zealand Pasifika artists and contemporary arts practices.
Applications to the Quick Response Grants close this Friday 4th February (6 week decision for projects up to $7,500)
Applications to the Arts Grants also close on Friday 4th March (12 week decision for projects up to $65,000).
For further details visit www.creativenz.govt.nz or contact; Makerita Urale, Senior Programmes Adviser, Pacific Arts: makerita.urale@creativenz.govt.nz, Ph (04) 473 0880.
Solkrush Entertainment is proud to present ‘Lost Coast Sound’. The live concert features popular artists Fiji, Kiwini, Laga Savea, Siaosi with Hot Rain and special guest Alo Key.
- HAMILTON: Thursday 3rd February 2011 – Altitude Bar.
- WELLINGTON: Friday 4th February – The Front Room.
- AUCKLAND: Saturday 5th Feb – Club 4:20.
Early bird tickets are on sale now. The event is sponsored by Niu FM.
Organised by the Pacific Music Awards Trust, the S3 Pacific Music Awards will be held on Saturday 28 May 2011. Entries are now open and nominations are due by Monday 21 February 2011 for the following categories:
- Best Pacific Group
- Best Pacific Gospel Album
- Best Pacific Urban Artist
- Best Female Artist
- Best Pacific Male Artist
- Best Pacific Song
- Best Pacific Album (NZ Music Award category
- Recognition & Promotion of Pacific Language
For the entry form and terms and conditions, go to www.pacificmusicawards.org.nz. For any queries, contact Petrina George on email: info@pacificmusicawards.org.nz, or phone (09) 6234717, mobile 0272451898.
Creative New Zealand and the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies are celebrating the 15 anniversary of the Pacific Artist residency at the University of Canterbury. Applications for the residency award are now invited from established traditional or contemporary Pacific Artists in the fields of textiles, ceramics, painting, sculpture and the literary and performing arts. The residency was established in 1996 and aims to provide artists with an opportunity to develop new directions in their artistic practice. It also aims to support and promote the development of indigenous Pacific art in New Zealand. To provide the recipient with the time, space and facilities to develop their artistic practice in an academic environment, the award is tenable for a period of three months. The award is worth $15,000. The Artist will be required to reside in Christchurch for the duration of the scholarship and will be expected to contribute to the Macmillan Brown Seminar series and other activities. Past recipients of the residency include Tusiata Avia (2005), Sheyne Tuffery (2006), Johnny Penisula (2007), John Ioane (2008) and Kulimoe’anga (Stone) Maka (2009). This year’s recipient was Christchurch-based actress, musician, song-writer, playwright and manager of Pacific Underground, Tanya Muagututi’a. Applications close on 28 January 2011. For more information, contact Moana Matthes at moana.matthes@canterbury.ac.nz, ph (64-3) 36402957 or visit: http://www.pacs.canterbury.ac.nz/for/artists.shtml. (9 Heavens, 2008, John Ioane. Image courtesy of Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies)
In time for the coming summer, Christchurch-based music and performing arts group Pacific Underground has serves up a new CD: Island Summer. Directed by Pos Mavaega with lead vocals from Tanya Muagututi’a and crew, the album produces music that combines original songs and the traditional music of Samoa. Island Summer is the second album for Pos, the first being the ground-breaking CD Landmark in 1999, a compilation album by Anton Carter that has the very first recordings of Scribe, the Naked Samoans and Christchurch Hip Hop pioneers Beats ‘n’ Pieces. Since its beginnings in 1993, Pacific Underground has became well known for producing plays such as Fresh Off The Boat by Oscar Kightley and Simon Small (1993-1995), Sons by Victor Rodger (1995), and Dawn Raids by Oscar Kightley (1997-1998). The latest comedy Angels by Tanya Muagututi’a and Joy Vaele was staged earlier this year. Pacific Underground has also been the force behind Christchurch’s ten Pacific Arts festivals (2001-2010). For email orders of Island Summer, write to islandsummer@gmail.com ($30.00).
The Prime Minister’s Pacific Youth Weta Workshop Award for Creativity has gone to Auckland-born and Samoa-raised Samuelu Siilata. He received the award last Friday, 19 November 2010, at a ceremony in Auckland to honour high-achieving Pacific youth. Samuelu’s creativity encompasses poetry, music, dance, painting, carving, costume, design, screenwriting and more. But his real passion is film. Speaking about his award, Samuelu said “as soon as I heard about The Prime Minister’s Pacific Youth Award for Creativity and the opportunity to work at Weta, with a paid internship, I knew this was an opportunity of a lifetime. When I found out I was one of the finalists I was just blown away – the interview was conducted by Weta creators and directors, Andrew Taylor and Tania Rodger. They gave me a full tour of all the studios – it was just an amazing experience.” Samuelu loves ancient history and culture and says he wants to bring those worlds back to life through the cinematic screen: “I believe that cinema audiences are looking for novelty – you see the effects of indigenous culture in huge blockbuster films like Avatar. My goal is to tell the stories that have not been told – Polynesian stories. I want to show and share these worlds which no one has ever seen before, worlds that, say, the first European explorers such as James Cook saw them. I think that would be amazing.” In offering advice to arts graduates, Samuelu said, “there are a lot of expectations about getting a job when you’ve finished a degree – but it’s important not to lose heart. I believe there’s a season for everything so this year has been a good year to take stock.” For more on this story, visit the Auckland University website.
The contribution of Pacific artists was celebrated last Monday at the Creative New Zealand Arts Pasifika Awards 2010 in Wellington. Five awards were given in recognition, as Pacific Arts Committee chair Pele Walker explained, of “those artists working to preserve the traditions of our homelands … to those … who are forging new paths with new technologies”. The five awards and their recipients were Emerging Pacific Artist’s award ($4000): Tongan carver Visesio Siasau; the Iosefa Enari memorial award ($4000): Samoan tenor Pene Junior Pati; the Pacific heritage arts award ($5000): O Mata! Tokelauan Dance Group. The Contemporary Pacific artist’s award ($5000) was presented to Michael Tuffery, in recognition of his career and contribution in bringing a New Zealand-born Pacific experience to contemporary New Zealand. The Senior Pacific Artist’s award ($10,000) was won by Samoan weaver Misa Emma Kesha. Walker said the awards were a time to reflect on the collective cultural wealth of Pacific artists living in New Zealand. The awards, established in 1996 by Creative New Zealand, are intended to encourage and celebrate excellence in Pacific arts and are the only national awards that recognise Pasifika artists across a range of art forms. To read more about this story, see the article in Spasifik Magazine. (Image of Michel Tuffery and Visesio Siasau (left) adapted from the Creative New Zealand website)
A paid internship at world-renowned WETA Workshops, tuition fees at Auckland University or an overseas trip are still up for grabs for three outstanding young Pacific people – but they need to act fast as time to apply is nearly up. The offers are open to winners of the inaugural Prime Minister’s Pacific Youth Awards, announced last month and open for nominations until 11 October. The awards are being administered by the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, although selection is by an independent panel. “We know that there are many fabulous young leaders out there in our Pacific communities – we would really like to see as many of them as possible take advantage of this opportunity,” Ministry chief executive Dr Colin Tukuitonga says. The awards are in three categories: Creativity, sponsored by WETA Workshops, Inspiration, sponsored by globally successful software company COGITA and Leadership, sponsored by top tertiary institution the University of Auckland. Nominees need to be 17-24, of Pacific descent with New Zealand residency, and able to demonstrate community involvement, integrity, and success in one of the three award categories. The closing date for nominations is 11 October, and winners will be announced 19 November. All information, including entry forms and details of the awards, can be found at www.pacificyouthawards.org.nz.
On the cusp of a new decade, a group of senior-level art students demonstrate what it means to create art in an environment no longer bound by rigid geographical notions of place. A large-scale multimedia exhibition opening at St Paul Street Gallery in on 9 September and running until the 24th, Make/Shift will present the viewer with the exciting array of art that is being produced by Auckland’s Pacific innovators throughout the city’s five tertiary institutions. Curator Nina Tonga says that owing to globalisation, the Pacific identity has become increasingly interconnected across traditional geographical boundaries, and these artists’ work provides an insight into art-making practices in a ‘post-colonial, post-migration, post-facebook world’. The line-up features Luke Willis Thompson, Mele ’Uhamaka, Ane Tonga, Tony Tia, Caroline Cotter, Victoria Patea, Vaimoana Eves, Selina Woulfe, Chloe Marsters and Nastashia Simeona. Make/shift is organised by the Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust and opens at 5.30pm on 9 September with a special guest performance by Black Grace. Artists and curator will walk and talk about their work at 2pm on 18 September.
Niu Pasifik is an exhibition of contemporary art from New Zealand and the Pacific Rim from the personal collection of curator and educator Giles Peterson. It features multi-media work including graph art, painting, drawing, animation, hip hop music video, sculpture, photography, installation, embroidery textile and street fashion. The exhibition is in its final days and closes this Sunday, 5 September, 2010 at the Mount Marua Gallery in Upper Hutt, Wellington. (Image adapted from the Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre website)
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