Manukau’s much-anticipated new arts facility, Mangere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku, will officially open on Friday 3 September 2010. The opening will be followed by a full weekend of celebrations, with more than 40 performances featuring over 300 performers. The centre’s theatre and courtyard will be packed with activity including dance, music, comedy and poetry by acts including Kila Kokonut Krew, Tony T Band, Grace Ikenasio, Moana Ete, MBrace Pacific Dance, Anonymouz, Manukau City Concert Band and many more. The inaugural exhibition in the gallery Manu Toi: Artists and Messengers (curated by Nigel Borell) will also be open for viewing. The exhibition features an impressive line-up artists with a connection to the Mangere area, working in a range of disciplines including photography, installation art, moving image and more. For a full schedule of the opening weekend, go to www.manukau.govt.nz/mangereartscentre.
Opening celebration weekend:
When: Saturday 4 September, 10 am – 11 pm
Sunday 5 September, 12 pm – 4 pm
Where: Mangere Arts Centre – Nga Tohu o Uenuku, Corner Bader Drive and Orly Avenue
Mangere
Cost: Free
Pacific artists and critics from around the world are arriving in Rarotonga for the 10th Pacific Arts Association (PAA) International Symposium early next week. The theme for the symposium is “Museums, New Global Communities, and Future Trends”. The purpose of the PAA is to connect individuals and institutions around the world and encourage greater cooperation among those involved with the creation, study and exhibition of Pacific Art. The symposium will take place from 9 – 11 August 2010, at the Crown Beach Resort in Ratotonga.
Creative New Zealand’s third review of its Recurrently Funded Organisations (RFOs) is recommending that two feasibility studies be undertaken in the next year. The first is to look into a management company for dance and theatre companies, including Maori and Pasifika dance and theatre, to provide shared, cost-effective management and audience development services for smaller independent companies. The second study will look at a Pasifika arts development organisation to coordinate and provide capability building for Pasifika artists across a range of arts practice and to develop new audiences for Pasifika arts and artists. The review recommends that work on the feasibility of these initiatives be carried out in 2010–11 so that options can be considered by 2012, when the new multi-year investment programmes have been implemented.
Young artists aged between 15 and 18 years old are urged to participate in Word Up! a free youth event, aiming to support up and coming talent with a focus on hip hop, song writing, poetry, dance and other performing genres. Maori and Pasifika youth are especially encouraged to take part. Event coordinator and award-winning poet, Courtney Meredith, says Word Up! Is a unique opportunity for young artists to perform in front of an audience of peers. Musicians King Kapisi and Teremoana Rapley will be critiquing the performances. “They will be there to give helpful advice,” says Courtney. Would-be performers who are not so confident on stage can attend free songwriting, hip hop, street art, and poetry workshops at Henderson’s Corban Estate on August 14 and 21. The Word Up! contest itself will take place at the estate on 3 September 2010. For more information, call (Auckland) 838-4455 or email wordup@ceac.org.nz. (Image of Courtney Meredith from the Corban Estate Arts Centre website)
Creative New Zealand in association with Pasifika Festival presents ARTSpeak Pasifika – a two-day national fono for the Pacific arts industry. Open to Pasifika artists working in visual arts, performing arts, film and television, music, literature, music and heritage arts, the fono is an opportunity to share ideas and participate in panel discussions designed to provide inspiration and practical advice on making a successful career in the arts. Creative New Zealand’s Anton Carter says “it’s the first time in over 10 years a multi art form fono like this has been organized”. The fono takes place on Friday 25th June and Saturday 26th June 2010 at the Reception Lounge (Level 2) of the Auckland Town Hall, Queen Street, Auckland. Numbers are limited to 150 people and the cost is a flat rate of $30 which includes refreshments on both days. A limited number of travel subsidies are available to assist participants from outside the Auckland region to attend. For more details and registration, see http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/artspeak.
Dunedin bass-baritone Jonathan Lemalu continues his globe-trotting career next month, performing in Mozart’s Requiem with the Swedish Radio Orchestra at the Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo on June 15. Jonathan has won numerous international awards including the 2002 Kathleen Ferrier award and the 2002 Royal Philharmonic Society’s Award for Young Artist of the Year. Jonathan is a New Zealand-born Samoan, brought up in Dunedin. He studied both Law and Music at the University of Otago and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 1999. He completed three years study at the Royal College of Music (RCM) in July 2002, taking with him the College’s highly esteemed gold medal. Now in his early 30s, Jonathan has won his place on the world’s stage and is now one of the most sought-after talents on the international concert, operatic and recital circuit.
Several useful resources about Pasifika art are now available from the New Zealand Film Archive, Ngā Kaitiaki O Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua. These resources look at Pacific Island people participating in a broad range of New Zealand arts including Fine Art, Music, Dance, Theatre, Film and Literature. Fatu Feu’u discusses the motifs and traditions that inspire his painting; Ani O’Neill tries to teach Nick Ward to crotchet; King Kapisi shows us his home in Piha, while his sisters show us theirs in Lyall Bay; Jonathan Lemalu discusses his rise to fame in the competitive world of opera; and Tusiata Avia talks to Finlay MacDonald about growing up Samoan in Christchurch. To access these materials from the Film Archive website, click here.
A new Phillip Fuemana Award has been created in time for the 2010 S³ Pacific Music Awards. The award will be presented to the Most Promising Pacific Artist in New Zealand on finals night. Meanwhile Pacific legends Te Vaka have been named finalists in four categories. Among other nominations, the album ‘Haoloto’ has earned Te Vaka a finalist position in the new Recognition and Promotion of Pacific Language category. Te Vaka is known around the world for its rich mix of Polynesia’s ancient and modern culture with a combination of musicians and dancers from Tokelau, Tuvalu, Samoa, Cook Islands and New Zealand. South Auckland reggae group Three Houses Down and West Auckland school teacher Malcolm Lakatani were each named in three categories. Altogether 13 artists and groups have been announced as finalists. The awards acknowledge the success of Pacific artists in New Zealand. They aim to celebrate and promote excellence in Pacific music and encourage young Pacific musicians to aspire to higher levels of achievement. Winners in each category will be announced at Manukau City’s Pacific Events Centre on 29 May 2010. Tickets can be purchased from www.ticketdirect.co.nz. The awards are sponsored by S³, a project dedicated to the survival of young Pacific people on the country’s roads. (Adapted from Pead PR Press Release)
Christchurch-based actress, musician, song-writer, playwright and manager of Pacific Underground, Tanya Muagututi’a, is the 2010 Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies and Creative New Zealand Pacific Artist in residence. During her residency Tanya will be researching and writing a first draft for a play called ‘Scholars’. Her preparations for the play will involve research about scholarships that were made available for Samoan students from the 1950s-1980. As part of her residency, Tanya will be conducting interviews and running workshops at the Macmillan Brown Centre at the University of Canterbury.
A new purpose-built Mangere Arts Centre is being built in South Auckland and is expected to be completed by September 2010. Once completed the centre will provide Mangere with a world-class performance and arts venue including a 300-seat flexiform performance area, state of the art acoustic design, suitable for a range of music from fine music to rock, 240m² gallery, 56m² studio, foyers, offices, change rooms, a café, and a large outdoor courtyard. Ema Tavola, the current Pacific Arts Coordinator for Manukau City Council, will take up the position of Visual Arts Manager at the new Mangere Arts Centre. Speaking of her time at Fresh Gallery Otara, Ema said that the gallery was the public platform for her work supporting the development of an already robust Pacific arts sector in Manukau City. We have hosted exhibitions, talanoa / dialogue, workshops, poetry and music. We have had so much interaction, engaged so many hearts and minds, inspired and created a fertile ground for meetings, interactions, ideas.” Her current position as Manukau City Council Pacific Arts Coordinator is to be advertised in the coming month.
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