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.
Playmarket in partnership with Banana Boat invite all Maori and Pasifika playwrights with complete drafts of new unproduced plays to apply for a place in creative development clinics and one-on-one labs with senior script advisors, directors, and actors. All applicants must submit a full draft of their play with cover sheet, page numbers, full character list, and the playwright’s contact details. To qualify, playwrights must be available to attend full day sessions of clinics and labs on March 7 and 8 and live in the Auckland region. All applications must be submitted via email to Jenni Heka – Maori and Pasifika Advisor at Playmarket by 18th February 2011. jenni@playmarket.org.nz . For more information, call Jenni or Stuart during office hours at the Playmarket Auckland office, 09 3652648.
Black Friars is a group of first generation New Zealand-born Pacific actors who challenge stereotypes and preconceptions through theatre. Based in South Auckland, the theatre company was formed in 2006 and featured in an hour-long programme on national television last Sunday. Black Friars explain that their purpose is “to keep talented young Pasifikan people off the street and on the stage”. The core group consists of Vau Atonio, Lauie Sila, Tana Aiono, Misipele Tofilau and Michelle Johansson. The group incorporates diverse elements into their work from traditional and contemporary Polynesian music and dance to Shakespeare and Greek theatre. In 2007, Black Friars received the award for the ‘Best Festival Newcomers’ at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. Productions have included original works such as Being Big and Being Brown to adaptations of Aristophanes’ The Wasps and Shakespeare’s Othello. Plans for 2011 include a possible replay of Uso, a story about growing up in South Auckland and the prospect of ‘The Merchant of Mangere’, another Shakespearean adaptation. For more information, see the Black Friars blog site at http://www.blackfriarscompany.blogspot.com/. (Image from the Black Friars blogsite)
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.
Brown Ink is a series of workshops organised by Auckland’s Playmarket to develop Maori and Pasifika plays, to work with producers, and to encourage women writing for theatre. Writing workshops from experienced and celebrated New Zealand playwrights Stuart Hoar and Victor Rodger will foreground clinics, open to observers, of two new Pasifika works: Rushing Dolls by Courtney Meredith with script advisor Toa Fraser and E ono tama’i pato by Maureen Mariner Fepuleai with script advisor Margret-Mary Hollins. Producers and venue managers will be available in a kind of speed dating event to be grilled on what they look for when programming work and how to get work from page to stage. A spotlight will be thrown on women writing for theatre – asking the hard questions of celebrated and emerging playwrights Riwia Brown (Irirangi Bay, Once Were Warriors), Briar Grace Smith (Purapurawhetu, Nga Pou Wahine) Miria George (and what remains, He Reo Aroha), Dianna Fuemana (Mapaki, The Packer) and Leilani Unasa (His Mother’s Son). In a feature session John Broughton will discuss his journey as a playwright and the pleasure and pain of creating the classic work Michael James Manaia. By special arrangement with Taki Rua Theatre a semi-staged reading of this powerful play will be presented in the evening and open to the wider public for koha entry. The workshops run from 10am – 5pm, on 27 November 2010 at the Mangere Arts Centre (Cnr Bader Drive and Orly Ave). Food and drinks will be provided. The event is open to all playwrights and interested theatre practitioners. To register, click here. For more info, call Jenni Heka – 09 365 2648.
The public will get a first glimpse of Victor Rodger’s much anticipated new play Village People at Auckland’s Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre. A reading of the play will be staged as work-in-progress in a short public season from 13 to 16 October 2010. Village People is about four estranged half-Samoan siblings, from all corners of the world who come to Samoa to celebrate the youngest becoming a matai and confront their difficult relationships with each other, their shared past, and Samoa itself. Rodger wrote much of the play as the first Pacific recipient of the prestigious Ursula Bethell Writer in Residence at the University of Canterbury. He is the award-winning author of the acclaimed My Name is Gary Cooper and currently writes for and acts in Shortland Street, New Zealand’s longest running TV soap opera. Village People will stage alongside two other plays, Our Maoris by Arthur Meek and What to do about Dad by Stephen Sinclair. For bookings, call (09) 3082383.
Louise Tu’u’s play Providence is described as a “raw, ambiguous and quietly deafening”. It plays “old videos, writes letters to the audience” and gives the impression of being “a spectator in its own work”. Inspired by Auckland’s homeless communities, Providence is the fictional performance of a homeless man and his return home. It challenges assumptions about the “derries” or derelicts that inhabit a lot of shelters, inner-city shop fronts and deserted alleys around Central Auckland. The play was first staged exclusively for Auckland’s homeless community. Louise was the first New Zealand or Pacific Island playwright to be awarded the Royal Court International Theatre Residency in London. Bookings are now open and the public can purchase tickets from www.iticketexpress.co.nz. Providence will stage from 20 to 23 October, 2010 at Auckland’s Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland CBD.
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.
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