“Fresh Horizons Out West” is a three-day workshop for 30 nominated students from secondary schools in Waitakere City (West Auckland) which comes to an end today. With the encouragement of tutors Teremoana Rapley, King Kapisi, Janet Lilo and Venusi Taumoepeau, students have composed their own songs and music and filmed their performances. After three days of hard work, the end result is the completion of their own music videos! A special showcase of students’ work is held today (22 April, 2009) at Unitec Waitakere. The Tautai Trust says “it’s a great chance for friends, family and the community to see the creative results from these young and talented students”. Two other such workshops will be held specifically for Pacific Island students in other parts of the country. Tautai Fresh Horizons workshops are not ‘art classes’ but opportunities to experiment, to try new art-related ideas or hone special talent. By engaging well-known artists as tutors, backed up by senior tertiary students as assistants, secondary students are given visible role models – people they can relate to who are successfully working in the arts. The aim is to give the students a stimulating art experience under the eye of positive, enthusiastic role models, and reinforce the value of further education.
