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This year, visitors to the Pasifika Festival have been able to participate and engage in Pacific Island cultures on a more intimate level. New to the Pasifika programme is a series of talanoa and workshops about writing, climate change, navigation, weaving and film making.
Festival producer, Torise Flay, said the talonoa programme came out of looking for a “programme initiative that sit outside of the village stage programmes which typically have our cultural traditional dances and performances on there.
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A new programme to invite public to engage, discuss and learn at the Pasifika Festival is warming up to appreciation.
“We identified that there was a space where we wanted to have talanoa, conversations and storytelling on some topics that are really prevalent to our Pacific Island communities.”
Starting the programme was youth forensic psychiatrist and author Dr Hinemoa Elder, with a discussion on a variety of topics relating to her work including collective healing, storytelling, cultural safety, and partnership.
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Dr Hinemoa Elder began the two-day talanoa bowl programme.
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On the topic of Wawata, her book about how maramataka can guide our lives, Elder said that “we’re actually in Ōrongonui today…[Rongo] is the guy that’s chilling us out when we’re on the marae, so we can have robust debate about things which is what we’re doing today.
“So this is a very auspicious festival to have the under the korowai of Rongo.”
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Pacific Climate Warriors bring generations together with public-driven conversations.
Rangatahi from Pacific Climate Warriors bonded multiple generations in their discussions about climate change and author of How to Loiter in a Turf War, Jessica Hansell aka Coco Solid, shared a kōrero about gentrification, media representation, mixed identities.
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Jessica Hansell aka Coco Solid, author of How to Loiter in a Turf War speaks at talanoa bowl at Pasifika Festival 2023.
The programme was balanced with some kava sessions and a dance session taught by Vivian Aue which drew in many curious, but shy spectators. Those who weren’t ready to get up and dance, however, weren’t afraid to cheer them on.
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The performances were impressive at Pasifika at Western Springs.
Next door, there’s an ako bowl that includes poi, hiapo and hei lauti making workshops. “It’s an interactive space, so we really want people to go in and be able to experience some of cultural practices.”
Flay said the talanoa and ako bowl concept is based on the discussion that happen around the kava bowl. “We have the kava bowl in a lot of our pacific cultures and around that we sit, we talk, we discuss. So we’re really just trying to invite and gather people around to discuss.”
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Tupumaiga A Niue Trust are showing members of the public how to make hei lauti (green headdresses) and hiapo (traditional Niuean barkcloth prints).
Both spaces give visitors the chance to move beyond being a spectator to being a learner and taking skills, ideas and mātauranga back home after the weekend.
Flay says there are plans to continue growing the programme in future years.
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