The Pasifika Festival is a
Pacific Islands
Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...
-themed festival held annually in
Western Springs Reserve,
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
, New Zealand. Celebrated since 1993, it is the largest festival of its type in the world and attracts over 200,000 visitors every year.
The event is owned and hosted by
Auckland Council
Auckland Council ( mi, Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau) is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a ...
.
The festival presents a wide variety of cultural experiences, including traditional cuisine and performances from
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
,
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
,
Cook Islands
)
, image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, capital = Avarua
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Avarua
, official_languages =
, lan ...
,
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...
,
Niue
Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between T ...
,
Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...
,
Tokelau
Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, a ...
,
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northea ...
,
Kiribati
Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),[Kiribati]
''The Wor ...
and the
Tangata Whenua (New Zealand Māori).
History
Beginnings
The original driving force behind the festival was a secretary of the
South Pacific Forum
The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 1 ...
, Roy Vaughan. His idea to create an event to celebrate the cultures of the South Pacific came to realisation in February 1991 when he showed his proposal to several high-ranking officials of South Pacific nations: Cook Islands Consul General
Bill Te Ariki
Bill(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States)
* Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature
* Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer
* Bill, a bird or animal's beak
Pla ...
, Papua New Guinea Consul General
Alister Martin
Alister Martin (born 15 January 1965) is an Irish Cycle sport, cyclist. He competed in the Cycling at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's cross-country, men's cross-country mountain biking event at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
References
Externa ...
and others. Initially the festival was supposed to take place in Central Auckland. The newly formed South Pacific Island Nation Development Agency accumulated feedback from the community and changed the location to Western Springs a week and a half before the event; Western Springs was supported by the mayor,
Les Mills
Leslie Roy Mills (born 1 November 1934) is a retired New Zealand track and field athlete and politician. He represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games over two decades, competing in the shot put and discus throw. He wo ...
, and the City Council.
The first Pasifika Festival was held 6-12 March 1993; its community day was visited by 30,000 people. The scope of the festival broadened at the very first event as several Micronesian and Melanesian groups chose to participate. Despite some initial scepticism and remarks on lack of representation in an evaluation report delivered by Nancy Sheehan, overall it was successful. The festival was awarded the Creative New Zealand Creative Places Award next year.
Annual events were held for the first four years without significant change. In 1997, after a reorganisation, Auckland City Council encapsulated the Pasifika committee and the support from the South Pacific Island Nation Development Agency became redundant. After that, the new event coordinator Pitsch Leiser worked towards making the festival sustainable during the two years he was involved with it. From that time onwards visitor numbers started to grow rapidly.
The mid-years
The Pasifika 1999 was the first Pasifika festival with a large company sponsorship. Although the involvement of
KFC as the main sponsor was deemed highly controversial, it helped to increase the budget and attracted other major sponsors to the consequential events. The other important development of that year was the concept of 'national villages' that were presenting culturally appropriate items and performances.
After the event Leiser stepped down from the coordinator role. The new coordinator, Michelle Khan, re-established communication with the communities, raised the stallholder's fees and worked on improving and increasing the role of villages that were mainly just
market stalls while the performances mainly occurred at the main stages. The organisers started to express their concerns to the performing groups if they felt that the performance quality was lacking, advising them to gain more experience at smaller local festivals.
The Pasifika Festival 2000 was attended by close to 100,000 people. The 2001 festival was awarded with the Creative New Zealand Creative Places Award.
The 2002 festival was jointly organised by Mere Lomaloma Elliot and a non-Pacific event manager, but it was deemed unsuccessful due to the lack of mutual understanding between them. Elliot was appointed the festival's director in 2003 and held that position until 2006. The position of the full-time festival administration was vacated in 2004 and filled by Rebecca Knox, who in 2006 initiated splitting of the director position into 2: the operations manager (Knox) and the strategic/relationships festival director (Ole Maiava, an artist and an event manager who was earlier involved in the Tu Fa'atasi festival and the Creekfest).
2010s onwards
Maiava reworked the compensations model for the participants. The auditioning process was streamlined by
Tanya Muagututi’a who also established a workshop for emerging artists. Around that time the preparations started taking the whole year, and many staff members do it as a full-time job. After the 2010 festival Pasifika was moved under the Auckland Tourism Events and Economic Development jurisdiction.
The question of Māori exclusion bothered many people, but the organisers could not immediately find a solution that would be appropriate for all parties involved.
The 2012 festival was only two days long, and its length is limited to 2 to 3 days as of 2019.
Pasifika Festival 2014 had 11 unique villages showcasing the cultures of 11 Pacific Island nations:
Cook Islands
)
, image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg
, capital = Avarua
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Avarua
, official_languages =
, lan ...
,
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...
,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
,
Kiribati
Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),[Kiribati]
''The Wor ...
,
Niue
Niue (, ; niu, Niuē) is an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Zealand. Niue's land area is about and its population, predominantly Polynesian, was about 1,600 in 2016. Niue is located in a triangle between T ...
,
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
,
Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...
,
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
,
Tokelau
Tokelau (; ; known previously as the Union Islands, and, until 1976, known officially as the Tokelau Islands) is a dependent territory of New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean. It consists of three tropical coral atolls: Atafu, Nukunonu, a ...
,
Tuvalu
Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northea ...
and
Aotearoa
''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and Sout ...
. The 11th Hawaiian village was added that year.
In 2015, the festival was moved temporarily to Hayman Park in
Manukau
Manukau (), or Manukau Central, is a suburb of South Auckland, New Zealand, centred on the Manukau City Centre business district. It is located 23 kilometres south of the Auckland Central Business District, west of the Southern Motorway, so ...
after the discovery of
Queensland fruit flies in the
Grey Lynn
Grey Lynn is an inner suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, located to the west of the city centre. Originally a separate borough, Grey Lynn amalgamated with Auckland City in 1914.
Grey Lynn is centred on Grey Lynn Park, which was not part of the ...
area near Western Springs.
In 2016, it moved back to Western Springs.
In 2019, the festival was cancelled for safety reasons on account of the
Christchurch mosque shootings
On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks, carried out by a lone gunman who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, began at the Al Noor Mosque ...
.
In 2020, the festival was again cancelled, because of the
Coronavirus Pandemic.
It was held in 2021 at
Mount Smart Stadium.
Notable people
*
Joana Monolagi
Joana Monolagi is a Fijian artist and masi maker, whose work is in the collection of Auckland Art Gallery. She was awarded the Pacific Heritage Art Award in 2015 at the Arts Pasifika Awards, recognising her work in supporting art and culture, h ...
- Fijian village coordinator (2000 - current).
See also
*
Pasifika New Zealanders
Pasifika New Zealanders are a pan-ethnic group of New Zealanders associated with, and descended from, the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands outside of New Zealand itself (also known as Pacific Islanders). They form the fourth-largest ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Official websiteCelebrate Pasifika (2014 website)Auckland Council - Pasifika organisersSpasifik magazine website{{Culture of Oceania, state=autocollapse
Festivals in Auckland
Polynesian festivals
Arts festivals in New Zealand
Polynesian-New Zealand culture in Auckland
Oceanian-New Zealand culture in Auckland
Folk festivals in New Zealand