Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 5, 1 May 1988 — Re 5th Festival of Pacific Arts [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Re 5th Festival of Pacific Arts

Australia Organizers Meet with Hawan Group

By Puanani Fernandez-Akamine Communications Specialist Kamehameha Schools In an effort to promote and maintain the indigenous cultures of the Pacific region, a unique festival is hosted every four years in a different Pacific country. This event, the two-week Festival of Pacific Arts, offers an opportunity for Pacific peoples to share their culture, music, art and dance with one-another. In Hawai'i, some questions have been raised regarding the eonneehon between the Festival of Pacific Arts and Australia's bicentennial observances. Other important questions have been asked regarding the coordination of the Festival in Australia, and the philosophy of the Australian organizing committee. Last month, three representatives of the 5th Festival of Pacific Arts' Australian organizing eommittee visited Honolulu. Their stop here was part of a Pacific-wide tour to meet with planning eommittees from all the Pacific island groups participating in the upcoming Festival, to be held in Townsville, Australia, Aug. 14-27. While in Honolulu, Festival Director Pat Turner, Townsville Community Representative Francis Tapim, and Joint Artistic Director Anthony Steel

met with the Hawai'i Delegation Planning Committee in an effort to clarify those questions and eoncerns, as well as to discuss Festival coordination and logistics. The Hawai'i Delegation Planning Committee is chaired by Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate Trustee Myron Thompson and coordinated by Kamehameha Financial Aid Director Bob Worthington. The meeting enabled members of the Hawai'i Planning Committee to meet the people directly involved in organizing the Festival and to get a better sense of their philosophy and objectives. They were quite willing to share their reasons for visiting the participating Pacific peoples and to discuss their thouqhts and qoals for the Festival.

"We consider it very important to meet people on their home ground to gain better insight into the participating nations' requirements so we ean accommodate them," explained Turner. "With any people, face to face communication is better than using fax machines or telephones. "We are traveling across the Pacific talking to people about the Festival's theme and objectives, and about the way we envision the Festival's different activities occurring over the two weeks — including events such as the craft village, exhibitions and the film festival. It is critical, from our point of view, to have input from the other people involved because it is a Pacific Festival, not just our Festival" she added. Originally from Aliee Springs, Australia, Tumer is of the Arremte Aboriginal Tribe. "It isimportant to me, as one of the indigenous people hosting this Festival, to have high level involvement (of in-

digenous people) in the planning and management of the Festival," Turner stressed. "For that reason we have a majority of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders on the Board of Directors and in the Festival Office — and it goes without saying that our loeal Advisory Committee is comprised of only Aboriginal and T orres Strait Island representation. The extent of the govemment's participation is that they are granting monies to pay for Festival expenses." The T orres Strait lslands are a group of islands off the northem coast of Australia whieh have been incorporated into the Australian Commonwealth. However, the indigenous people of these islands are not Aboriginals. They are ethnically Melanesian. Tapim, a Torres Strait Islander, explained that one of the main objectives of the Festival Planning Committee is to put Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders into contact with other indigenous Pacific peoples. "We want the indigenous people of the Pacific, and their cultural traditions, to be in the consciousness of all the people who live in this region," said Tapim.

Steel, who is originally from England, shares the title Joint Artistic Director with Aboriginal entertainer Jimmy Little. Steel has directed a number of major festivals in Australia. He stated, "I am enjoying being involved with the Festival of Pacific Arts. It enables me to get to know more about cultures about whieh I know precious little." Like Tumer, Steel emphasizes the importance of visiting with the planning committees of the Pacific Island groups who are planning to participate in the Festival. "Particularly in the arts, bureaucrats do not understand how important it is to talk face-to-face," Steel commented. "This journey is crucial to the staging of the Festival, and 1 think if we manage it well and make the best use of our time, we will find we have an extraordinary event on our hands." Although the Festival's theme has not been refined, Festival organizers in Australia are looking at one whieh would emphasize that the living indigenous languages and cultures of the Pacific will not die unless they are allowed to do so. It is anticipated that approximately 2,000 people representing 27 Pacific groups will participate in the Festival as delegates. Three-hundred of these delegates will eome from Australia. "As host country, it is critical that our delegates represent the diversity and richness of the indigenous cultural heritage of Australia," Turner emphasized. In addition to organizing the logistics and pro-

gram, Festival organizers have been going to great lengths to inform people in Australia about the Festival; to examine the prospect of tours for some of the visiting delegations after the Festival; and to arrange inter-cultural exchange experiences between visiting delegations and loeal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from the Townsville area. One idea being considered is an exchange between Kamehameha students from the Hawai'i Delegation and Townsville students. "Because the objective of the Festival is to promote the maintenance of indigenous cultures in the Pacific region, we aim to maximize the cultural exchange between our indigenous people and those from participating nations," Turner reflected.

With just three and a half months to go, planning for Hawai'i's Delegation to the Festival of Arts is in full force. This visit by Turner, Tapim and Steel provided a valuable opportunity for the Hawai'i Delegation to raise issues and share ideas in an effort to ensure the integrity and success of the 5th Festival of Pacific Arts.

Australia Festival organizer Francis Tapim, center, shares a relaxed moment with Hawai'i delegation chairman Myron Thompson and Visual Arts Coordinator Momi Naughton at Atherton Halau reception.

Kamehameha Schools sophomore Clarice Kawohi Aeopan performs in the weleome ceremony for the visiting Australian delegation at Atherton Halau. Among those in attendance in background are Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees Chairman Moses K. Keale Sr. and OHA Administrator Kamaki A. Kanahele III.

Halau Hula O Mililani performs chant, "Au'a'la" before visiting tribaldelegation, OHATrustees, staff and invited guests. Thisis the halau whieh will appearin afolkfestival at lowa, Mass., in late July.