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(Photo:
Creative New Zealand) |
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NEW ZEALAND: NZ artistic talent being marketed
to international producers
Source:
Creative New Zealand Press Release
Over 30 international directors and producers
from 11 different countries have arrived in New
Zealand to view the exciting and diverse New
Zealand work that is being presented at Pasifika
Festival, Auckland Arts Festival, WOMAD and
SOUNDS Aotearoa.
Hosted as part of the Te Manu Ka Tau - Flying
Friends programme, an initiative of Creative New
Zealand, the guests will also take part in a
number of panel discussions touching on subjects
like entrepreneurialism, music and programming
and freelancing, as well as highlighting the
role of Māori and Pacific arts, focusing on the
potential markets for New Zealand art in
Australia, Asia, The Americas, Israel and
Europe.
More than 100 international guests have visited
New Zealand since the programme’s inception in
2009. The aim is to encourage international
exchange and collaboration, including
facilitating exposure, networking and capability
building. The group that are currently in New
Zealand will access more than 60 acts and
participate in a Māori Art Forum at Mataatua
Marae.
Creative New Zealand recently talked to Karen
Fischer, Director of the Pacific Arts Network,
Hawaii and William Burdett-Coutts, Artistic
Director of the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh and of
Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios, who both
participated in the Te Manu Ka Tau programme in
2010.
William places high value on the importance of
seeing art on home ground as well as being able
to think about how the work will translate to
overseas audiences.
“It is a great opportunity to experience New
Zealand performances, particularly of new work
that has not yet been seen outside of the
country. I also cannot place high enough
importance on the value of networking with New
Zealand performers and producers. New Zealand
has such a vibrant and diverse culture, it is
exciting to see the amount of work that is
coming out of such a small country.”
Karen Fischer, agent and former presenter in
Hawaii found her visit to New Zealand last year
invaluable as her mission is to represent
performers from the Pacific.
“As a result of last year's visit, I began
working relationships with Maisey Rika (who is
currently touring Hawai'i), Pacific Curls, and
No. 2, and I was able to further my previous
relationships with Atamira, Taki Rua and Tawata
Productions. I was also fortunate to be able to
attend the Kapa Haka competition in Rotorua,
which gave me yet another dimension of Māori
culture and performance.”
Over the years both presenters have presented a
variety of New Zealand works that include shows
like Indian Ink’s Krishnan's Dairy, Toa Fraser’s
play No. 2, as well as performances from Te Vaka,
Māori theatre producers, Taki Rua and Tawata
Productions.
Karen highlights that other Pacific Island
cultures are particularly important for those
living in Hawai'i and both Polynesian cultures
share the same roots.
And these connections can lead to wonderful
things. “Maisey's performance was greeted at one
theatre on Hawai'i Island by a local halau (hula
school) chanting their 'mahalo' (thank you), and
she was able to respond in kind.”
"As an agent, I am trying to expand the reach of
these companies past Hawai'i to the continental
United States.” Te Vaka and No. 2 have upcoming
tours in 2011-12. Te Vaka will reach five venues
in Alaska, due to presenters' interest in
serving Native Alaskan populations.
“The bonds with other indigenous cultures are
common. Not only are there shared stories,
shared expertise, but there is also shared
strength in connecting with performers who also
draw their work from their indigenous traditions
and histories while producing contemporary
work."
As Creative New Zealand is very aware, the arts
are now a global business. In the last 25 years
with the development of digital technology,
there has been an explosion of networks, and for
those in the business this is an essential
development.
“However”, William adds, “as much as it is
valuable for us to see new and intriguing works
we can also provide useful feedback to companies
about development of work, realities of
production, travelling and audience reaction to
certain topics”
Karen agrees, “Our field works through
relationships. It may simply be the nature of
performance - we are a field who learns from our
mentors and those who have gone before us, so
face-to-face relationships are inherent in how
work gets produced. The process of booking and
presenting happens in the same way.”
“Sometimes (more and more rarely these days)
work can sell itself through someone hearing a
CD or seeing a video and falling in love with
the work. More often than not, however, the
artist (or manager or agent) works through
relationships with presenters or festival
directors and, they, in turn, can tell their
colleagues in the field. And so the network
grows. Through this programme, international
directors can both see work and have
conversations with the artists, the first step
to touring and booking.”
This is where networking programmes facilitated
by Arts Councils and cultural organisations
become important as they can provide artists
with a platform to showcase to producers who are
strategically positioned to aid artists and
companies to present to a wider audience.
Sometimes it means that work has to be tweaked
to fit with an audience but this is part of a
learning curve when presenting internationally.
It provides companies with the skills and acumen
to globally position their works for a wider
audience without compromising the artistic core
of the work.
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SAMOA: Samoa healers get world recognition
Source:
The Financial Express
Traditional healers of Samoa were recently
acknowledged in a benefit-sharing agreement
concerning the development of prostratin, an
anti-AIDS compound derived from the Samoan
native mamala tree (homalanthus nutans).
Prostratin forces the HIV out of reservoirs in
the body, thus allowing anti-retroviral drugs to
attack it.
The bark of the mamala has been used by
traditional healers to treat hepatitis, among
other medicinal uses of the tree. This
traditional knowledge guided researchers in
their search for valuable therapeutic compounds.
Reportedly, revenues from the development of
prostratin will be shared with the village where
the compound was found and with the families of
the healers who helped discover it. Revenues
will also be applied to further HIV/AIDS
research. It is also proposed to license the
prostratin research to drug makers so that the
resultant drugs are made available to developing
countries for free, at cost, or at a nominal
profit.
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(Photo:
Australian Associated Press) |
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AUSTRALIA:
Former Australian PM awarded PNG's highest
order
Source:
ABC Radio Australia
A former Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm
Fraser, has received Papua New Guinea's highest
award for his services to PNG and for his wider
humanitarian work.
Mr Fraser was presented with the Grand Companion
of the Order of Logohu at a ceremony at the
country's high commission in Canberra and is now
entitled to be called "chief".
He has been honoured in particular for securing
continuing budget support for PNG just after
independence in September 1975, building on ties
dating from the mid-1960s when Mr Fraser was
Australia's Army minister.
Mr Fraser says working together, PNG and
Australia will continue to be a force for good
in the region.
"In the Commonwealth of Nations, which you
mentioned High Commissioner, Papua New Guinea
and Australia have worked well together and I'm
sure that will continues," he said.
"We can both be a very constructive force in the
Pacific and have worked in that arena also to
advance as wel believe the best interests of the
entire region that we share."
Photo Caption: Minister Malcolm Fraser
has been awarded with the Grand Companion of the
Order of Logohu.
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KIRIBATI: Kiribati gets help to rebuild its main
road
Source:
Radio New Zealand International
Kiribati and the Asian Development Bank have
signed a 12 million US dollar loan to help the
country rehabilitate the road network in South
Tarawa.
It will involve rehabilitating 32 point five
kilometres of the country’s main road and 8
kilometres of access roads on the atoll of South
Tarawa.
The Ministry of Public Works and Utilities in
Kiribati expects better public transport once
the main road in South Tarawa is rehabilitated.
The ministry’s Moanataake Beiabure says the
roads have deteriorated badly over time.
“Well the benefit of improving these is we have
a more efficient transport system. At the moment
public transport is doesn’t really exist because
of the road conditions. The breakdown of
vehicles is one of the problems now faced with
the public enterprises which is operating the
public transport.”
Moanataake Beiabure says the ministry expects
the plans to be finalised by May and hopes
construction can begin early next year.
The road improvement project will also improve
links to the seaport of Betio and the airport
for the people of South Tarawa, making it easier
and safer for people and goods to move around.
The ADB’s regional director, Adrian Ruthenberg,
says rebuilding the country’s most important
road will mean those living in South Tawara -
42% of Kiribati’s population - will be better
connected to clinics, markets, and other
services in the administrative capital of
Bairiki.
He says the project will also provide training
and jobs for the women and men who will work to
rebuild and maintain the roads.
The 32 year long loan carries an interest charge
of one percent for the first 8 years and one
point 5 percent for the balance of the period.
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(Photo:
Marke Lowen) |
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VANUATU: Call for 'blackbirding' victims to be
granted Vanuatu citizenship
Source:
Herald Sun
Vanuatu's justice minister has called for
Australia to recognise its history of forced
labour and allow his people special work rights
as reparation.
Appointed just one week ago, Ralph Regenvanu has
used his new position to send a hard-hitting
message to Canberra that the people of Vanuatu
and their descendants living in Australia want
greater recognition of historical indentured
labour.
Known as blackbirding, about 60,000 Melanesians,
mostly young males, were recruited often through
trickery and kidnapping to work on sugar
plantations in Queensland between 1863 and 1906.
The blackbirded islanders were often promised
wages never paid and held as indentured
labourers past their promised termination date.
Historians have recognised that the exodus of
young men has adversely affected the cultural,
linguistic and financial development in Vanuatu,
Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands..
More than 30,000 descendants of these labourers
still live in Queensland.
Mr Regenvanu says during the 1990s Australia
made efforts to recognise the Australian South
Sea Islanders as a distinct cultural group.
However, there have been few moves since to
improve the links between the two groups or
acknowledge the wrongs of history, the minister
said.
He believes islanders in Vanuatu should be
eligible for seasonal agricultural work programs
in Australia in recognition of the "special
historical relationship".
"Many people (in Vanuatu) wonder why Australia
continues to allow backpackers from England to
come and do the kind of work people from Vanuatu
would like to do in Australia," the minister
said.
"It's racism. There is no other justification
that people can think of."
He said islanders living in Queensland would
"very much like" an apology for past wrongs as
well as travel funding to help them reconnect
with their Pacific relatives.
"There was funding for this in the 1990s but it
only lasted three years before it stopped," Mr
Regenvanu said.
"We need revitalisation of such programs."
There were also moves by Vanuatu's Government to
give its Australian descendants citizenship to
make it easier for them to visit or relocate
home.
Mr Regenvanu said the issue was the focus of a
new document signed by the country's top chiefs
and politicians.
It had been handed to the country's Department
of Foreign Affairs for forwarding to Canberra.
Photo Caption: Newly appointed Vanuatu
Minister of Justice, Ralph Regenvanu.
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(Photo:
Oceania Football Confederation) |
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WORLDWIDE: Samoa, Tonga swear in new executives
Source:
Oceania Football Confederation Press Release
OFC President David Chung has passed on his
congratulations to Togia Toetu Petana of Samoa
and Tonga’s Lord Ve’ehala who have been elected
President of their respective football governing
bodies.
Football Federation Samoa (FFS) and Tonga
Football Assocation (TFA) both held their
Congresses over the weekend to elect the
Executive members who will lead each
organisation for the next four-year term.
The success of Petana and Ve’ehala follows on
from their election to the OFC Executive
Committee for the first time in January 2011 at
the OFC Congress in American Samoa.
“I would like to offer my sincere
congratulations to Togia Toetu Petana and Lord
Ve’ehala,” said President Chung. “They have both
shown experience and expertise as well as
dedication and commitment to developing football
in their respective regions. Therefore we are
not surprised that the football families of
Samoa and Tonga have endorsed them to lead for
the next four years.”
In the case of Samoa, the elective Congress
marks a significant milestone. The federation
has been through a challenging period recently
with FIFA setting up a normalisation committee
in 2008. Former New Zealand International Colin
Tuaa was appointed Interim Chairman and CEO of
the committee during 2009 while Petana took over
as Chairman in 2010 with Fred Young being
appointed as CEO Designate from this time.
After two years of committed work to develop
football infrastructure, improve administrative
practices and rebuild the sport, this weekend’s
Congress signifies the end of the normalisation
period as Petana and his newly elected Executive
take over the reigns.
Petana will be supported by Vice President Rev.
Laupama Solomona and Executive members Faumuina
Michael Kapisi, Palota Asiata and Emily Young.
Meanwhile in Tonga, TFA held its Congress at the
‘Home of Football’ in 'Atele on Saturday.
Incumbent Lord Ve’ehala secured 11 of the 16
votes available and enters his fifth term since
1996 when he was first elected President.
Former Vice President Paula Ma’u was elected to
the position of Senior Vice President while
Honourable Moimoi Vaea retained his Vice
President seat, alongside Lady Robin Kaho
Tuivakano and newcomer 'Alone Veatufunga of
Longoteme Football Club.
Fetu’u Vea was elected unopposed as treasurer
after the association's long serving treasurer
Lui Aho took up an official appointment as
General Secretary on 1January 2011.
The TFA President thanked all participants for
their part in making the Congress a success.
“My sincere gratitude and thanks, first and
foremost, goes to all club representatives for
vesting their confidence in myself and the new
Executive. I look forward toworking with the
football staff together with communities and
schools as westrive towards achieving TFA’s
vision of becoming Tonga’s number one sport by
2020,” Ve’ehala said.
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