Our work | Pacific arts
One of Creative New Zealand's guiding principles is to recognise the arts of the Pacific Islands peoples of New Zealand. Creative New Zealand has a Pacific Arts Committee, which allocates funding and undertakes initiatives to develop and support Pacific arts.
- Creative New Zealand’s Pasifika Artists Fono Vaka Pasifika: An Exploration into Heritage Arts is open to all Pacific artists.
- Fika: A fictional body of new writing was launched last week at Waru: the Pacific Arts Festival. It contains the work of 15 emerging Pacific writers. The word "fika" can be translated as "figure" in English: the figure of a woman or to figure out. It is also half of the word "Pasefika".
- New Zealand's Pacific artists were honoured in October at the Arts Pasifika Awards 2007, which encourage and celebrate excellence in Pacific arts in New Zealand.
- Terry Koloamatangi Klavenes, the recipient of the 2007 Martin Hughes Contemporary Pacific Art Award, will use the $5000 travel grant to return to Tonga where he will develop, investigate and research a project.
- Workshops, album recordings, concerts, cultural festivals, exhibitions, film, publishing projects, theatre productions and tours are among the 25 projects supported in the Pacific Arts Committee's latest project funding round, announced in October 2007.
- Christchurch writer Sarona Aiono-Iosefa is using her time at the University of Hawai'i as the recipient of the 2007 Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Pacific Writers' Residency to write a novella for young adults called O Se Mea e Tatau.
- Karlo Mila's appearance at the Queensland Poetry Festival from 7 to 9 September is the Auckland poet's first foray into the international market and an opportunity for her to expand her readership.
- Ema Tavola and Taniela Vao have joined the Pacific Arts Committee as its new Fijian and Tongan representatives.
