ROLE
The Pacific Arts Committee is responsible for developing New Zealand’s Pacific arts and artists. It invests in contestable funding, develops initiatives, and delivers tailored programmes to support Pacific artists and communities.
MEMBERS
There are eight members on the Pacific Arts Committee, seven members representing the main Island groups and the Chairperson, who is a member of the Arts Board. Members are appointed by the Art Board for a term of up to three years. Anyone can nominate a person to be considered for appointment to the Pacific Arts Committee.
Pele Walker, Chair (Samoa), is a Wellington based mediator. She is an experienced Director and manager with governance, business and strategic planning skills. Her work background includes senior management experience in human resources, industrial relations and dispute resolution.
Of Samoan descent, and having lived in Asia, Pele has a strong affinity for different cultures. She has a wide knowledge of professional and community arts, with a particular interest in dance and theatre. She was the founding chair of the Wellington branch of PACIFICA Inc. and is active in developing strategies supporting Pacific women.
Pele holds an MBA and a BA (Hons) from Victoria University.
John Puka (Tokelau) is Head of Mathematics at Naenae College in Lower Hutt. In 2000 he assisted and narrated the documentary, Our Small World, which has become the standard resource for New Zealand schools studying Tokelau. His work with Pasifika communities led to an appointment to the Minister’s Advisory Council (Pacific Islands Affairs) in 2005.
Rev. Suamalie Naisali Tafaki Iosefa (Tuvalu) is the president of the Auckland Tuvaluan Society and a member of the Tuvalu Taumatua Cultural Trust. He is fluent in four Pacific languages. He won best song for the 10th Independence of Tuvalu in 1998 and best road safety song at the 2003 Waitakere Festival. An active member of the Tuvalu community, he has a deep knowledge of Tuvaluan music and culture.
Frances Hartnell (Cook Islands) has a vast knowledge of the public and private sectors. Frances was previously Chief Executive of the Pacific Business Trust and Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design before taking up a role as Auckland Governance Relationship Manager Department of Internal Affairs. Since June 2009, Frances has been working on short-term projects, strategic development and provision of advice to management and boards.
Taniela Vao (Tonga) is president of the Hutt Valley Tongan Community Incorporated, a board member of the Hutt Valley Pacific Health Service and was a member of the community reference group for the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs. He was on the organising committee of Siu ki Moana, an exhibition of Tongan migration held in the National Library in 2005 and then in Tonga in 2006. He has a wealth of knowledge of Tongan heritage arts, including the language. Taniela currently teaches courses in Tongan language at the Wellington Pacific Bible College.
Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann (Samoa) has worked at the forefront of the Pacific Island community in New Zealand for more than 20 years. He was one of the first Pacific Registered Comprehensive nurses in New Zealand. During the 1980s he created and developed the Fonofale Model of Health, accepted as the model of Pacific mental health by the Mental Health Commission of NZ. He subsequently became the first Pacific person to represent Pacific people on the Mental Health Commission. Karl also became one of the first Pacific Island persons to achieve senior management status in the New Zealand Polytechnic system, during which time he established the Post Graduate Forensic Psychiatric Care Course at Manawatu Polytechnic. Karl has been a keynote speaker on issues of Mental Health, Sexuality and HIV/AIDS at conferences in India, Hawaii, Samoa, Australia and New Zealand. In 1990 Karl became one of the first two Pacific Island Justices of the Peace appointed in Palmerston North. Karl was a founding trustee of the Pacific Island AIDS Trust (1989), founding Council Member for Manawatu Tangata Pasefika Council (1990), Mafutaga A Uso Fa'afafine ma Aiga(1996). Over the years Karl has worked with various community groups and assisted in policy formation on issues of Sexuality, Mental Health and Transgenderism.
Ema Tavola (Fiji) is a visual artist, who has been exhibiting in Auckland and Fiji since 2000. The Pacific arts co-ordinator for Manukau City Council, she runs Fresh Gallery Otara and curates many of its shows. She came to New Zealand from Suva in 2001 and has a bachelor in visual arts degree from The University of Auckland. She is particularly interested in working with young and emerging Pacific artists.
Matafetu Smith (Niuean) is a trained teacher and taught in schools in Niue, Cook Island and New Zealand for many years. Matafetu was a committee member of Aotearoa Moana Nui a Kiwa weavers assn for eleven years. She was selected to be a member of the Māori and Pacific Islands Arts Council (MASPAC) and served on that body for six years. She was a member of the PACIFICA national body for a number of years and also the president of the West Auckland branch, organising the annual national conference in 1996. Matafetu was a part of the committee that selected items for the "Te Pua Waitanga" Exhibition that travelled with "Te Maori" throughout New Zealand and part of the education programme at the Auckland Maritime Museum and developed many workshops and programmes. Over the past thirty years she has organised and run dozens of exhibitions and workshops in the Auckland region and other parts of New Zealand. She was part of the organising team that took 50 weavers from New Zealand to the Kingdom of Tonga during the 1990's and undertook an artistic residency to the Gascoyne region of West Australia under the jurisdiction of the South Project in Victoria in 2005. Matafetu was awarded the N.Z. Pacific Islands Artists Award in 1999 and was made a Waitakere City Arts Laureate in 2006.