New festival to open bigger stage for Pacific youth across NZ’s central North Island

A new regional festival is set to bring together Pacific students from across the central North Island, creating fresh opportunities for young people to showcase their culture while building confidence, leadership and lifelong connections.

The Tagata Moana Festival, organised by the TagataMoana Trust, will launch this year with two inaugural events for secondary, intermediate, primary and preschool students.

Gabrielle-Sisifo Makisi, festival co-founder, says the event is the result of a dream more than a decade ago in the making.

“About 15 years ago, Rosa Rose from Taita College and I sat there and thinking of the excitement of what our kids do so beautifully, and also their leadership, their knowledge and that kind of innovation and having it at a regional level,” Makisi told Tofiga Fepulea' on PMN 531pi’s Island Time.

“So basically this is Rose and I's dream and we've waited and waited for it to happen.”

Makisi says the festival is designed to complement, not replace, the local cultural festivals that many Pacific families already treasure.

“For us, it's about providing different platforms for our kids to celebrate who they are but really grounded in community as parents, family and community,” Makisi says.

“Now I know some people might be saying, oh you know, why another festival? I think the cool thing about this one is that it's a regional one. It's going to be something different.”

The first event will be held at the Michael Fowler Events Centre in Wellington on 17 August and will bring together secondary schools from Wellington, Hawke's Bay, the Hutt Valley, Manawatū and Horowhenua.

The Tagata Moana Festival will have two inaugural events for Pasifika youth in Cental North Island. Photo/Tagata Moana

Schools will qualify through their regional festivals, creating a new stage for young performers from across the lower North Island -.

“We actually wanted something different so it's not a duplication,” Makisi says. “Being a regional one, we'll be able to see schools outside of Wellington but also, with a new festival it probably gives a platform for different types of performances as well, where it's not just restricted to our traditional cultural items.

“It's kind of, really exciting to me because at the end of the day, they're all still there together as Pasifika, our kids performing, learning together.”

A second festival on 21 October will give primary, intermediate and preschool children in Wellington their own platform to celebrate their identity.

"Those primary and intermediate schools, they’re so excited because they haven’t had a clear opportunity in that area," Makisi said.

“So I'm really excited about that because having more platforms for our young people to be able to express their gifts and their talents is just what they need.”

Watch Gabrielle-Sisifo Makisi's interview with Tofiga Fepulea' on 531pi

Makisi says future plans include expanding into Pacific STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), wearable arts, traditional voyaging and speech competitions.

She says this will also include rotating the festival between regions so more communities can host.

“Tagata Moana, I hope, it's my dream, will be the infrastructure that we can walk along to support whatever the kids want to do, and do it with excellence,” Makisi says.

“Some could be competitions, but essentially it's just bringing together that, as a village.”

Maksis says the festival is also about creating opportunities behind the scenes, with Pacific communities leading production, event management and creative roles alongside the performers.

“It will be the visioning of the Trust, but also where our communities want to go, so it's not a public service that started it off. This is going to be us,” she says.

“Not only is it about our kids, but it's Bi-Pacific, that our communities are the production, are the lights, are the filming.”

Tagata Moana Festival is supported by local organisations including the Wellington City Council, Victoria University, Smokefree Hāpai, and local Trust groups.