Polyfest expands to two venues: A new era for Auckland schools cultural celebration

Organisers of one of the world's biggest secondary school cultural festivals have decided to split the event across two venues to accommodate its growth.

The annual ASB Polyfest, held in south Auckland to celebrate Pacific culture, will be hosted at the Manukau Sports Bowl and the Due Drop Events Centre next year.

Organisers announced the first part of the 2026 festival will be held on March 18-21 for the Niue, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands and Diversity performances, and on March 30-April 2 for the Māori stage.

Traditionally, Polyfest is held over four days at the sports bowl, featuring five cultural stages.

Polyfest Trust chair and Papakura High School principal Simon Cragg said they had to shift the Māori performances to their own venue because the Greyhound Track at the bowl was now not big enough.

This year, more than 3200 rangatahi performed for their different schools on the Māori stage.

Photo/PMN News

"The Māori stage is growing exponentially; it's by far our biggest stage," Cragg said. "They are often going late into the night, which is beyond the consent of the venue. In order for us to accommodate that growth, we can't keep them all at the same venue, at the same time."

Cragg said the Māori stage at the Greyhound Track was the hardest hit this year, when bad weather cut performances short.

"We had to close the Māori stage for health and safety reasons. Where it was sited, it had the biggest impact from the wind, so it got smashed pretty badly."

Māori performances will be relocated to a separate venue for the first time at Polyfest. Photo/Supplied

Cragg said the impact of Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival was also another reason behind the change.

Moving the Māori stage to its own venue now means there will be room for diversity performances to have its own stage - the first time in Polyfest history.

"For the past few years, diversity and Niue have had to share the same stage and, because of that, diversity hasn't been able to grow in the way that we want it to grow."

The diversity stage includes performances from Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Sri Lankan, African, Cambodian, Tokelauan, Fijian and Indian Punjabi cultural groups.

"Now with the shift of venues and dates, it means they'll be able to have their own stage."

Cragg said there were still some logistical issues with the Samoan stage, which may have to move to the Greyhound Track or another spot at the Bowl.

Former Sāmoan group performers from Auckland Girls’ Grammar School (AGGS), known as Teine o le Kalama, united in a special performance at Polyfest 2025.

"It's unlikely we will be able to continue with the Samoan stage site in the future, due to changes they are making there."

Auckland Council was planning to plant a fruit orchard at the Samoan stage site, which would make it difficult to accommodate spectators.

"We've been lucky to have 50 years as a really united event, and I want to reiterate that we'll still see Polyfest as one festival, but just with separate dates and two separate sites.

"It's still important to us that we maintain that identity and cultural unity across Tāmaki Makaurau for Polyfest. This is just an exciting growth opportunity for the festival."

Polyfest, which has become a beacon of cultural awareness for young Pacific children in New Zealand, is partly funded by the Auckland Council through its regional events grant.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.