Tuvalu’s first national arts festival stretches beyond the capital

Tuvalu’s first national arts festival is already underway in spirit, with outer island communities bringing their culture, stories and knowledge to Funafuti ahead of the main celebrations.

The Fakaapo Tuvalu Arts Festival was due to begin earlier last week but heavy rain and rough seas forced the organisers to delay the 28 August opening as delegations from the outer islands were unable to travel safely by ship.

Instead of putting the festival on hold, organisers have extended the lead-up with events for early arrivals and international guests who could not change their travel plans.

Speaking with Fala Haulangi on PMN Tuvalu, organiser Marama T-Pole said the outer island delegations - from southern islands like Vaitupu, Nukufetau, and Nukulaelae - remain the "gold and centrepiece of Tuvaluan culture".

“Some of these people are coming in especially for the festival and they won't be able to shift their schedules,” T-Pole said.

“In a way, we're stretching the festival out, so we're really lucky to have that as well.”

Fakaapo Tuvalu Arts Festival organiser Marama T-Pole says the event is an opportunity for Tuvaluans and Pacific people to tell their own stories. Photo/RNZ/Stefan Lins/Flickr.com/CC BY-SA 2.0/PMN Composite

The five-day festival is Tuvalu’s first dedicated national cultural festival and will place Tuvaluan arts and heritage at the centre of events on reclaimed land in Funafuti.

That includes traditional knowledge, with organisers filming and digitising carving and navigation practices so young Tuvaluans can learn directly from their elders.

The festival is also giving Tuvaluans and other Pacific creators space to tell their own stories.

Professor Selina Tusitala Marsh, the former Commonwealth Poet Laureate and Professor of English at the University of Auckland, hosted writing workshops at Tuvalu Secondary School alongside a reading of her book Mop Head at the local convention centre.

T-Pole says Marsh’s Tuvaluan, Sāmoan and Palagi heritage makes her visit especially meaningful.

“She's Tuvaluan, Sāmoan and Palagi. We're so excited to have her here. It's her first time coming to Tuvalu,” T-Pole says.

“Poetry is not just a Western thing. [We’re] very good at it. We can compose a hymn. That's in our blood. That's who we are. So Selena's coming here to add to that and we're really excited to have her here.”

The Pasifika Film Fest team, including actor Marie Chanel and director Leki Jackson-Bourke, has also been running acting and directing masterclasses.

For T-Pole, giving Pacific people the tools to tell their own stories is one of the festival’s most important goals.

Watch Marama T-Pole’s full interview below.

“It's really exciting because we often have people coming to Tuvalu and they tell our story. Our story is then taken to the world. But who is telling that story?

“So, for us as Tuvalu or Pasifika people, we really need to be telling our own stories. So this is a wonderful opportunity that we've been given. I'm really grateful for that.”

The extended programme has also included a Moana Tasi short film on climate mobility, discussions among island leaders about Tuvalu’s long-term cultural vision and presentations by diaspora artists supported by Creative New Zealand, including Ululau Ama.

During last year’s festival preparations, T-Pole said organisers filmed and digitised traditional carving and navigation knowledge so young people could learn directly from elders.

With the seas settling enough for the main celebrations to go ahead this week, Funafuti stands ready to officially open the Arts Festival on Friday, 28 August. For more information, click here.