(Picture caption: Screenshot from a video filmed in Tonga - March 2022; Nonga Pulu and Joshua Savieti in Tongatapu, produced by Tikilounge Productions NZ.)
Pasifika artists in Aotearoa and the Pacific Islands will be supported to collaborate and share skills and knowledge in the Digital Moana Nui a Kiva initiative through Creative New Zealand’s first partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).
This partnership is supported by Creative NZ’s Pacific Arts Strategy 2018–2023 and aligns with MFAT’s new Pacific Resilience focus promoting a peaceful, prosperous and resilient Pacific.
Creative New Zealand Chief Executive Stephen Wainwright says the organisation is thrilled MFAT sees the value arts and culture can play in building stronger relationships and knowledge-sharing between Aotearoa New Zealand-based Pasifika artists and creatives in Oceania through digital initiatives.
These digital initiatives have been specifically designed to be delivered in the context of COVID-19, he adds.
Similarly, Deputy Secretary of MFAT’s Pacific and Development Group Andrew Needs says the government agency is pleased to collaborate with Creative New Zealand on this initiative.
“It’s great to reaffirm the role culture, creativity and the arts has in connecting Aotearoa New Zealand to, and with, the Pacific as people and place,” he says.
The digital initiatives focus on several themes: Global Moana Storytellers and Digital Collaborations, with an early concept for a Digital Moana Festival in development by Creative New Zealand.
Projects include publishing collaborations focused on the arts and cultures of two smaller island nations and communities, Tuvalu and Rotuma, that will support the maintenance and transmission of cultural knowledge and become valuable resources for younger generations and can be shared with the world.
Visual storytelling and photography are also a focus with a photo-journalism masterclass for five creatives from the Pacific Islands and five from Aotearoa to develop industry and technical skills that will help them to share the visual stories of their communities with the world.
Other projects include individual independent artists from Aotearoa and the Pacific Islands working on a creative project, in a buddy-to-buddy approach, for support, knowledge sharing and creative innovation.
One of the digital projects includes filming 10 video profiles of artists in Aotearoa and the Pacific Islands, to be shared online for global audiences.
Creative New Zealand is working with artists, partners and communities in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific Islands to deliver the digital initiatives by December 2022, with ongoing support from MFAT.
Visit the Creative New Zealand website for more information on funding for Pacific Arts.