Kōanga Festival is back, celebrating its 12th year of showcasing Māori and Pacific art in Tāmaki Makaurau.
The festival has continued against a backdrop of major funding cuts across the arts sector, with Creative New Zealand undergoing a major restructure and cutting more than a third of its staff this year.
Artistic Director Amber Curreen said it’s a difficult time for artists and art organisations across Aotearoa.
“It’s been a bit hard to see the strategy in some of this.
“A lot of regions that are suffering as well; you see that particularly in Pōneke, and when things are rocky in Pōneke for Māori theatre, that filters out throughout the rest of the motu.”
The festival has been held up by being funded by multiple sources like Creative NZ, Auckland Council, and several foundations.
“We put a lot of effort into trying to get funding from other places to make sure that coming to a show, coming to see our stories, te atamira is not too expensive; it’s not out of people’s reach, and it’s also so our artists are well paid.”
An artist such as 20-year-old Billy Reynolds McCarthy has been part of the festival for years.
He said with the decrease in funding comes a decrease in work, with the healing powers of the arts diminishing.
“Ka aha tātou? Ka titiro ki te waea pūkoro pakaru ana te roro? Ka haere tawhiti te auahatanga.
“Engari e mārama ki a au, kei te haere tawhiti te pūtea, kei te noho tonu te mana, te aroha, te mauri o te kaikōrero o te kaiwhakaari e tū tonu ana.”
The 20-year-old is doing a one-man show titled ‘I WAS BORN TO SPEAK’, which blends spoken word poetry, theatre, and kapa haka.
“Ko te kaupapa o te whakaari nei a He Reo Pounamu, I Was Born To Speak tōku whānautanga mai i whakarākei tōku kuia i tēnei pounamu ki a au e tētahi karakia ka tono taku kuia ki ōku mātua tētahi ōhākī kia ako au kia kōrero au i roto i te reo Māori.”
Why come to the theatre?
Kōanga Festival, having started on Thursday, goes until 20 September, with multiple performances and interactive events at Te Pou Theatre.
Since its beginning, the festival has supported 44 new whakaari, as well as 51 new kaituhi.
It all started because opportunities only came during Matariki celebrations, with nothing else for the rest of the year, according to Curreen.
She said she and others wanted to challenge putting it only in a Māori time of the year.
“When we started Te Pou, we wanted to start this Koanga festival as well.”
The name came from a one-off festival in 1990 named ‘Te Kōanga’, where Don Selwyn performed The Māori Merchant of Venice.
“We wanted to bring back that and honour those like Matua Don Selwyn who have paved the way for whakaari Māori,” she said.
Curreen said that Māori were “creative storytellers, makers, and the way that we see ourselves, the way that we tell the stories of who we are, that creates our reality”.
“There is so much incredible research around what happens for society, for people generally, with their engagement in the arts and with their engagement in that, you know, taha auaha. It’s just really, it’s really important to us as humans to do good humaning.
“I think it’s also one of the most powerful things that you can do for a job.”
McCarthy believes the theatre is the best way for people to increase their dopamine.
“Ko te kaupapa nui Kōanga te mahi toi, te mahi whakaari, ko te mea nui o te mahi whakaari, he rongoā mō te roro, mō te tinana, mō te tangata, mo te iwi,” he said.
Information and tickets for Kōanga Festival are available here.
