Fanua/Whenua Exhibition

Fanua/Whenua is a multidisciplinary Polynesian art and performance festival being held in Whaingaroa /Raglan over Queen’s Birthday Weekend (Fri 29 May – Mon 1 June 2009).

The event is being organised to showcase arts with Maori and Pacific influences through a variety of performance and visual media. We honour the whenua and its importance to indigenous peoples in their lives and work which this forms the vehicle for out kaupapa.
There are over 30 multimedia visual artists who will be exhibited at various venues throughout the weekend, which include

Tai Mueli
Becky Nunes
Heeni KeriKeri
James Samuela
Ariana Maniapoto
Jessie Santorick
Reihana Maniapoto
Brian Ruawai
Fran Kora
Roka Ngarimu-Cameron
Ruth Port
Raglan Area School
Whaingaroa Waiata Sessions
And many more artists

The confirmed Performance Cafes at the Raglan Town Hall is Saturday night New Zealand Soul Diva and who has built up a loyal jazz, blues and Maori fan base with her sublime reo Maori and English songs Whirimako Black, Pasifika Sway performing traditional dances of Tahiti, Samoa, Cook Islands, Aotearoa and Hawaii infused with Polynesian contemporary style that has won audiences over at many festivals both here and overseas, Whaingaroa Youth Performances performing Polynesian dancing
Presale Tickets $30

Sunday night will be Samoan vocalist and songwriter Iva Lumkum. Andre Ngapo winner of the Sunday Star Times Short Story Awards and Second Chapter, Reggae band based in Hamilton
Presales $25

Tickets for both nights are available from Raglan HQ, 34 Bow St, Raglan. There will be more ticket outlets available shortly.

Several workshops will be offered in different aspects of performance and visual culture which will be informative as well as entertaining. The creative workshops will programme will cater for all age groups especially for the Youth as an educational opportunity to gain experience and open to new skills not readily available.

The Raglan Town Hall will be the venue for a full programme of film screenings and a Community Photographic Exhibition. There will be an opportunity to see ‘Tama Tu’, ‘Journey To Ihipa’, ‘Coffee and Allah’ and many more. Each session will be an hour and a half in length and be a mixture of short and featured films. The cost for this is $8 Adults, $5 Students (with ID) and children under 14 years free. A donation of $1 from each entry will be made to assist special needs children in Samoa for whom there is little funding available for education.