Organisers of the Māori stage at ASB Polyfest are hoping to secure funding to ensure the stage is sustainable for years to come, especially as the festival nears its 50th anniversary.
Attracting nearly 60 groups and around 9000 spectators throughout the four-day event, the Māori space is arguably the largest of the six Pacific stages. In recent years, organisers have been fortunate to receive government funding due to Covid, but now that money is set to run out.
Chris Selwyn, tumuaki of Ngā Puna o Waiōrea, who are leading hosting responsibilities for the event, said preparations for this year's competition, set to take place in March, are currently on track.
"The two major hui last week was, of course, the ASB Polyfest Trust hui, where one of the key things on the agenda was the actual funding and feasibility for the continuation of our festival and of our stages.
"Despite some of these challenges, we are looking forward to hosting the festival."
Funding for the event goes towards hiring the venue, stage, sound systems, and security, as well as accommodating judges. Selwyn said the major concern for the organising committee now is ensuring funding is available as they look to the next five years of the event.
"Planting that seed of how we can look at the sustainability for the Māori stage long into the future, and where it can easily also be taken up by having a host school. But also having a komiti matua that would be able to support the running of the stage and whichever kura happened to be or wanted to host the stage for that year."
Kapa haka run by Māori, for rangatahi Māori
Te Ahurea Tino Rangatiratanga is the second regional kapa haka event for the Tāmaki Makaurau area, set up in 1996 as a response to kura who felt Polyfest had become bureaucratised with the involvement of council and government organisations.
"Katahi anō ka neke tēnei whakataetae ki roto o Manukau… I tūrakitia te mana o ia kura, o ia kura ki te hautū i ēnei momo kaupapa (Once the competition permanently moved to Manukau… the authority of schools to be able to host such events had diminished)," said Harley Emery, organiser of the event.
Twenty-eight years after the establishment of Te Ahurea, Emery said the event has paved the way for kura to make their own decisions in the interest of rangatahi Māori to achieve their best potential on stage.
Since then, there has been little involvement from both local and central government in Te Ahurea competitions. Emery said that has come down to the way host schools get to maintain their own ways to source funds.
"I motuhaketia ai tēnei komiti, ā, e pai ai tō rātou aru i ngā kamupene nui, atu i ngā minita Te Tāhuhu [o te] Mātauranga (The committee is independent, so they're able to source funding from big companies besides departments such as the Ministry of Education)."
Glossary
tumuaki – principal, leader
hui – to gather, meet
komiti matua – main committee
kura – school
kapa haka – Māori cultural group
rangatahi – younger generation, youth
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