Photo: RNZ / Tiana Haxton
The Auckland Pasifika Festival is moving up and up after a few difficult years.
The long -term event faced its fair part of challenges.
The festival was canceled in 2019 after the attacks of the Christchurch mosque, then again in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, the festival went on, but it took a very different tone, held just a few weeks after the storms devastated much of Auckland.
At the same time, rumors spinned the event facing budget cuts, although it was able to avoid the ax.
Last year’s festival was a return to form, and organizer Jep Savali says he is still tracking up.
“I mean, Covid changed everything to everyone, wasn’t it? And then, on heels, we had Auckland’s birthday floods and it certainly changed the landscape in terms of events in general,” he said.
“But by saying that I think we are just starting to return to this growth curve and we are raising up and on.”
Savali, manager of Tātaki Auckland Unlimited’s major event group, said that after five years the city’s event sector finally recovered from Covid-19.
“Throughout the industry, we are listening to conversations that we are basically back to pre-covid levels,” he said.
In fact, he believed the festival was thriving.
“We are definitely in a growth curve and we are seeing improvements in the festival year after year and, with this, there is more activation, we have young bright stars in the arts and the cultural world that are coming.”
Monte Albert deputy Helen White said the central suburbs have long adopted the Pasifika festival as part of community culture.
“I think the contribution of the Pacific community in the huge Auckland,” she said.
“They really contributed to the kind of richness of culture and basically anchor us in the Pacific.”
Behind the scenes, Jep Savali said organizers were working to improve the festival.
“What we really try to concentrate this year is to really maintain our food and crafts, offering genuine and authentic,” he said.
Authenticity became an important topic in discussions with Pasifika Village Charitable Trust, which advised the cultural integrity of the festival.
“In our feedback on how we can be better, where we can once again increase this festival, authenticity is really important. Authenticity of food supply, authenticity in terms of cultural exchange, in terms of performances.”
Trust’s president, Ena Manuireva, said the Pasifika festival preserved was vital and shared authentic practices.
“For me, the authenticity is to go to Pasifika and scrape the coconut as we do on the island. This is authenticity,” he said.
“You know, don’t use these different machines, electric machines. This is authenticity. For me, that’s what we used to do. It’s important that uniqueness is being displayed there.”
Manuireva, born in Tahiti, said Pasifika’s celebration gave him a taste of home.
“For me, to us, for the diaspora, I’m talking about Tahiti, we don’t have many people here at Tahiti. In fact, we’re the slightest community,” he said.
“For me, when I think Pasifika, I think, you know, at home away from home. So that’s for me, Pasifika is my home.”
Manuireva expected to share the experience with Aucklanders when the Pasifika festival was inaugurated on Saturday morning at the Western Springs Park.
