MEDIA RELEASE June 25, 2009

Serious Purpose Behind Creative Expo
ATAMIRA: Māori in the City
July 3-5, ASB Showgrounds – All Welcome

ATAMIRA - Māori in the City, a biennial expo celebrating Maori creativity and enterprise has a serious purpose behind all of its entertainment, market expo and family fun event activities.

The weekend also has a business-focussed side, which runs parallel to the vibrant buzz of the overall event. First up on Friday July 3 is a Māori business breakfast organized by the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) to be addressed by the Minister of Māori Affairs, Hon. Dr Pita Sharples. This is a direct outcome of EMA’s participation at the Job Summit, where opportunities to leverage Māori talent and resources was identified as an important outcome.

On Saturday July 4 the National Māori Innovation Summit will feature guest speakers from the cutting edge of innovative and scientific businesses, such as Ian Taylor of Animation Research Ltd, a pioneer in television computer graphics for major sports and drama; Rawiri Faulkner, a specialist in environmental planning and earth sciences as well as business management; Rhonda Kite of Kiwa Films, who invented VoiceQ, an award-winning system for dubbing films and TV programmes that has been used by Hollywood studios including 20th Century Fox for the Tom Cruise movie “Valkyrie”; NIWA chief scientist Dr Charlotte Severne, an expert in renewable energy solutions for Māori communities and composer and researcher Te Ahukaramu Charles Royal, who will speak on the creative potential of indigenous knowledge.

The summit will bring together key iwi and political leaders from around the country and will be followed on Saturday night with the Innovation Icons Evening, in which seven leaders in Māori innovation will be honoured with special awards. Media are invited to cover these business events. Please apply for media pass – see below.

The business breakfast, the National Innovation Summit and the Innovations Icons Evening are set within the three days of ATAMIRA - Māori in the City, which is a free indoor expo and festival with the capacity to entertain, educate and enthrall crowds from Auckland and elsewhere.

An important part of the expo displays will be the innovative entrepreneurial work by young people, including Massey University’s robot which won the Vex Robot Competition at the World Champs last year; Victoria University’s whānau in science displays covering biological science, computer science, engineering, chemistry, psychology, architecture and design; and interactive displays using computer technology to convey innovative youth ideas, plus some of the entries from the Young Enterprise Scheme for schools.

A line-up of top musicians, including Herbs, Smashproof, Nesian Mystik, House of Shem, King Kapisi and many more will perform in free all-day concerts on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 July in the Logan Campbell Centre.

The main exhibition area will house a range of market stalls, selling arts, crafts, jewelry, fashion and more from stallholders from all over the country. There will be food stalls featuring a range of Maori delicacies and cooking demonstrations and a celebrity chef cook-off.

Visitors will see active demonstrations of carving, weaving, ta moko and body art and can participate in Maori Television’s recording of an episode of their popular karaoke show “Homai Te Pakipaki”. Fashion parades will include designers Haka, Shona Tawhiao, Norwinz Raewyn Tumaki, Jeanine Clarkin and Amy Sky.

The Kete Aronui Experience Art Gallery will display and sell works by many major Māori artists, including painters Reuben Paterson, Sofia Minson and Jamie Boynton, multimedia artists Shona Rapira Davies and Diane Prince, performance artist Shigeyuki Kihara and more.

ATAMIRA - Māori in the City is hosted by Ngāti Whātua o Orakei Corporate Ltd and supported by Te Puni Kōkiri – the Ministry of Māori Development - with Ports of Auckland, Aotearoa Credit Union, Auckland City Council, Waitakere City Council, Manukau City Council and University of Auckland.

ATAMIRA - Māori in the City
July 3, 4, 5 10am-4pm, ASB Showgrounds, Auckland
Music stages operating Saturday 4 & Sunday 5.

http://www.atamira.org 0800ATAMIRA

ENDS

© Scoop Media