Kapa Haka Meets Classical In Te Waka Toi Grants

Kapa Haka Meets Classical Music In Te Waka Toi Grants

Kapa haka and classical music will come together in two of the projects offered grants in the latest funding round of Te Waka Toi, the Maori arts board of Creative New Zealand.

A musical drama, telling the stories of how Ngai Tahu first ventured into the South Island and how a Ngai Tahu leader called Moki sought revenge for the death of his father’s wives, involves both Ngai Tahu and the Christchurch City Choir.

Te Tapuae o Rehua, a joint venture between Ngai Tahu and several tertiary institutions in Christchurch and Dunedin, was offered a grant of $12,000 to develop and perform the musical drama, which is called Ahua.

Combining kapa haka, karanga and taiaha with elements of opera, and even Latin and classical mythology, Ahua includes Ngai Tahu historian Dr Te Maire Tau, West Coast writer Keri Hulme and Dunedin composer Anthony Ritchie. It will be performed at the Christchurch Town Hall in early November, and may also tour to Wellington and London.

Another show combining kapa haka and classical music has been put together by Kapa Haka International of Hamilton. It involves Hinewehi Mohi with the Oceania crew, the Waihirere Maori Cultural Group of the East Coast, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

A grant of $20,000 was offered to the Hamilton company to develop links with First Nation peoples in the United States and with the indigenous people of Hawaii, in the hope of touring the production to these areas.

Elizabeth Ellis, Chair of Te Waka Toi, said the two projects showed that both cultures had attained a level of cultural maturity where they could accept and celebrate each other, and work in a collaborative way.

In the first funding round for 2000/2001, Te Waka Toi received 99 applications seeking more than $2.5 million. In the end, a total of $634,528 was offered to 48 projects.

The five funding programmes to which artists and art organisations can apply are: Heritage Arts, Experiencing Maori Arts, Te Reo, New Work and Indigenous Links. Under the Heritage Arts funding programme, the Waikato Raupatu Trustees Company of Ngaruawahia was offered a grant of $30,000 to workshop and create the final artworks for a new wharenui at Pukawa Bay on the shores of Lake Taupo.

Here at Pukawa Bay, the King Movement was established in 1863 and the title of king was bestowed upon Pootatau Te Wherowhero from Waikato. Leaders of Ngati Tuwharetoa, Waikato and Maniapoto agreed in the late 1960s to construct a wharenui there in memory of that event. Up to 35 people will gain skills in whakairo, kowhaiwhai, tukutuku and raranga as a result of the project.

Few people now remember the skills of making hinaki (eel traps). A grant of $12,000 was offered to the Gisborne Maori arts co-operative, Ukaipo Arts Trust, to hold a wananga to teach this skill and the traditions associated with it. This follows an earlier wananga run by the trust last year, which focussed on taruke (traditional crayfish pots).

“The Ukaipo Arts Trust does great work in supporting Maori arts and artists in Tairawhiti,” Ms Ellis said. “As well as supporting contemporary Maori arts, the trust is also concerned with preserving important traditional arts and crafts.”

Saving Te Arawa dialect from the brink of extinction is a priority for a charitable trust in Rotorua called Te Reo Irirangi o Te Arawa. The trust was offered $20,000 under the Te Reo funding programme to retrieve archival material of Te Arawa speech from universities, museums, Television New Zealand and Radio New Zealand.

The recordings of Te Arawa speakers will be made accessible by radio broadcasts, publication in a magazine, and the provision of tapes or CDs to schools, marae and wananga.

Three talented Maori women singer/songwriters are among those offered grants under the New Work and Experiencing Maori Art funding programmes. They are:

 Toni Huata of Wellington, who recently launched her latest album of 16 waiata at Te Papa Tongawera. All her songs are in te reo Maori. A $10,000 grant was offered towards the marketing and promotion of her album, entitled Te Maori e.

 Whirimako Black, who also looks set to achieve a higher profile with the release of her second CD. Mei Hill of Waitakere was offered a $10,000 grant to produce, promote and distribute her 12-track CD entitled Whirimako.

 Angela Tuari of Invercargill was offered $12,000 to create, develop and produce an album called Everlasting Truth.

Two collectives of Maori musicians were offered grants to produce recordings. A $10,000 grant was offered to Mauri Ora of Masterton to record a CD album of contemporary Maori music while a $10,000 grant to Richard Campbell of Auckland supports the recording of a 13-track album by the Indigenous Funk Company.

Other grants include:

 $30,000 to Te Toi Manawa Trust of the Coromandel for Dr Paki Harrison and Hinemoa Harrison of the Coromandel, renowned for their skills in carving and weaving respectively, to take up a cultural residence at a sculpture park in Yorkshire for three months in 2001

 $20,000 to Te Rakau O Te Wao Tapu Trust to run a 12-week residency leading to performances at the Northern Residential Centre in Weymouth, Auckland. Te Raku has also been offered a grant of $25,000 to develop a new play called Kaitiaki to tour the South Island next year.

 $15,000 to Te Toi Mana Trust of Christchurch to organise a symposium on Pacific body art, particularly ta moko, to be held in Christchurch in February 2001.

 $25,000 to Apirana Taylor of Paekakariki to write a book of poetry and a collection of short stories for children based on the kiwi.

 $20,000 to Rockquest Charitable Trust of Nelson to run a nationwide competition, Smokefree Pacifica Beats Award, for contemporary, mostly original Aotearoa and Pacific music.

 $10,000 to a group of Maori women filmmakers, called Whitiwhitiahua, to show and discuss their films at Pacifica 2000 in New Caledonia.

 $20,000 to Huia Publishers of Wellington to commission a biography on a highly regarded carver, Tuti Tukaokao, now living in Tauranga. Huia Publishers was also offered grants to publish short stories by Lindsay Charman-Love and poems by Rangi Faith.

The closing date for the next project funding round is 23 Feburary 2001. Anyone wishing to apply for a grant to Te Waka Toi should contact any Creative New Zealand office for a copy of the 2000/2001 Funding Guide/Nga Putea.

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For further information, please contact:

Iona McNaughton

Communications Writer

Creative New Zealand

Tel: 04-498 0715

Muriwai Ihakara

Maori Arts Adviser

Creative New Zealand

Tel: 04-498 0734

Te Waka Toi

A complete list of grants in the first funding round 2000-2001

HERITAGE ARTS:

$30,000 to the Taharora Marae Committee of Waipiro Bay, East Coast to refurbish the artwork on the exterior of the historic wharenui. New carving will relate to the style of the original master carver, Riwai Pakerau. Robert Jahnke, lecturer at Massey University, will be responsible for the design and paintwork, and Simon Lardelli, part-time art tutor at Waiariki, Rotorua, will be the principal carver.

$30,000 to Waikato Raupatu Trustee Co of Ngaruawahia to complete artwork for a new wharenui on an historic site at Pukawa Bay, Lake Taupo, which was significant in the history of the King movement. Linking the Ngati Tuwharetoa and Tainui peoples, the project will involve wananga to share and record history, confirm protocols, and discuss detail of the artworks.

$20,000 to Hui Moteatea i Te Whanau-a-Apanui Komiti of Opotiki to complete and transcribe recordings of waiata and moteatea, transfer digital video to CD-ROM, set up a website, and hold more hui to learn and study these laments and historic songs. The aims of the project are to maintain, promote and protect aspects of traditional arts heritage, particularly those relevant to Te Whanau-a-Apanui.

$15,000 to Te Toi Mana Trust of Christchurch to hold a symposium of Pacific body art, centred on ta moko Maori, in Christchurch in February 2001. Strengthening cultural and spiritual links between Maori and Tagata Pacifica is one aim of the hui, as well as learning about health and safety, building skills, forming partnerships and developing projects. There will also be a workshop on issues relating to ownership of designs.

$14,000 to Te Arawa Waka trustees of Rotorua to create totara carvings with paua inserts for a whare to shelter the refurbished, historic Te Arawa waka taua at its Rotorua lakefront site. The whare will provide storage, protection and viewing. The artist involved is Lyonel Grant of Ngati Pikiao, Te Arawa.

$12,000 to the Ukaipo Arts Trust of Gisborne to run a wananga on the making of traditional hinaki, or eel traps. A nine-day workshop will be run in November 2000 at an arts centre and on a marae to pass on this rare skill to local hapu and iwi, students and teachers, artists and young people. The course will include information on tikanga, preparing and cooking eel, the making and use of taruke (cray pots), and marae history.

$11,000 to Takapuahia Marae of Porirua towards three ahi kaa wananga on the traditional arts of Ngati Toa for both young people and adults. These arts will include tikanga, whaikorero, karanga, waiata and raranga. Each two-day wananga will be recorded on audio-tape and video. They are expected to be held in late October 2000, February 2001 and May 2001.

$6840 to Pakirikiri Marae of Tokomaru Bay, Gisborne for the restoration of kowhaiwhai in the wharenui. With close associations to Rarotonga, and construction supervised by Sir Apirana Ngata, this whare is considered the senior marae of the district. It was first opened in 1934.

$5000 to Akerama Marae Committee of Hikurangi, Northland to run two wananga by February 2001 on traditional weaving skills and customs within Ngati Hau. The pupils of Towai Primary School are also expected to be involved, and the finished products will be displayed to the public.

$4985 to Puha Women’s Health League of Gisborne to teach skills of restoring and maintaining whariki, or flax-woven mats. It is hoped that about 40 people, both novice and experienced weavers, will attend the wananga, to be held at Tapuihikitia Marae and Te Aitanga a Mahaki kokiri centre. Leading weavers include Whaipooti Hitchener, with 60 years’ experience, and a younger enthusiast, Rosanna Ratapu.

TE REO:

$20,000 to Te Reo Irirangi o Te Arawa Trust of Rotorua to retrieve, collate, reproduce and distribute Te Arawa speech resources currently held by universities, museums, Television New Zealand and Radio New Zealand. The project aims to save the Te Arawa dialect from the brink of extinction, with tapes or CDs being distributed free to kura kaupapa, Maori immersion classes, marae, and adult whaikorero and waiata classes.

$20,000 to Starfish Entertainment of Auckland to create a 12-minute film in te reo Maori to accompany a live show by well-known entertainer Mika and a cast of young people. The film will include Maori performing arts, theatre burlesque animation and popular dance culture. It will premiere in Auckland next February.

$1500 to Mallinson Rendel Publishers of Wellington towards publication in te reo Maori of a children’s picture book called Te Aniwaniwa o Hine. The book tells the true story of the life and death of a girl of many cultures, particularly Maori, with spina bifida. The writer is Judith Holloway and the illustrator is Phillip Paea of Ngati Porou.

NEW WORK:

$25,000 to Emare Karaka of Auckland to produce and promote new work reflecting New Zealand’s cultural identity, attend the 8th Pacific Festival of Arts in Noumea, and exhibit her work in Japan. She will also contribute to projects that encourage community involvement with artists.

$25,000 to Te Rakau Hua O Te Wao Tapu Trust of Wellington to write, workshop and rehearse a new play called Kaitiaki to tour secondary schools, marae, tertiary institutions, prisons and rehabilitation centres in the South Island. Some of the play’s themes are the conflict between development and preservation, and Maori/Pakeha relationships. It includes song, dance and follow-up workshops, and operates within a Maori kaupapa.

$25,000, to Apirana Taylor of Paekakariki to write a book of poetry about Maori who have resisted colonisation, and a book of short stories for children entitled Kiwi Kiwi. Taylor’s work is published worldwide and he is taking part in a three-month tour of Europe with poets from Siberia, Norway, India and the United States. His storytelling performances in schools and libraries are also very successful.

$15,000 to Ngapine Te Ao of Tolaga Bay to research and develop a manuscript called Karanga Karanga: Contemporary Maori Women’s Visual Art. An artist and curator, Ngapine Te Ao will consider the development of Maori women artists within Maori and New Zealand society, assessing their role and importance. The project will involve interviews with about 25 artists, a literature review, interviews with art journal editors, critics, writers, dealers, and analyses of exhibitions and funding support.

$12,000 to Te Moana Harrison of the Coromandel to create 12 tukutuku panels of innovative design to exhibit in the Coromandel, Manukau and Auckland. The artist has tutored in weaving, set up an art gallery in the Coromandel, and undertaken various tukutuku commissions. She has also exhibited in Ohio, the United States.

$12,000 to Angela Tuari of Invercargill to create, develop and produce a compilation of ten original songs, called Everlasting Truth. She says her music is spiritually centred, contemporary and intimate, and uses the natural rhythms and voices of Papatuanuku.

$12,000 to Te Tapuae o Rehua of Christchurch to support a performance called Ahua, which tells a Ngai Tahu oral tradition, in combination with the Christchurch City Choir and Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. Keri Hulme and Anthony Ritchie have written the text and score, and it is to be performed in the Christchurch Town Hall in November 2000.

$10,000 to Ngaa (Melaina Newport and Rakai Karaitiana) of Auckland for a multi-media project called Bloodlines, relating to the peoples of the Wanganui River east to Waimarama. While expressing their son’s whakapapa, the project will also record the diversity of tangata whenua. It will include a digitally printed photographic display and a projected, interactive CD-ROM for moving image and sound, and is expected to show at the George Fraser Gallery in Auckland next year.

$10,000 to Richard Campbell of Auckland to record a 13-track album. A founding member of the popular funk and dance music group Ardijah, Campbell has also formed a collective of Maori and Pacific artists called the Indigenous Funk Company. This collective has created a strong collection of original songs, which it hopes will have international appeal.

$8900 to Whangarei Art Museum of Whangarei to commission Dargaville artist Manos Nathan to design and create a clay-fired and carved artwork for the museum entrance. The project is part of a long-term aim to place sculptures for display in Cafler Park, where the museum is situated. The theme of the new work is kaitiakitanga (guardianship).

$8219 to Louise Bryant of Auckland to create a dance installation called Blind in collaboration with Rachel Rakena. The work will be presented to a predominantly Kai Tahu audience in Dunedin, and also at the Awataha Summer Festival of the Arts 2001 on Auckland’s North Shore. One of its aims is to redress ancestral wounds between Ngati Toa and Kai Tahu.

$7000 to Ahiwai Performance Company of Auckland to create and develop original music for Soul of a Pacific Sound. Combining dance and song, taiaha and martial arts moves, gospel and traditional chants, the group’s eclectic programme brings together many elements of our society. The group has performed in the United States.

$7000 to Waimarie Hunt of Whakatane to research and develop a series of paintings called Te Pukohu kei raro i te Aniwaniwa, relating to the history of the Tuhoe people of Ruatoki and Ruatahuna. Some of its sources will be the artworks in two marae to which Waimarie Hunt is connected, including images of leaves and flowers, and bird-hunting.

$4500 to Digitaolys (Chaitanya Santana Temepara and Arron Marshall Davies) of Wellington for guitar performances, recording and publication of their music. Digitaolys music offers an interpretation of “Maori life in this millenium”. Primarily classical guitar, its music also includes elements of dance and hip-hop.

$3902 to Darryn George of Christchurch to attend the Melbourne Art Fair 2000 and show three paintings, at the invitation of the SPAN Gallery of Melbourne and a selection committee of the Australian Art Fair. The fair showcases work by some of the world’s greatest contemporary artists, including other indigenous artists.

$3500 to Unreal Theatre Company of Auckland to develop and promote a play called Te Maunga for a young Maori audience. The play is about two half-caste brothers who have been brought up separately and have made different decisions about their cultural identity. It also includes a science fiction play written by a seven-year-old, called The Adventures of Captain Tumeke.

$2300 to Sarah McClutchie of Tokomaru Bay to create and develop three-dimensional artworks using woven harakeke and kiekie. This may involve the building of framed partitions and the development of logos for Maori organisations.

$843 to Huhana Smith of Kuku near Levin for canvasses to create an exhibition of paintings called No Queen’s Chain, to be shown at the Ferner Gallery in Wellington and Auckland in mid-2001. The exhibition will highlight the fact that Maori ownership sometimes overrides public access to land alongside waterways.

INDIGENOUS LINKS:

$20,000 to Kapa Haka International of Hamilton to develop links with First Nation Peoples in the western United States and the indigenous people of Hawaii, towards touring a major stage production involving Hinewehi Mohi with Oceania, the Waihirere Maori Cultural Group and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The show is expected to be staged in six New Zealand venues before touring internationally.

$10,000 to Moana Sinclair of Auckland to produce a documentary about indigenous people in the United Nations. It will outline the history and development of the United Nations, its functions and membership, and its relevance to indigenous people. The documentary is intended to be “upbeat, pacey and with good tempo”.

EXPERIENCING MAORI ARTS:

$30,000 to Te Toi Manawa Trust of the Coromandel for tohunga whakairo Dr Paki Harrison and Hinemoa Harrison, a highly respected weaver, to accept an invitation from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to take up a cultural residency there next year. The couple will take a selection of their work with them, and expect to both teach and learn during their three-month stay.

$30,000 to Nga Puna Waihanga National to host a national hui over three days at Te Aute College, in the Hawke’s Bay, which will include visual, performance and literary art activities for 600 people from throughout the country. The last national hui held by the organisation was in 1996, also at Te Aute College. Celebrities will include Temuera Morrison, Rena Owens and Pio Terei.

$25,000 to the Gisborne Museum and Arts Centre to support a four-day festival of Maori art and culture over the 2000/2001 New Year period. Up to 35,000 people are expected to attend the festival, which will include nine major festival events at 17 different venues in Gisborne. It follows the success of a similar hui over the 1999/2000 New Year period.

$20,000 to Huia Publishers of Wellington to commission and supervise a book on the work and life of Tuti Tukaokao. Of Ngati Ranginui and Ngaitamarawaho, Tuti Tukaokao is an expert carver of wharenui, waka and a number of commissioned works.

$20,000 to Rockquest Charitable Trust of Nelson to stage the Smokefree Pacifica Beats Award, which is a nationwide competition for contemporary , mostly original, Aotearoa and Pacific music. Funding will contribute to the development of the event regionally and nationally, under the pepsismokefreerockquest 2001 umbrella. Young artists, such as Bic Runga, have gained valuable experience and feedback from taking part in the awards.

$20,000 to Te Rakau Hua o te Wao Tapu Trust of Wellington to complete a 12-week theatre therapy residency at the Northern Residential Centre at Weymouth, Auckland. An intensive whanau mentoring programme will challenge dysfunctional patterns and result in disclosure of histories from which a performance will be constructed. After a two-week public performance at the centre, the performance will tour Porirua and Wellington.

$15,000 to Caroline Harrison of the Coromandel to produce artworks for an exhibition entitled Whisper of Tipuna, Journey Through Patterned Lands. Using her skills in tukutuku and weaving, Harrison plans to create a screen divider, a free-standing rotational piece, a coffee table and a headboard. She will exhibit in the Coromandel, Auckland and Wellington.

$10,000 to Tamaki Makau Rau Senior Kapa Haka Society of Auckland towards a kapa haka festival on 24 February 2001. Festival organisers aim to use this regional competition as a marketing strategy for the biennial 2002 Aotearoa Tradional Maori Performing Arts Festival, which the rohe of Tamaki Makau Rau is hosting. They also hope to promote traditional Maori performing arts to a wider audience. The festival will coincide with the Auckland Arts Festival, which opens on 23 February.

$10,000 to Mauri Ora of Masterton to record a CD album of contemporary Maori music. Mauri Ora is a collective of Maori musicians, which aims to promote te reo Maori, develop the use of Maori instruments, experiment with new directions and involve Maori youth. Three songs have been previously recorded by the collective and distributed to Maori radio stations.

$10,000 to Toni Huata of Wellington to launch, market and promote an album of 16 new waiata, all composed, written (in te reo), produced and performed by Toni Huata. Called Te Maori e, the album has recently been launched at Te Papa Tongawera in a show including theatre, dance, live music and fashion. Toni Huata describes the album as a fusion of jazz, jungle and tradition.

$10,000 to Whitiwhitiahua of Auckland to take a group of Maori women filmmakers and their work to Pacifica 2000, New Caledonia. The films will represent Maori women’s involvement in filmmaking and their skill at storytelling. The group hopes it will inspire other indigenous peoples to make their own films. Film screenings will be followed by panel discussions.

$10,000 to Mei Hill of Waitakere to produce, promote and distribute a 12-track CD called Whirimako. All the waiata are in te reo, and were composed and performed by Whirimako Black. Her first CD, Shrouded in the Mist, was well-received when it was released last year.

$4244 to Huia Publishers of Wellington to publish a collection of short stories called Land Rights for Gay Whales by Lindsay Charman-Love. Charman-Love won an award in the 1999 Huia Short Story Awards and was a finalist in 1997. Settings include Aotearoa, outback Australia and the Tahitian coral islands.

$4000 to Star Gossage of Wellsford to create a series of paintings for a solo exhibition at Gallery Oedipus Rex in Auckland in 2001. Inspired by nature, and including movement, reflections and Maori traditions, Gossage’s paintings are often constructed with unconventional materials such as tar, earth and house paints. Gossage recently had a solo exhibition in Whangarei.

$3845 to Huia Publishers of Wellington to publish a new collection of poems by Rangi Faith of Rangiora. Faith’s work has been published in Te Ao Hou, Into the World of Light (1982), and a collection of his poems called Unfinished Crossword was published in 1990.

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