6 POUTŪTERANGI / MARCH 2017
HOME OF HAKA SHOWCASES ASB POLYFEST 2017
Māori Television will present its most extensive on-air and online coverage yet of the ASB Polyfest as the official
broadcaster of the largest Māori and Pacific festival in the world.
ASB POLYFEST 2017 will showcase the best of Auckland’s secondary school kapa haka performing on the Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi Māori
Stage. Now in its 42nd year, the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival takes place at
the Manukau Sports Bowl from Wednesday 15 March to Saturday 18 March 2017. This year’s theme is ‘Me Poipoi te
Rangatiratanga i tona Ahurea – Nurturing Leadership Through Culture’.
In 2016, more than 9,000 students from 228 groups representing 64 schools competed in traditional speech, song and dance
on six separate stages (Māori, Cook Islands, Niue, Samoan, Tongan and Diversity) while some 90,000 people attended the
event. This year’s Māori Stage is supported and hosted by Kelston Girls’ College, Te Wharekura o Hoani Waititi Marae and
Ngā Puna o Waiōrea – Western Springs College.
Māori Television will produce a bumper package of programming and promotional activities on-air, online and on the
ground from this year’s four-day festival:
• MĀORI STAGE OMNIBUS: Every kapa haka performance on the Māori stage will be broadcast in its entirety on the 100 per cent Māori language
channel, Te Reo (Sky82, Freeview 15) – a total of some 20 hours. The four omnibus episodes will go to air on Thursday 23
and Friday 24 March from 5.30pm to 9pm; Saturday 25 March from 5.30pm to 11pm; and Sunday 26 March from 2.30pm to
10.30pm; as well as being available to view on demand on the Māori Television website, www.maoritelevision.com
• KAPA HAKA REPACKAGE: Every kapa haka performance on the Māori stage will be repackaged and featured in its own half-hour show on Māori
Television and Te Reo – a total of some 50 episodes. The half-hour shows presented by HAHANA host Sonny Ngatai premiere on Māori Television on Tuesday 6 June at 5.30pm and on Te Reo on Monday 26 June at 7.30pm.
Each episode will also be available to view on demand on the Māori Television website as soon as it goes to air. In
2017, the series gets even better as viewers get up close and personal with the performers:
- Student Presenters: Rangatahi present their very own episodes as Māori Television records their opening and closing links at the festival.
- Backstage Access: Sonny Ngatai catches up with the kapa haka leaders post-performance to hear how they think they went on stage.
- Highlights: The best moments from the featured groups will be edited for a bite-size tease at the top of each episode.
- Snapchat Kura: Students from Division 1 schools take us on a behind-the-scenes tour of their kura to show us where their performances
come together. Directing the Snapchat stories is popular social media star Puawai Taiapa from HEY PUAWAI and PŪKANA.
- Cougar Boys: Meeting the many faces from the festival, the Cougar Boys take us to the most ‘lit’ stages, introduce us to the team
‘on fleek’ and sample the kai you can’t go without. MEMOIRS OF A MĀORI star Charde Heremaia also features in each episode, posing challenges to unlikely spectators with their spinning wheel
of topics.
- Polystage: Māori Television highlights the culture, colour and talent at Polyfest including performances from the Cook Islands,
Niue, Samoan and Tongan communities and from the Diversity Stage who whakapapa to Africa, India, Fiji, Indonesia, Sri
Lanka, Philippines, China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Mongolia, Tuvalu and Serbia.
• ONLINE: In addition to the omnibus and repackaged kapa haka shows, one haka item per school – in this case, the whakaeke
(entrance) – will be uploaded to the Māori Television website on the same day as their performance (Wednesday 15 March
to Saturday 18 March 2017).
• MĀORI TELEVISION PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD: Hot off the success of the 2016 People’s Choice Award which attracted 3,500 votes. The top group from each of the three
divisions with the highest number of votes will receive a $750 cash prize. Voting opens at 9am on Wednesday 15 March and
closes at 9am on Tuesday 21 March. All votes are to be entered via the Māori Television website,www.maoritelevision.com
• SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY: Māori Television will call on a pool of social influencers, popular with rangatahi, to infiltrate their existing social
communities and encourage their audiences to tune in.
• JUDGES MERCHANDISE: Māori Television is again sponsoring the 34 judges of Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi Māori Stage at the 2017 event.
Catch all the haka action when Māori Television screens ASB POLYFEST 2017 – with the Māori stage omnibus on Te Reo channel on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 March from 5.30pm to 9pm; Saturday 25
March from 5.30pm to 11pm; and Sunday 26 March from 2.30pm to 10.30pm; followed by the half-hour repackaged performances
premiering on Māori Television on Tuesday 6 June at 5.30pm and on Te Reo on Monday 26 June at 7.30pm.
MĀORI STAGE OMNIBUS – Division 3 – Te Reo channel on Thursday 23 March 2017 from 5.30pm to 9pm:
Alfriston College – Te Pae ō Takaanini
Māngere College
Baradene College – Te Kāreti o Paratene o te Manawa Tapu
St Cuthbert's College – Kahukura
Mount Roskill Grammar School
Southern Cross Campus – Te Taki Autahi
Aorere College – Te Rōpū Kapa Haka o Aorere
Sacred Heart College – Te Ngakau Tapu Kapa Haka
Onehunga High School
Ōtāhuhu College – Te Pihinga o te Koru
One Tree Hill College – Te Whānau o Puakiekie
MĀORI STAGE OMNIBUS – Division 3 – Te Reo channel on Friday 24 March 2017 from 5.30pm to 9pm:
Howick College – Tū Toa
Waitakere College – Ngā Pae Maunga o Waitakere
Te Rōpū Kapa Haka o Pukekohe High School
McAuley High School
Epsom Girls Grammar School – Te Rōpū Kapa Haka o Ngā Kōtiro o Maungawhau
Kaipara College
Edgewater College
James Cook High School – Te Puutake
Auckland Grammar School
Whangaparaoa College – Te Haumihi
Ngā Puna o Waiōrea (Western Springs College) – O Rehu
MĀORI STAGE OMNIBUS – Division 2 – Te Reo channel on Saturday 25 March 2017 from 5.30pm to 11pm:
Papakura High School – Kahurangi ki Uta
Rosehill College – Te Kapa Haka o Pukeroihi
Avondale College – Te Rōpū Pātiki
Manurewa High School – Te Ahikaaroa
Lynfield College
Westlake Girls High School and Westlake Boys High School – Te Kapa Haka o Ngā Taonga Kahurangi o Ururoto
Sacred Heart College – Te Ngakau Tapu Kapa Haka
Wesley and Waiuku Colleges
St Peter's College – Te Kotahitanga
James Cook High School – Te Pou Herenga Waka
Birkenhead College – Ngā Peka Hou
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o te Raki Paewhenua
Henderson High School – Ngā Taiohi o Panuku
Ngā Puna o Waiōrea (Western Springs College) – Ngā Oho
MĀORI STAGE OMNIBUS – Division 1 – Te Reo channel on Sunday 26 March 2017 from 2.30pm to 10.30pm:
Auckland Girls' Grammar School – Kahurangi ki Maungawhau
Mount Albert Grammar School – Te Kapa Haka o Te Puna o Wairaka
Dilworth School
Massey High School – Taiohi Tātaki
James Cook High School – Te Kapunga
Selwyn College – Te Kāhu Pōkere
Tuakau College
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Pūau te Moananui-ā-Kiwa / Te Wharekura o Manurewa
Rutherford College – Te Rōpū Kapa Haka o Te Kōtuku
King's College – Te Kapa Haka o Kīngi Kāreti
Kia Aroha College – Te Whānau o Tupuranga
Kelston Girls' College and Kelston Boys High School
Ngā Puna o Waiōrea (Western Springs College) – Ngā Puna o Waiōrea
Te Kapa Haka o Te Wharekura o Hoani Waititi Marae
ENDS