Polyfest returns to south
Murihiku Ma¯ori and Pasifika Cultural trust board chair Junior Tonga, left, and Polyfest organiser Pauline Smith in front of Polyfest Art Exhibition entry titled Ko Matariki Me Ona Teina by the middle syndicate at St Joseph’s school, Invercargill. Polyfest begins this week and is being held at Stadium Southland.
Southland’s youth are being encouraged to take more of an active roll at this year’s Polyfest, as well as performing on stage.
Murihiku Ma¯ ori and Pacifica Cultural Trust business development manager Mandy Smith said a mentoring programme had been set up for some of the school pupils involved in this year’s week-long performance so they could learn more about aspects of the festival and how it was run.
‘‘We’re trying to get them into more of a leadership role.
‘‘We have 12 key leaders who work in specific areas such as backstage, changing rooms, catering and other areas. This year they’ll be mentoring pupils and teaching them about what they do so they can be more involved in years to come.’’
Funding and support had been received from the Ministry of Youth Development to set up the mentoring programme.
‘‘It will be good for youth to take more of a leadership role because Polyfest is for them.’’
About 30,000 people will pass through the Stadium Southland doors to either perform or watch Polyfest this year, she said.
‘‘The kids get so much out of it. It gives them awesome exposure to their own culture if they are Ma¯ ori or Pacifica, or to a new culture if they’re not, but we’ve also had performances from Filipino and Indian communities too, so they are exposed to that as well.
‘‘They are so proud of being on stage. We’ve had teachers tell us that they struggle to get wha¯ nau along to some school activities but when it’s Polyfest they’re all there. It’s huge for the kids – it’s a really, really big deal for them.’’
Murihiku Polyfest will be held at Stadium Southland from today until Friday this week.
About 25 schools would take part in the Polyfest for Central Otago schools on October 25 and 26 in Queenstown.