Ranui concert to celebrate youth
A youth designed concert will take centre stage in Ranui for Youth Week.
The event will be hosted by Ranui Action Project (RAP) in collaboration with youth from Ranui 135, a community run youth initiative.
Art co-ordinator for RAP, Edith Amituanai, said around seven youth at Ranui 135 had been organising the concert since March.
They had designed it for themselves, she said.
‘‘It’s an event that looks like them.’’
She said RAP helped run grassroots community projects. It was important events were created from within the community, Amituanai said.
The Ranui Youth Week Concert included performances by west Auckland rapper and singer Revus, dance act Fresh Movement, Konecs, Lady Fats and Tyree Lorraine.
Amituanai said the artists were ‘‘underground’’ but known online, and it would be cool for the community to see them in person.
The Ranui resident said there were not many free events for youth, especially at night.
Ranui was a young and diverse community and the concert was a way to celebrate good things about youth, she said.
She said they wanted the event to ‘‘feel like Ranui’’ and hoped around 400 people would attend, including people from outside Ranui.
Westlyn Masiutama, 19, a youth representative on the Ranui 135 board, said it was a positive event for youth to look forward to and everyone could come along.
It showed youth were ‘‘worth celebrating’’, she said.
The tertiary student said she had helped organise the event since 2015 and was most excited about seeing Konecs. People knew the words to his songs so that would ‘‘pump up the crowd’’, she said.
She said it was important the event was free because money could be a problem for youth.
Masiutama said she came from poverty and if events cost money people might think twice about going.
The event would be held at Ranui Pacific Islanders Presbyterian Church, 35 Armada Drive, on June 2 at 6pm.
For more information, go to facebook.com and search Ranui Action Project.
Youth Week runs until June 4.