Hawaii Aloha: Honouring the “Hawaii Nation”
How do we assess the success of a cultural event? What metrics apply when you’re talking about dancers, artists and a host of creatives? That’s the challenge facing anyone who wants to determine whether the 13th
A meeting of culture, commerce and solidarity
At the halfway of the recent Festival for Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC), its operations director Makanani Sali described it as a “beautiful, chaotic mess” in an interview with local media. And that is how it
Opinion: Tapestry of Pacific ambiguities: Political tensions against the backdrop of FestPac celebrations
The focus of the Festival of Pacific Arts, or FestPac, is always culture, and the 13th iteration held in June 2024 in Hawai’i was no different. More than two dozen island nations sent delegations of dancers,
Pacific voyaging organisations forge new path of collaboration
A gathering of all the voyaging organisations from Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, including around 10 Pwo navigators, was held last week before master navigator Peia Patai and Vaka Marumaru Atua left Hawai’i
Pacific nations strengthen ties at massive FestPAC celebration in Hawaii
A crowd of thousands bid farewell to the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture on Sunday during a large-scale celebration at the University of Hawaii that hosted delegates from 27 island nations. FestPAC, hailed
More than 1,000 invasive trees harvested to build village for the Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture
The Hawaii DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife worked with the Albizia Project to cut down more than 1,000 invasive trees — mostly albizia, macaranga, and gunpowder trees — that will be used to make 28 hale for
Reversing the tide of colonial anthropology
Doctor Tarisi Vunidilo has emerged as a leading voice in the growing movement across the Pacific in recent years to repatriate Pacific treasures, as well as human remains from museums across Europe and other parts of
Repatriation efforts underway for ancient Chamorro carvings at Bishop Museum
For the first time in more than 30 years, the latte stones are making a public appearance at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. They’ve lived in the museum for over a century since researchers took the cultural relics
Culture not an excuse for violence: PNG Governor-General
Papua New Guinea cannot claim to be a Christian country because its society has many social ills highlighted by a disrespect for one another, says Governor-General Grand Chief Sir Bob Dadae. Speaking during the flag
The beauty, and power of bilas
Australian Museum highlights PNG culture In the darkened spaces of the Australian Museum in Sydney, birdsong and chanting voices echo. Rounding a corner, you are surrounded by the illuminated faces of Papua New Guinean
The business of bilas
Caleb Jarvis’ passion for Papua New Guinean art and craft started when he lived there as a young child, surrounded by, as he describes them, historical, functional, cultural and spiritual objects. “I lived in an