Page 17 - IB June July 2024

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By Samantha Magick

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 often felt as a delegate,
as there were so many important activities happening
simultaneously across Oahu. Many of those have been
broadcast and shared already, but there were a few themes
that continue to provoke thought and reflection.
The meeting of culture and commerce
The venues at which artists and thinkers gathered in
Hawaii, spoke to the many discussions being held formally
and informally throughout the festival. The main site, the
Honolulu Convention Centre, is a sprawling glass and steel
structure. In the central gathering area, visitors crossed a
Welcoming the Waa (traditional vessels) at FestPAC
threshold of sand and sea images projected onto the floor
and walls, and entered a dark space where you were greeted
by the familiar smell of vegetation from the thatched
hales (traditional structures) where delegates from each
participating country and territory were able to gather and
sell traditional arts and goods. This main hall also housed
several stages where performances were held throughout
the festival. Other parts of the convention centre hosted a
wide range of symposia, screenings, exhibitions and thriving
commercial spaces.
FestPAC activities were also held at museums, sports
stadiums and shopping centres.
And while the performances in malls sometimes seemed
incongruous, as people on the way to the beach and shops
skirted large groups of dancers from Rapa Nui, Cook Islands
and Tahiti, it did take the festival out of strictly cultural
spaces to the broader community.
Prior to the festival, the region’s culture ministers discussed
the Pacific Regional Cultural Strategy 2022-2023 and its Guam Governor, Lou Leon Guerrero and Cook Islands Prime Minister, Mark Brown
implementation. That strategy states that “the relationship and his wife, Daphne at the Festival opening. Photos: Samantha Magick
between the tourism sector and the culture sector are
mutually reinforcing” and identifies ‘cultural innovation’
as a priority area, citing the need for government support arrived some days later), was met with a harsh response,
“to encourage sustainable growth of cultural and creative which veered into racist and personalised attacks by some.
producers”. Meanwhile, at the artists’ village outside the Bishop Museum,
Many acknowledged culture and commerce is a delicate another controversy flared over the presence of a female
balance. Given these ambitions, and the place of culture in Cook Islands carver in what had been deemed as a culturally
Pacific economies, there was symbolism in the Tongan dancers male-only space.
who performed under a shower of US notes released from To VOU co-founder Sachiko Soro, the discussions about
those watching them from the upper floors surrounding their their opening night performance, while hurtful to the young
stage at the Ala Moana mall, one of the Hawaii’s most visited dancers who had represented their country so proudly, were
tourism sites. an opportunity for some important conversations about
culture.
The ‘immutability’ of culture She told a symposium running during the festival: “I think
When Fiji’s celebrated VOU dance group took to the stage that what’s happening over time, because we’re becoming
at the festival opening ceremony, the response from the more modernised and then there are less and ‘reasons’ to
crowd was rapturous. However online and back at home, the perform traditional dance, it is becoming more homogenised—
decision to have a contemporary group represent the country this is just my own observation—and that the diversity of the
at the opening, rather than a traditional meke group (which dance is being lost.

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