ASB PolyFest 2024 Returns to Auckland
The countdown begins to the 2024 ASB Polyfest, Auckland’s Secondary Schools Maori & Pacific Islands Cultural Festival.
Celebrating 49 years of Polyfest history, this much-loved community event for all ages returns to the Manukau Sports Bowl.
With six cultural stages across its three-day event, there is something for everyone. This is the one event of the year where Auckland’s secondary school’s cultural groups and young individuals prepare to take part in speech competitions, and cultural group performances in front of family and friends — not to mention the thousands of visitors this event attracts every year.
The 2024 theme is ‘Me anga whakamuri kia koke whakamua’ which translates to ‘Looking to our past to determine our future’.
Another highlight of this event is the abundance of stallholders featuring food stall delicacies from the Pacific, arts and crafts, and a chance to check out special event stalls where you could win a prize or two! ASB Polyfest organisers are expecting large crowds and are encouraging visitors to get their online tickets early.
The official powhiri is 20 March 2024 and will be attended by all participating stages (Cook Islands, Diversity, Maori, Niue, Samoa and Tonga). This is a community and family event not to be missed.
Kapa haka run by Māori, for rangatahi Māori
Te Ahurea Tino Rangatiratanga is the second regional kapa haka event for the Tāmaki Makaurau area, set up in 1996 as a response to kura who felt Polyfest had become bureaucratised with the involvement of council and government organisations.
“Katahi anō ka neke tēnei whakataetae ki roto o Manukau… I tūrakitia te mana o ia kura, o ia kura ki te hautū i ēnei momo kaupapa (Once the competition permanently moved to Manukau… the authority of schools to be able to host such events had diminished),” said Harley Emery, organiser of the event.
Twenty-eight years after the establishment of Te Ahurea, Emery said the event has paved the way for kura to make their own decisions in the interest of rangatahi Māori to achieve their best potential on stage.
Since then, there has been little involvement from both local and central government in Te Ahurea competitions. Emery said that has come down to the way host schools get to maintain their own ways to source funds.
“I motuhaketia ai tēnei komiti, ā, e pai ai tō rātou aru i ngā kamupene nui, atu i ngā minita Te Tāhuhu [o te] Mātauranga (The committee is independent, so they’re able to source funding from big companies besides departments such as the Ministry of Education).”
Glossary
tumuaki — principal, leader
hui — to gather, meet
komiti matua — main committee
kura — school
kapa haka — Māori cultural group
rangatahi — younger generation, youth
