The Festival of Pacific Arts, Pacific Arts Festival, or FESTPAC is a traveling festival hosted every four years by a different country in Oceania (map). It was conceived by the Pacific Community (former "Secretariat of the Pacific Community") as a means to stem erosion of traditional cultural practices by sharing and exchanging culture at each festival. The major theme of the festival is traditional song and dance. The 2008 Festival of Pacific Arts was hosted by American Samoa from 20 July to 2 August 2008; it was the 10th Festival of Pacific Arts.
The Pacific Cultural Council (former "Pacific Arts Council" or "Council of Pacific Arts," originally "South Pacific Arts Festival Council") selects the host country and recognizes that each participating country desires the opportunity to showcase its unique indigenous culture by hosting the festival. Host selection is based on principles of equity and preference is given to countries which have not yet hosted. The festival host country pays participants' costs of local travel, accommodation, meals, and other forms of hospitality. Entry to all artistic events is free to the public thereby maximizing cultural outreach and inclusion.
By its vastness, the Pacific Ocean inhibits social and cultural interchange between the inhabitants of its mostly island countries. The festival, not a competition but a cultural exchange, reunites people and reinforces regional identity and mutual appreciation of Pacific-wide culture. Participating countries select artist-delegates to represent the nation at this crossroads of cultures, considered a great honour.
About 2,000 artists attended the 2008 Festival of Pacific Arts from these participating countries: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Easter Island, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, S?moa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna. Taiwan was allowed to send a delegation of 80 performers and artists, most of whom were Taiwanese aborigines, to the Festival of Pacific Arts for the first time in 2008.
Video Festival of Pacific Arts
Locations
Maps Festival of Pacific Arts
See also
- Pasifika Festival, annual one-day Polynesian festival in the month of March, attracting up to 200,000 in Auckland, New Zealand.
- Bernice P. Bishop Museum, in Honolulu, Hawai?i, houses the world's largest collection of Polynesian artifacts. It is also known as the Hawai?i State Museum of Natural and Cultural History.
- Pacific Islands for Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia groupings synopsis.
- Artists from Hawaii (links to Hawaiian artists category)
- List of Hawaiian cultural topics (links to Hawaiian culture category)
- New Zealand artists (links to New Zealand artists category)
- Hawaiian Renaissance
- History of Indigenous Australians
- History of the Pacific Islands
Footnotes
External links
- Festival of Pacific Arts web site (redirects to current host site)
- Pacific Arts Association website An independent association devoted to the study of all the arts of Oceania.
- Pacific Arts Alliance Host of First Artists' Forum at the 10th Festival of Pacific Arts
- Secretariat of the Pacific Community web site has Organizational and support information
- Frommer's Event Guide
- Takeuchi, Floyd (2011). Pasefika: The Festival of Pacific Arts. Self. p. 186. ISBN 978-0615441467.
- 2016 Guam Festival of Pacific Arts website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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