Previous Story
CNMI delegation readies for Pacific fest
|
Posted on Jun 09 2000
Close to 100 CNMI participants set to join the Festival of Pacific Arts in October are organizing to raise funds for the upcoming festivities to be held in New Caledonia this year.
According to delegation head and Arts Council Project Coordinator Cindy Macaranas, the team of artists and participants collectively is targeting to raise $280,000 for the off-island trip from October 23 to November 3, 2000.
Hopes are high that the delegation will be able to raise the amount through a series of fundraising activities starting this month, according to Ms. Macaranas.
The 12-day celebration is recognized as the 8th Festival of Pacific Arts, an assembly of the region’s rich and diverse cultures and tradition.
Delegates to the festival will be hosted in boarding facilities of all New Caledonia public and private schools.
Aside from the CNMI, festival organizers are expecting participants from Guam, Fiji, Australia, Cook Islands, Palau, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, the Marshalls, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, New Zealand and others.
The theme for this year’s festivities is “Pacific Culture on the move together.” It aims to allow Pacific communities to show their roots and understand the feelings of the younger people amid cultural and artistic diversity.
According to Octave Tonga, director of the 8th Festival of Pacific Arts, Pacific nations should celebrate its diversity and differences.
“The fact that we are different is our societies’ main asset. However small that difference may be, its contribution enriches the universal heritage,” said Mr. Tonga, who is also the chair of the Council of Pacific Arts in New Caledonia.
The festival is also set to mark the passage to a new era of traditional societies within the background of modern realities.
According to organizers, the concept for this year’s festival will raise awareness on traditional societies which had to come to terms with cultural influences from the outside world. (MM)
