The 2026 programme reflects this moment with a bold, design‑led, future‑focused lineup that reimagines what a Pacific arts festival can be. It is contemporary, ambitious, and unapologetically pan‑Moana — spanning Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia — and it centres the communities who shape the cultural identity of modern New Zealand.
With Charlene Tedrow
This workshop provides a warm and welcoming journey into Siva Samoa, where gentle movement nurtures wellbeing. Participants will enjoy exploring basic Siva Samoa steps alongside their rich cultural meanings — gestures that celebrate our bonds with land, ocean, sky, ancestors, and community. Using soft hands, steady feet, and mindful breathing, they'll discover how movement reflects the beauty of the natural world. Rooted in traditional practice, this session encourages everyone to slow down, reconnect, and honor their bodies. Open to all skill levels. Join us to Siva for health, language, and collective happiness.
With Rosanna Raymond
This workshop centres the malu, the Samoan female tattoo, as a living archive of cultural knowledge and ancestral presence. Through discussion, drawing, writing, and embodied practice, participants will explore how Indigenous knowledge is encoded in the body, and how these markings intersect with gender, identity, and sovereignty. Grounded Rosanna's own malu and artistic practice, the workshop invites critical reflection on issues of cultural appropriation, authorship, and the responsibilities of working with Indigenous visual systems.
“‘O le mamalu o le fafine, o le malu.” The dignity of the woman is her malu.
