Friday, 12 June 2009
ATAMIRA - Māori in the City, the celebration of Māori creativity and enterprise, returns to the ASB Showgrounds July 3-5, building on its inaugural 2007 success and aiming to coincide in 2011 with the Rugby World Cup semi-finals.
Organisers hope to attract more than the 100,000-strong crowds who in 2007 flocked to the undercover venue to enjoy this family fun festival, which brought free music, dance, fashion, art, craft market and food stalls to the central city, against a backdrop of fostering Maori enterprise and creative businesses.
This year, the music stage on Saturday and Sunday will feature New Zealand’s renowned and influential band Herbs who will headline a line-up of top musicians including Smashproof, House of Shem, Nesian Mystic, King Kapisi & Tere Moana Rapley and many more, performing a free concert, amidst an upbeat, thriving atmosphere of market stalls and craft displays demonstrating Māori creative energy and enterprise.
The Kete Aronui Experience Art Gallery will display and sell works by many major Māori artists, including painters Reuben Paterson, Sofia Minson and Jamie Boynton, boundary-pushing multimedia artists Shona Rapira Davies and Diane Prince, performance artist Shigeyuki Kihara and many more.
There will be demonstrations of tā moko, whakairo (wood and stone carving) in the main exhibition space and fashion from top Māori designers. Craft stalls will sell a wide variety of art and craft works, clothing and jewelery. In addition, there will be a range of health and well-being information and activities. And a selection of food stalls.
In keeping with its theme of encouraging entrepreneurs and extending that to young people, ATAMIRA - Māori in the City will also display some of the entries in the Young Enterprise Scheme, part of the New Zealand Enterprise Trust, in which competing school teams set up businesses. There will also be interactive displays, including Massey University’s robot which won the Vex Robot Competition at the World Champs last year; an ARC/Wai-Care/Stormwater display around conservation and scientific research and Victoria University’s whānau in science.
ATAMIRA - Māori in the City is hosted by Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei Corporate Ltd and supported by Te Puni Kōkiri – the Ministry of Māori Development.
For more information call 0800 ATAMIRA or visit: www.atamira.org .
Last modified: 29/08/2008