February 26, 2018
Waka expert to navigate 2019 commemorations
Waka expert Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr has been appointed co-chair of the Tuia 250 committee, which is coordinating commemorations around the country to mark the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s arrival in Aotearoa and the first first meetings between Maori and Europeans
Prime Minister and Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern says along with co-chair Dame Jenny Shipley he brings the right experience and mana to achieve Tuia 250’s aim to ensure 2019 commemoration reflects who we are today and how we navigate our future together.
It also acknowledges the extraordinary feats of Pacific voyagers who reached and settled in Aotearoa many years earlier.
Preparations for the commemoration are already well underway, led regionally by charitable trusts, iwi, hapa and local authorities in the four parts of New Zealand where Maori and Europeans first met – Tairawhiti, the Bay of Islands, Coromandel and Marlborough.
The opening ceremony in October next year will be in Gisborne, where Former Maori Language Commission chief executive Glenis Philip Barbara has just been appointed general manger of Te Ha Sestercentennial Trust.
As part of the Tairawhiti programme, musician Tama Waipara will develop a new festival of arts and culture that will become an annual event in Gisborne’s calendar from 2019 onwards.
Experience commemoration and festival organiser Briony Ellis is Te Ha’s commemorations programme director, while artist and singer Mere Boynton will be programme director.
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