Celebrating te reo Māori at the Auckland Arts Festival
Auckland Arts Festival has reaffirmed its commitment to te reo Māori through Toitū Te Reo, delivered as part of Tuia Te Muka Kōrero, the Auckland Festival Trust’s Māori Strategy.
This strategy guides our responsibility to uphold the mana of te ao Māori, which includes the delivery of te reo Māori programmes, acknowledging the Māori language as a treasure, and as an integral and normalised part of our everyday lives here in Tāmaki Makaurau.
“Nau mai ki te kaupapa whakahirahira o Toitū Te Reo, hei whakanui, hei whakamānawa i te reo Māori, i te ahurea Māori, i te ao Māori ki te Pokapū o Tāmaki Makaurau, kia rongo ai, kia kite ai hoki i te reo Māori e rere nei.“
This year’s programme includes Ihi. Wehi. Mana., celebrating 45 years of Te Waka Huia through a special performance uniting past and present members with choral leader Karen Grylls. Music-led works such as ONO celebrate International Women’s Day by Moana & the Tribe and He Manu Tīoriori brings fresh Māori songwriting, soulful voices, and infectious grooves that celebrate the music and language of Aotearoa.
Theatre also features strongly, with emerging Māori playwrights presented through He Kākano, alongside major works including WET by Tūī Matelau, a fierce, funny and unflinching exploration of wahine sexuality, creative freedom and the messy, beautiful contradictions of modern motherhood, and Waiora Te Ūkaipō – The Homeland, set in the summer of 1965 and following Hone as he brings his whānau from the East Cape to the South Island in search of a better life, all reinforcing the festival’s commitment to Māori language, storytelling and cultural excellence.
