Kia Mau festival brings Māori and Pasifika theatre music and art to Wellington

Kōpū is described as 'a no-holds-barred celebration of wāhinetanga (womanhood)'. Photo: Supplied

By RNZ

The indigenous festival Kia Mau is bringing Māori and Pasifika theatre, music and art to the streets of Te Whanga-Nui-a-Tara.

Kia Mau co-founder Hone Kouka said the festival began as an effort to get more Māori and Pasifika scripts written and put on stage.

By 2019 it had become so big that the decision was made to hold the festival every two years.

Kouka said there was something for everyone at this year’s festival, from indigenous science fiction, to laugh out loud comedy, to dark drama.

“That’s one of the things that I really like about our artists and our artists have really picked it up - there’s no one way to be Māori, there’s no one way to be Pasifika or indigenous as well. So I think there are tastes for everyone in the festival.”

Kia Mau was founded on indigenous story sovereignty - in Māori and Pasifika worlds this meant telling a story in your own terms, without outside influence, Kouka said.

“The basis of our festival is sovereign, that it’s built by Māori and Pasifika from the ground up, our tikanga is an integral part of everything... I just came from a mihi whakatau from one of the theatres and they’re very used to us in regards to that, so that’s sovereignty in its own right as well.”

Seven-piece band MĀ and The Fly Hunnies will be playing as part of the Kia Mau festival. Photo / Supplied

Kouka said that for Kia Mau the artists had a sense of freedom that they would not have in a mainstream festival.

There were indigenous creatives visiting Wellington from as far away as Hawaii, Taiwan and Canada. He said the city was buzzing ahead of the festival.

“Wellington is a city built for art festivals, and to see so many brown artists or artists of colour who are coming and they don’t even have work they just want to be here.”

This year there would be a big focus on visual art and on music, Kouka said.

The festival’s biggest production will be Avaiki Nui Social - A Night of Cook Islands String Bands.

Kia Mau begins today and runs to June 17.