The Out in the Park (OITP) 2016 committee is making free stall space available during the festival and hopes to boost Māori and Pasfika involvement in 2017.
Pasifika community members Kawikaka’iulani Aipa (Kava Club) and Fetu Tamapeau (BOX Oceania) met with OITP Committee members Adrienne Girling, OITP Committee co-chair, and Bernard Lee, community engagement and Mr Gay Wellington (and recently, New Zealand), to talk about ways to increase Māori and Pasifika engagement last year.
During the meeting, Kawikaka’iulani and Fetu made the following recommendations:
(1) Establish and appoint a Māori cultural competency advisor to the OITP Committee to increase Māori involvement in the decision-making process.
(2) Allocate at least 10% of OITP stall space for free to peoples indigenous to Aotearoa and Oceania as a way to acknowledge and honour tangata whenua and our place in the Pacific.
Fetu noted that Tīwhanawhana should be approached about what is best for our takatāpui communities. She says Adrienne and Bernard seemed supportive of the recommendations.
“There is a genuine willingness to connect there. If the committee wants to achieve greater Māori and Pasifika involvement, the welcome mat must be laid out properly. Barriers must be minimised, and reciprocal relationships created and maintained for all in our under, within, over and beyond the rainbow communities.”
Both Adrienne and Bernard had since joined Tīwhanawhana, but the OITP Committee is yet to establish a Māori cultural competency advisory role.
Adrienne and Bernard followed up on the recommendations last month, saying that having Māori and Pasifika advisory roles in the OITP committee was something to plan towards in 2017.
However, this year the OITP Committee allocated 6 free stalls (10%) available to community groups in general.
Adrienne notes that next year community groups will be given more time to plan ahead, as some groups couldn’t take up the offer due to prior engagements and short notice.
The recipients of the community spaces this year are Ariki Arts, New Zealand Prostitutes Collective (NZPC) and Intersex Trust of Aotearoa New Zealand (ITANZ).
Youth-oriented groups Outerspaces (Schools Out, Naming NZ and Tranzform) and InsideOUT were also offered extra stall space.
BOX Oceania will be hosting a stall at the festival.
BOX Oceania 