It was a successful Northland venture for Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi attending the 2010 Ngapuhi Festival held in Kaikohe.
An estimated 35,000 people packed out the grounds of Northland College for a two-day festival from Friday 29th -30th January. The festival is a celebration of being Ngapuhi. The tribe is the biggest iwi with more than 122,000 people and over 300 hapū.
The festival featured wananga on topics ranging from the language and songs of Ngapuhi to the tribe’s history and links to other cultures of the Pacific and a world-class exhibition of work by Ngapuhi artists. The free event attracted a top line-up of performers. On the Saturday Anika Moa, Ruia Aperehama and Sweet and Irie took the stage. The following day Katchafire, Sons of Zion, and reggae band 1814 played.
A good size contingent represented Awanuiārangi and was led by Professor Graham Smith, Koro Wikeepa, Te Tuhi Robust and Len Hetet. Staff from the School of Indigenous Graduate Studies and the marketing team manned the stall, which was shared by Northtec.
Awanuiārangi has for some years had a presence in the north with its ACE programs and recently entered into a partnership with Northtec delivering some of its programmes at sites around Northland.
An increase in profile warranted Awanuiārangi’s presence at the festival. There was a significant interest in the wananga with the team receiving a large number of expressions of interest and some enrolments. Also notable were the large number of people who had qualifications and were looking to studying further. Also important were the local Awanuirangi staff members and their contacts and networks. The marquee was a bustle of activity of people catching up and just talking.
