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Encouraging talented artists to showcase their work in form of poetry and writing is the ultimate aim behind the Wasawasa Festival which was launched at the South Pacific Arts Village in Albert Park today.
Held in conjunction with the 2009 Miss South Pacific Pageant, the Wasawasa Festival brings together people from around the Pacific to share ideas through art.
“The Arts festival began with the Visual Arts Exhibition that was held at the Fiji Museum and also the Melanesian photography exhibition,” Fiji Arts Council Director Letila Mitchell told FijiLive.
The Arts festival is guided by the theme “Protecting Our Oceans and ensuring a future for our people and our ocean.”
Mitchell highlighted that the arts festival is also a launching pad for the art of canoe culture.
“The launching of the canoe will be held on Saturday and it also marks the opening of the pageant. The canoe is launched at dawn because it symbolises the birth of something new, so the opening ceremony will be at the break of dawn in which seven canoes will arrive on our shores to mark the opening and also to promote the Ocean Noise project.”
She said the Ocean Noise Project is a method to stop and eradicate the increase in noise pollution “and this is brought about through shipping”.
The Heritage Arts Exhibition kicks off tomorrow in which the FAC will gather receipts of entries and Arts Market registration at the South Pacific village.
Meanwhile, the FAC has also organised a canoe making workshop that will be held at Albert Park this Saturday after the launching of the canoes.
The Wasawasa Arts Festival will continue until Saturday, November 28, when the South Pacific Pageant also comes to an end.
