Pacific Arts Summit

The jewel in the crown of the Pacific Arts Summit is True South, which responds to a glaring gap in the fashion market by highlighting a hand-picked selection of local designers who honour and celebrate the plus size, the Amazonian, the big and the tall – the women of “Poly-Fabulous” proportions.

Featuring a line-up of big, bold local talent True South promises to be a night that will seriously shake-up notions of Nesian body politics. Don’t miss this spectacular show at the Mangere Arts Centre on 4 May.

On the following day, the home of Otara Scorpions rugby league club, Ngati Otara Park, will host a unique project that sees local realism artist Joe Lane paint a vibrant mural on three of the clubroom’s exterior walls.

The live mural painting will be part of a gala day, which features Polynesian food stalls backed by a full programme of Otara Scorpions rugby league games.

The fourth wall of the clubrooms will become a Wall of Legends created by students from nearby Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate. The wall will immortalise the Scorpion’s most famous sons and daughters, such as Rueben Wiki, Manu Vatuvei and Kiwi Fern Cynthia Ta’ala.

Another key event during the summit is the intimate evening of story telling and live music at OMAC Unplugged on 18 May.

For 24 years, the Otara Music Arts Centre has been a community hub where music is taught, recorded and created. Some of South Auckland’s most talented musicians will be on hand to share their experiences, their music and their huge personalities, in an evening that should not be missed.

But that’s not all, this year’s Pacific Arts Summit is full of exhibitions, shows and creative learning that will inspire, delight and inform

It kicks off on 21 April at the Mangere Arts Centre, with two exhibitions ‘parallels’ and ‘Lounge Room Tribalism’ showcasing the talents of Niuean artist Darcell Apelu and Samoan artist Graham Fletcher and runs until 3 June.

21 April – 3 June

Various locations is South Auckland