Te Rangitawaea Festival 2009

Te Rangitawaea Festival Reaches Five Year Milestone

A Coastie style spaghetti western and an appearance by a rising hip hop superstar were among some of the highlights of the 2009 Te Rangitawaea Festival held in Ruatoria recently. The annual event now in it’s 5th year celebrates the unique ICT(Information Communication Technology) skills of Ngati Porou East Coast students and was open to the community.

The theme for this years festival was ‘Nga Pakiwaitara o Ngati Porou’ (The oral traditions and stories of Ngati Porou). Films, animations and other forms of digital media produced by students reflected the rich history of Ngati Porou while also demonstrating creativity and innovation across a range of technologies.

Ngata Memorial College hosted the festival’s day time programme which included interactive technological exhibits by the region’s schools. Some of the expo sites invited participants to peer view through a digital microscope, get their photo taken, or learn about the benefits of interactive white boards, blogs and wiki’s within the classroom.

Two tech themed competitions were also held at the College. The ICT Team Challenge tested students’ skills and abilities as they competed against the clock to create a multi-media promotional campaign for a new radio or TV station. While at the same time competitors vied to become the overall champions of the recently introduced Guitar Hero Gaming Challenge.

Popular R & B/hip hop star J. Williams also made a guest speaker appearance at the festival. The twenty one year old musician talked about his career in the music industry, and encouraged students to achieve their goals by applying their own creative talents and digital skills. He also performed a showcase of his latest hits, with support from his back up dancers infront of an enthusiastic crowd. J Williams even invited some of the students to join him onstage to perform.

The evening Nati Awards ceremony held at Uepohatu Marae marked the conclusion of the festival. The ceremony was also streamed live online, following a webcast by Tiwi Nati student news reporters earlier in the day.
The Nati Awards is an ‘Oscar like’ celebration acknowledging this year’s best student digital media creations across a wide range of categories. Highlights of the ceremony included a humorous short film inspired by the Western genre called “The Blowdown Showdown” ; animations recreating the adventures of Ngati Porou ancestors; and live performances from original music composition finalists. Many amongst the audience believed that the songs heard live on the evening were capable of being hits ready to be played immediately on the radio.

A new element to the Nati Awards evening was the inclusion of a DJ. Before the festival Tolaga Bay Area School student Josh Andzue had been mentored by musician Laurence Rangi over 6 weeks. Throughout this period Josh created songs to be played while the Nati Award winners accepted their prizes. He also learned other valuable skills to assist his own developing music career such as performance techniques and professionalism.

Three hundred and fourty six entries were received in this years Nati Awards competition and feedback from judges included comments about the creative and innovative interpretation of the Pakiwaitara kaupapa. Thirty two awards were presented at the ceremony. Four Pipi Nati’s, 22 Nati Awards and six Supreme Awards. The top two Supreme Awards on the night went to Tikitiki School for Best Overall Junior School and Tolaga Bay Area School for Best Overall Senior School.

Festival spokesperson Sue Ngarimu-Goldsmith says that this year’s event has provided a platform to evaluate the festival’s achievements. “There has been a quite obvious progression over the past five years of the students’ skills and abilities. This is reflected by the complex and deeply layered creativity that has been produced, as well as the technological competence and confidence expressed by the students. The Pakiwaitara theme presented an opportunity to celebrate our own stories, as well as develop ICT skills. It has also encouraged students to think about what history can teach us, and how we can apply those lessons to our lives today.”

Ngarimu-Goldsmith also believes through streaming the festival online it may encourage the students’ to develop their skills further. “By opening up the festival to a potentially global audience it becomes more engaging for the students and also promotes awareness within the creative sector that we have an emerging talent base in our area. The finished products can also be uploaded onto sites like You Tube, and become a great resource for schools and others. Because our students are young they can afford to take risks and be experimental with their work. There is so much talent here that covers everything from acting to film-making to song writing and much more. Hopefully the students realize there are opportunities to build careers in these sorts of industries.”

The festival is a major focus of the Te Rangitawaea ICT strategy for all 18 Ngati Porou East Coast Schools. The strategy is a sub-project of E Tipu E Rea (ETER), the Te Runanga o Ngati Porou/Ministry of Education Partnership for schooling improvement. The overall aim of Te Rangitawaea is Integrating ICT in all curriculum areas. Its vision is to maintain Ngati Porou East Coast schools at the forefront of education innovation in ICT.

The 2009 Te Rangitawaea Festival Committee would like to acknowledge all the schools, kaimahi, technicians, sponsors , judges, community and whanau supporters and everyone else that supported this year’s event.
The Committee would also like to thank Ngata Memorial College and Uepohatu Marae for hosting Te Rangitawaea Festival 2009.

Visit www.terangitawaea.com for more info.