Te Waka Tapu o Taiktumu

Tu Tangata, Issue 32, 1 October 1986, Page 50

Te Waka Tapu o Taiktumu

The old Hastings District Council Municipal building has been taken over by a Maori trust much to the amazement of the Hastings commercial barons. The trust is Te Waka Tapu o Takitimu and the unsuccessful tenders included the Hastings Arts Council and The Country Club, both of whom had substantial financial backing.

The trust are using the municipal building for employment training in the performing arts field. Trust board chairman, Tama Huata said there was a great deal of opposition to the board obtaining the hall, because of ‘the bad element of the Maori people’. “All the big business men of the town made up the other tenders,” he said. A petition was taken up against the Takitimu trust with 60 signatures, but “we put out a counter petition with 400 signatures”, said Tama. Comments in the newspapers included, “Why don’t they go back to the

marae,” or “Business at this end of town will drop off with this bad element.” However now the trust is concentrating on the job ahead. The employment training for the performing arts covers physical fitness, te reo, Ngati Kahunguna kawa and history (compulsory), Maori and Polynesian culture as well as a wide-ranging study of music. People are also being taught the ins and outs of running a cafe, a theatre restaurant, a bar and also technical training in the running of a radio station and a sound station plus producing films and videos. Tama Huata says these facilities will be ready by the end of the year. “What we are doing is working to our strength.”

“We’re not growing grapes and kiwifruit, that’s foreign to us, we’re teaching language and rhythm as our foundation as these are the things we are good at as Maori.” “We have unemployed people from the Labour department, the probation offices, prisons and young people having difficulties at school. Our aim is that they be totally conversant in maori, completely aware of all facets of the performing arts, broadcasting and performing tours, while being fully employed.” Tama said there were few problems

with the predominantly young people. The choice was left to them if they wanted to come onboard. “We are not here to fail them,” said Tama. His aim is that the 40 young people currently training in the municipal building become versatile and employed. Fourteen people got jobs last year through the trust. “Our performing arts school had been running for one and a half years in an old hall until May this year when we moved to this one.” The municipal building had been vacant for over three years. The district council’s decision to let the Takitimu Trust use the building was based on a pepper-corn lease of SI2OOO a year. Mr Huata said that’s paid for with funds from the trust and borrowed

monies. Te Waka Tapu o Takitimu performing arts group have both local and international experience. The group performed at the Melbourne Moomba festival last year and next year in January are off to Perth.

It’s here that the Australian experience of Tama and his brother Te Rangi Huata has come in handy. Both have spent some time in Australia helping organise such events as the Sydney Maori Festival and cultural education tours to schools.

Te Waipounamu schools have already benefited from Te Waka Tapu o Taki-

timu and Te Rangi says extensive preparation is underway to ensure that Te Ika a Maui doesn’t miss out. He’s so enthused about the performing arts work of the trust that he’s considering moving his Australian base here for half of the year. The Municipal hall will also be used to house regional FM bilingual radio station. The station called Radio Kahungunu, first broadcast at the beginning of the year for 10 days. Mr Huata said, “we are looking towards having a permanent bilingual station.

Radio Kahungunu should be geared up to go on December 1 and would be run by the young people themselves, he said.

Training for the running of the station will take place at the hall with assistance from Radio New Zealand. A market survey undertaken by the trust, has shown that the station could get at least 2Vz percent of the potential advertisers from Wairoa, Hastings and Wairarapa.

“This figure is quite low, but feasible,” Mr Huata said. All the schemes at the hall are not geared for personal gain but are for the development of our young Maori people, he said.