Image: Participants at the 40th Meeting of the Council of Pacific Arts and Culture held in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
Honolulu, Hawai’i, has just celebrated the 13th edition of the Festival of the Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC), the only festival of its kind to bring First Nations voices across 27 countries in the Pacific under the theme Ho‘oulu Lāhui—Regenerating Oceania. Typically held every four years, FestPAC celebrates the vibrant cultural heritage of Pacific Island nations through art, dance, music, navigation and more; and showcases the region's diverse cultural expressions. The Pacific Community (SPC) – an IFACCA Affiliate Member – is the custodian of FestPAC and its key activities including the Council of Pacific Arts and Culture, the Council of Cultural Ministers amongst other key actions and initiatives. There are various events that take place in the context of FestPAC over ten days and IFACCA was honoured to participate in several key gatherings represented by our Executive Director Magdalena Moreno Mujica and our Operations Manager Kate Nixon. In addition, IFACCA convened our 10th meeting of the Pacific Chapter Members.
At the 40th Meeting of the Council of Pacific Arts and Culture held on 3 June, Ms Moreno Mujica, presented an overview of the challenges and opportunities of leading public agencies for culture in times of exponential change creating synergies between the Pacific context and other global contexts. She shared key findings from the 9th World Summit on Arts and Culture in Stockholm in 2023 in particular those related to First Nations people and also presented the vision for the 10th World Summit on Arts and Culture that will take place in Seoul, Republic of Korea in May 2025, and how strongly it connects to the Pacific concerns on safeguarding traditional knowledge as we chart the future. On 4 June, the IFACCA Secretariat were observers at the 7th Meeting of Pacific Ministers of Culture.
FestPAC also provided the ideal platform to advance several discussions with government agencies form a range of countries to join the Federation. As such, IFACCA officially welcomed the National Cultural Commission of Papua New Guinea to the Federation as a new National Member, further strengthening the voice of the Pacific in the global arts and culture conversation.
Presided by Mr Adrian Collette, AM, Chief Executive Officer of Creative Australia and Chair of our Pacific Chapter, the 10th meeting of the Pacific Chapter was held on 6 June at the main venue of FestPAC. The meeting was attended by senior representatives from now six National Member institutions including Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands as well as Affiliate Member, The Pacific Community (SPC) who hosted the event. IFACCA also took a delegation to experience a tour of the renowned Islamic art collections at the Shangri La museum.
Image top: IFACCA Members attending the Pacific Chapter Meeting in Honolulu, Hawai'i, during FestPAC.
Image bottom (left): Ms Magdalena Moreno Mujica presenting at the 40th Meeting of the Council of Pacific Arts and Culture.
Image bottom (right): Mr Steven Kilanda, Executive Director, National Cultural Commission, Papua New Guinea and Ms Magdalena Moreno Mujica, Executive Director, IFACCA.