Under threat from Covid-19, safeguards rolled out for indigenous arts

Thursday, 28 January 2021

The National Māori Pandemic Group says it is putting the protection of Māori at the centre of the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination.

A $20 million programme safeguarding indigenous art is being rolled out amid fears that if the knowledge isn’t protected now, it may be lost forever.

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed a threat to Māori art, as kaumātua, who are often but not always holders of knowledge (mātauranga) in te ao Māori, are one of the most-vulnerable groups.

The programme – dubbed Mātauranga Māori Te Awe Kōtuku – will see the Ministry for Culture and Heritage administer the funding with help from various partner agencies (Creative New Zealand, Heritage New Zealand, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Te Matatini, Te Papa) to deliver wānanga initiatives over two years alongside hapū, whānau and iwi.

“Covid brought into sharp focus the significant existing risks to mātauranga Māori [which is] central to Māori wellbeing in Aotearoa,” Arts Minister Carmel Sepuloni said.

Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, says Māori taonga and knowledge needs to be protected for future.

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The initiatives will help communities protect and share mātauranga relating to ngā toi Māori (Māori arts), kapa haka, hanga whare (built heritage), wāhi tapu and wāhi tupuna.

One project Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision is helping oversee involves helping iwi preserve magnetic film.

The programme will also see a new $5.7m contestable fund established to protect and revitalise taonga and mātauranga on marae around New Zealand, as well as see guidelines established to protect Māori content online.

“There is no doubt that in these uncertain and fragile Covid times funding to support Māori artists and our whānau, hapū and iwi collectives is urgently needed,” said Māori arts advocate Elizabeth Ellis (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou).

Magnetic film (VHS) deteriorates over time.

“Knowledge of cultural heritage, tangible and intangible expressions of culture, and traditional knowledge generally are held by our kuia, kaumātua, elders through our history and our stories from the past.

“We regret that much has already been lost because we did not record their voices.”

One of the initiatives involves preservation and digitisation of at-risk audio-visual taonga, including the 1970s series Tangata Whenua and magnetic media (video tapes), which Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision is overseeing.

Magnetic media degrades over time, and Ngā Taonga will provide training and field kits for iwi across the country to use to preserve their own audio-visual material for future generations, Ngā Taonga Pou Ārahi Paul Meredith said.

“They’re deteriorating, subject to mould, there’s limited machines in the world that play them, there’s limited technicians with the capability to fix them. It’s important to digitise them.”

Meredith had already been in touch with people who held various films in drawers, cupboards and under beds. With tapes, kaumātua are often the only ones who can identify people and events featured, hence the added layer of urgency.

The agency would have to be strategic in how it could preserve as much material as possible, Meredith said. The initiative would allow the authority to build relationships with iwi, and create capability for Māori to preserve and store material themselves.

While it was important for future generations to be able to access the material and mātauranga, the work was also about “creating interest among rangatahi in the … cultural heritage sector”, Meredith said.

“In a day and age where we're interrogating identity and culture and tikanga, it's important to have these reference points to inform us.”

The work was also important from a wairua (spiritual) perspective, he said.