ASB Polyfest: Saturday CANCELLED

***URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT***

Final Day of ASB Polyfest cancelled - 16 March, 2019

The ASB Polyfest Trust Board and ASB Polyfest Director have decided to cancel the final day of this year’s festival in light of the terrorist attack that has taken place at two mosques in Christchurch this afternoon.
Chair of the ASB Polyfest Trust Gregory Pierce and ASB Polyfest Event Director – Seiuli Terri Leo Mauu said this evening “the safety and well-being of our student performers, and the public that come to enjoy the festival is always paramount in our planning.”

“Today’s events in Christchurch have unsettled some of our performers, Polyfest staff, schools and our sponsors, and to respect their well-being we have decided to cancel the final day of the festival.”

“If the event had gone ahead there would have been a significant presence of heavily armed police at the festival which would not have been appropriate for Saturday’s family day focus at the ASB Polyfest.”
The organisers will be available for media queries, at the Manukau Sports Bowl on Saturday morning at 10am.

We will keep you all posted. Thank you for your patience.

ASB Polyfest team
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The ASB Polyfest is an iconic Auckland festival, which celebrates its 44th Anniversary in 2019 from the 13-16 March at the Manukau Sports Bowl.

The festival is the largest Maori & Pacific Islands Festival in the world, and features traditional music, dance and speech from Auckland secondary school students. It is festival filled with colour and culture, a celebration of youth performance, and a showcase of New Zealand’s diverse cultures.

Students compete in speech, song and dance on six stages - Cook Islands, Maori, Niue, Samoan, Tongan, and a Diversity stage which comprises of cultures such as Chinese, Fijian, Tokelau, Indian, Korean and Sri Lankan. Students perform on these stages with pride and passion, and the honour of being top school in their respective culture.

Another key part of the ASB Polyfest is food and craft. Each stage has a surrounding village with food & craft stalls from the respective Maori or Pacific culture.

The 2018 festival saw 12,045 students performing on stage, as part of 241 groups from 68 Auckland schools. 108,000 people attended the 2018 festival over its four day duration.

The theme for the 2019 festival is –
The blood of the ocean flows through me
My sustenance, my nest of higher learning, my navigator
I am the living essence of the ocean
the living essence of the ocean is me”