Music Exchange East Asia
We have been involved over the years in various music exchange programmes with partners in both Taiwan and South Korea. These projects have resulted in cross-cultural collaborations, TV programmes and artist tours. The focus has been on Indigenous skills exchanges and mentoring programmes.
Partnering with MC META in Korea, We conceived and produced the Arts Speaks Symposium in Korean and English in Auckland City..
We have been involved over the past few years in various music exchange programmes with partners in both Taiwan and South Korea. These projects have resulted in cross-cultural collaborations, TV programmes and artist tours. The focus has been on Indigenous skills exchanges and mentoring programmes.
Partnering with MC META in Korea, Gareth conceived and produced the Arts Speaks Symposium in Korean and English in Auckland City - Art Speaks is an annual art symposium focusing on inspiring younger artists to build sustainability into their long term practice, whilst also retaining a focus on social justice and global issues in their expression. The event boasted some of New Zealand’s most established social justice and cultural artists including Mike Weston (of Weston Frizzell fame), Rosanna Raymond (Pacific Sisters), and visual artist Jimmy James K.
We were also extremely happy to welcome two international artists who are leaders within their own communities to the event – Robert Young, a Aboriginal artist from Melbourne who focuses on celebrating the identity, heritage and culture of Australian First Nations People; and Korean hiphop legend and social commentator (now lecturer) MC Meta – who also played a concert at Q Theatre later that same evening.
Partnering with Pulima Festival (where Gareth delivered a keynote in 2017 on intercultural music practice), and Taiwan Indigenous People’s Cultural Foundation, Gareth produced a collaboration between Indigenous Amis musicians and New Zealand Maori musicians - recorded and produced for a Taiwanese TV series. The focus was on sharing stories, music practices and themes and delving deeply into shared sounds and historical ties between the Austronesian nations.
A follow up exchange and TV recording cultural collaboration was delivered in late 2020. Due to the covid pandemic and inability to travel, a virtual collaboration and day to day life and music exchange was produced in which three Maori artists exchanged, communicated and collaborated with three Amis musicians from Taiwan. The collaboration yielded a whole series of 9 episodes for Asia region broadcast. NZ Maori musicians were Maisey Rika, Ria Hall and Troy Kingi; the Indigenous Amis musicians were Ado, Suming and A-Lin.
