COOK ISLANDS @ THE BIG BANG

In Feb 2014 we will bring 10 stellar Cook Island drummers to Wellington to be a part of The New Zealand Festival 2014 - THE BIG BANG opening event. The twist is that the drummers range in age from 8 to 16 years old and were selected by Murray Hickman of Strike Percussion when he came to Rarotonga to be the very first Creative Artist in Residence run by Motone Productions.  These kids are talented! The opportunity to perform in this production will extend their whole perception on what is possible with the arts and music. The festival can support us once we are in NZ however we need to raise funds to get these performers from Rarotonga to Auckland and then back to Rarotonga. We need approximately $8000.00 to make this happen but we are asking our BOOSTED friends to help us raise $3500.00.

WHAT IS THE BIG BANG.

Wellington welcomes the world at this spectacular opening night event and the Cook Islands will be a part of it. The Big Bangwill star 200 young New Zealanders from Wellington, Christchurch and South Auckland and 8 rising drumming stars from the Cook Islands in a drumming group led by New Zealandly acclaimed percussion ensemble Strike. They'll be taking to the stage in Civic Square alongside hundreds of singers from community choirs across the region and top Kiwi band Kora, who'll bring their own special blend of future-shocked funk, soul and R'n'B to the mix. This will be an explosive night for the whole of Wellington to remember!

HOW DID THE COOK ISLANDS BECOME INVOLVED?

Motone Productions in October 2013 delivered the first Creative Artists Residency for Multi-Disciplinary artists in the Cook Islands.  This project has received core funding from Creative New Zealand, with support from Pacific Resort Aitutaki and Island Car and Bike Hire, Telecom and private supporters.  Have alook at our video clip to see Murray in action with our Kids in the workshops. These are our Kids we want to bring to The New Zealand Festival 2014 event - THE BIG BANG.

The creative residency program was been designed to create collaborative work between the selected artist and our community utilising  the skills of the selected artist to preserve and innovate a Cook Islands Heritage art form while establishing a forum and framework for continued recognition of our heritage art in a contemporary framework. Our goal was to reignite fresh new ways of looking and presenting and producing art.

The residency provided the environment for Murray Hickman of Strike to explore percussion within the Cook Islands community; meeting new people and artists. Motone had discussions with Murray for 10 months to develop a percussion piece utilising Cook Islands Drummers. This work has now become part of The New Zealand Festival 2014 opening ceremony - THE BIG BANG and will be worked on further to become the main piece for the opening of the 2015 Cook Islands Arts festival . This festival will launch the celebrations for the Cook Islands 50 years of independence celebrations. 10 kids have been selected to have the experience of a life time as stars of the BIG BANG and to become leading performers of the future.

Selection of Children:

During the residency Murray worked with a variety of children in Aitutaki and Rarotonga. Showing them his drum compositions and exchanging ideas with them and other master drummers. It soon became clear to Murray that the natural talent shown by these children would mean that he could include them in the event "THE BIG BANG". Murray also began work with Mark Short, Katu Teiti and Maurice Newport for develop how the project could be rehearsed and include Cook Islands beats. Several children came to the workshops but a solid group of 10 became the core to the project ranging in age from 8-16 years old.

Why support the Cook Islands Kids at the BIG BANG?

1. You will be developing the Creative Industry potential in the Cook Islands and the Pacific.
2. You will be contributing greatly to the Cook Islands and South Pacific community supporting cultural artistic exchange and diversity in a way that is educational and career building but that will develop new event ideas and plans.
3. You will help us make this happen!!!!

Please make sure you visit:

http://festival.co.nz/the-big-bang/

http://www.motone.biz/blog.html

The Big Bang is supported by TV3, the Wellington Regional Amenities Fund and the Friends of the Festival

Motone Productions and Acting UP Creative Collective working together to bring arts opportunities to our community