Get Lusi Faiva's AIGA to Samoa!

Samoan disabled artist, Lusi Faiva intends to take her Touch Compass theatre performance work, AIGA, to be performed in Samoa in September 2026. 

This year, in September 2025, in preparation for that, Lusi and her team (support worker, cultural support and producer) would like to travel to Samoa to identify accessible locations to perform the work, and to continue her work advocating for access and the disabled community. 

This will also be the first time Lusi has touched the fanua of her homeland, so the project is deeply personal.  

AIGA is a powerful, groundbreaking piece of theatre which premiered in 2024 at Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland Arts Festival, has shown at Nelson Arts Festival, and in June will premiere in Te Whānganui a Tara, Wellington as part of the 10 year anniversary of Kia Mau Festival. 

Lusi Faiva (Patamea, savai’i)

Is a pioneering artist championing disability access and Pasifika representation in Aotearoa’s performing arts. A leader in arts and cultural accessibility, her decades-long career has empowered disabled and neurodivergent artists. Her latest work, AIGA, blends dance theatre and accessibility, earning acclaim for its emotional impact. A respected mentor, Lusi has helped reshape Touch Compass into a disability-led organisation. She is preparing to tour AIGA and develop a mentoring programme for young Pasifika artists with disabilities. With her commitment to advocacy and excellence, Lusi continues to transform the arts landscape, making it more inclusive and representative of diverse voices.

Jordan Walker (Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, Ngāi Te Rangi)

With 14 years of experience in festivals and events, Jordan's work has grown significantly since completing the Māori Arts Internship through Toi Māori Aotearoa in 2020. They were Line Producer for Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival for four years and have collaborated with organisations both in Te Whenua Moemoeā and Aotearoa. Their experience includes work with Auckland Arts Festival, Splore, Touch Compass, Te Pou Theatre, WOMADelaide and Dark Mofo. Jordan is deeply committed to supporting marginalised communities, with a strong focus on access and authentic representation.

Fiona Collins 

Fi has been with AIGA since its inception, and is a loving combination of support writer, intimacy co-ordinator and performer. Fiona is a highly respected Samoan theatre-maker, writer and performing artist. She became a Creative New Zealand Artist in Residence at the National University of Samoa in 2009, staying on for a decade to teach performing arts at the University. She's made a name for herself in productions like Frangipani Perfume, Awhi Tapu, the Vagina Monologues and Vula along with a role on Shortland Street. After a decade in Samoa Collins returned to NZ with film credits including a role in Samoa's first feature The Orator, the female-centred Vai and a credit as a casting director for Disney's Moana. Collins has played a role in growing Pasifika theatre performance and writing. In 2019 her play AloFA (Samoan for love) toured Auckland, Wellington, Rotorua and Hamilton following seasons in American and Western Samoa.

Touch Compass

Touch Compass is Aotearoa’s leading professional disability-led arts organisation. Touch Compass began developing and producing and continues to support the presentation of AIGA since 2021, shortly after appointing Lusi as one of its new panel of Artistic Directors.  www.touchcompass.org.nz 

Funding costs:

• The funding will cover the cost of travel from Aotearoa to Samoa
• For Lusi and support worker ($800 each - $1600)
• The cost of the Producer travelling from Gisborne to Auckland to Samoa ( $1400) 
• The cost of the Cultural support person travelling from Rotorua to Auckland to Samoa ($1100)

Total: $4100

• The remaining funds will cover costs of accessible accommodation for all 4 collaborators

Total: $2200

Lusi wants to ‘return’ to her homeland, to reconnect and scope out accessible spaces to present her work, AIGA with intentions of returning with the show in September 2026 in alignment with the Teuila Festival. 

She's keen to take herself and her small support team (Access support, cultural support and producer) this year to identify accessible locations to perform the work, and to make local connections to share her strong message about access and attitudes for and towards disabled people.

Exploring identity, family, and desire, AIGA is a show that ebbs, flows, dips forward into the wicked and tilts back toward the heavenly as we traverse through the experience of Lusi’s beautiful and complex life story. Using music, movement and dramedy, AIGA captures Lusi’s life from youth into adulthood, from 1960s Samoa to the warrior that we bear witness to today.

AIGA is a three-year-developed crip time and crip s p a c e devised work that has not only drawn on the life history of Lusi, but also the experiences of co-collaborators and performers including Iana Grace Pauga, Forest V Kapo (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Raukawa), Alex Medland (Kāi Tahu), Jake Arona and Fiona Collins.

This collective creative ensemble gives this work its proud identity. With a powerhouse creative team, this work features a story that will make you laugh, cry, think and feel – one that needs to be heard.

AIGA needs to be witnessed in Samoa, both as a homecoming but also as a challenge for pre-conceived cultural ideas of the disabled community. 

These are some of Lusi's favourite reviews of the work:

https://dramatic-pause.ghost.io/aiga-is-accessibility-and-excellence-in-action/ by Sam Brooks

https://thedlist.co.nz/newsfeed/lusi-faiva-s-aiga-is-full-of-disability-joy-at-a-time-we-need-it-the-most/ by Olivia Shivas