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Bob Cater's speech at National Community Trust Awards
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"The Porirua Community Arts Council exists to promote the practice and
appreciation of the arts in Porirua. Its constitution requires that it does this
in accordance with the Treaty of Waitangi. The council itself comprises some 20
people, all of whom are volunteers. Most also continue to be actively involved
in some art form.
Since 1992 the largest and most visible aspect of our work has been organizing the Festival of the Elements on Waitangi Day. After discord at Waitangi in 1991, discussion among our members disclosed agreement that the rich multi-cultural society of Porirua City owes its existence to the invitation of the treaty for others to share this land with the tangata whenua. This, we agreed, should be celebrated. We conceptualized the elements of earth, air, fire and water as being relevant and important to all cultures. They constituted a theme around which all groups in the city could unite. The idea was then placed before the Kaumatua Council of the mana whenua, Ngati Toarangatira,(it helped that Te Puoho Katene was then our Chairman). With their blessing, we organized the first festival and were gratified when it attracted 5,000 people. By the third festival, we had doubled that number and outgrown our original site. Since then, with the help of the Porirua City Council and other sponsors, the festival has continued to grow, now attracting more than 30,000 people and being identified as New Zealand’s biggest Waitangi Day event and a model of what the day can be. To run it requires many more volunteers than we have in our own ranks. Members of organizations as diverse as Lions, Maori Wardens, Volunteer Fire Brigade, theatre groups, spinners and weavers, sports clubs and the Porirua Guardians have become actively involved. Together with the artists and performers, we now have some 1,000 volunteers participating on the day. "
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