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The director of The New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute says taking a commercial approach is a legitimate expression of Maori culture.
The institute and Te Puia are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the legislation that brought them together, combining the long standing Maori tourism business around the Whakarewarewa thermal valley with the carving and weaving schools first launched in the 1920s.
Karl Johnstone says the institute is about preserving Maori material culture and identity, protecting Maori intellectual property and challenging mythologies that hold Maori back, especially when it comes to entrepreneurship and innovation.
"It's not about commercialising culture. If you understand the interrelationship of the kauwae runga and the kauwae raro you manage those spaces so that thos esoteric elements are maintained and are sacrosanct but that you can operate freely withing the space that doesn't have restriction around it. If you can do that, then it's not about commercialisation of culture, it's about reculturalisaiton of commerce, and that's kind of where we want to take it. It's about a restatement of the Maori economy. The Maori economy's not about money. It's about knowledge, it's about transaction, it's about trade and reciprocity," he says.
Mr Johnstone says Maori culture is not fixed in time, but exists as a way Maori communities develop and express their shared histories and values.
The next major event in the Te Puia anniversary is Show Bands in the Pa next Saturday, featuring some of the classic showband songs performed by 80s group Kairo, The Trio led by Howard Morrison Junior, and Ria Hall, followed by a contemporary set by boy band Titanium.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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