The Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, our beloved ASB Polyfest, reached a magnificent milestone this year, celebrating 50 years of uplifting our Pacific voices, movements, and traditions. The festival, held from April 2-5, 2025, at the Manukau Sports Bowl, brought together our communities in a powerful celebration of who we are and the legacy we pass on to our tamariki.
Our Young People Shine in Record Numbers
This year’s historic celebration featured an unprecedented 11,000 of our young performers from 77 schools across Tāmaki Makaurau, making it the largest Polynesian youth festival in the world. The event honored this year’s theme, “LEGACY – a treasure handed down” (“He oha nō tua, he taonga tuku iho!”), speaking directly to our responsibility as Pacific peoples to preserve and transmit our cultural wealth to the generations that follow us. Te Ao Māori News
Our Cultural Stages: Where Heritage Lives and Breathes
The festival’s six cultural stages – Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands, Niue, and Diversity – became spaces where our languages, dances, and traditions weren’t just displayed but lived fully through the energy and commitment of our rangatahi.
Our Wesley College and Te Taamatatanga o Pukekohekohe performers claimed victory on the Māori stage in Division 3, while on the Cook Islands stage, Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate, Otahuhu College, and Auckland Girls’ Grammar School showcased the excellence of our Cook Islands traditions. Pacific Media Network
On the Samoa stage, our McAuley High School wahine took first place in the girls’ division, with Auckland Girls Grammar and Kelston Girls High School completing the top three. Our tama from Sacred Heart College claimed the top position in the boys’ division, carrying forward the rich traditions of fa’a Samoa.
The Extended Pacific Family Joins the Celebration
In a beautiful demonstration of our expansive Pacific connections, Keebra Park State High School from Australia became the first school from across the Tasman to perform on the Māori stage, reflecting how our cultures transcend modern political boundaries.
A powerful moment of intergenerational connection unfolded when the Auckland Girls’ Grammar School Samoan alumni group returned to the stage, visibly moved as they performed alongside today’s students. As one of our alumni leaders explained, “It’s really important for our younger ones to always look back to the ancestors, to their roots.” This is how we maintain the unbroken line from those who came before to those who will follow. Tagata Pasifika YouTube
Resilience in the Face of Challenges
True to our Pacific spirit of resilience, the festival persevered through significant rain and weather disruptions that affected Friday’s programme. Even when the Māori Stage Division Two performances had to be cancelled, our communities adapted, regrouped, and continued the celebration. As the clouds parted for Saturday’s finale, our people’s strength and determination were on full display. Te Ao Māori News
The Ongoing Fight for Recognition and Support
While we celebrated this golden anniversary, our festival director Seiuli Terri Leo-Mauu spoke truth to power about the ongoing struggles our cultural institutions face. Despite ASB’s 33-year sponsorship, Polyfest still lacks the sustainable funding that our premier cultural event deserves.
“There are other events out there that get millions of dollars of funding, that are not at the same scale as ours,” Seiuli noted with characteristic directness. “They don’t have the same reach or impact that our festival has.” Despite these challenges, she affirmed our collective strength: “Our festival is resilient. Our people are resilient.” 1News
This resilience has been essential as the festival navigated the $2 million cost of staging this year’s event, relying on a patchwork of support from local government, sponsors, ticket sales, and stallholders’ leases – all while weather disruptions reduced gate takings.
Our Living Legacy
Apulu Reece Autagavaia, Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board member, shared a story that resonates with many of our families: “My mother performed at the first Polyfest, I performed, and this year, my son will take the stage tomorrow. Generations in South Auckland have benefited from celebrating culture, identity, and language.”
He emphasized that “We’re here to stay. We’re not an exotic feature for outsiders. These are New Zealand-born Pacific kids performing at home. This festival is part of Auckland’s identity.” Apulu then shared the Sāmoan proverb, “E le sili le ta’i, nai lo le tapua’i” – reminding us that the actions of the performers are just as important as the support they receive.
Tauanuʻu Nick Bakulich, Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board Chair, spoke to the festival’s profound community impact: “What Polyfest has been able to do is absolutely enormous in terms of that reach, but also the impact that it has on a social level and at a community level. And look, the rest of the country looks at Polyfest as the example.”
Born from Struggle, Growing in Strength
Our Polyfest emerged in 1976 during a time of significant social tension when our communities faced serious challenges. As Dawn Raids targeted our Pacific families and Māori activism was rising in response to injustice, young visionaries at Hillary College (now Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate) in Ōtara, led by Te Manaaroha Rollo (now Dr. Te Manaaroha Rollo), created a space where our cultures could be celebrated with pride.
Dr. Rollo recalls, “Being Māori we embrace our Pacific Island whānau, because that’s where our roots come from. We travelled that Pacific. When they hurt, we hurt.” This solidarity in the face of discrimination formed the foundation of what would become Aotearoa’s most significant cultural festival.
Tupou Manapouri MNZM QSM, now 80, a former teacher at Hillary College who has been involved with Polyfest since 1980, remembers the humble beginnings: “We sent students down the road to pick ferns by the creek to make their hula skirts. That’s how we started. Very simple.” From these grassroots efforts has grown the mighty cultural celebration we know today.
Our Future Vision
As we look to the next 50 years, our community leaders advocate for the recognition and resources Polyfest deserves. Seiuli Terri Leo-Mauu has called for a permanent venue with built-in infrastructure that would be “ready to go 365 days a year,” a home worthy of our premier cultural showcase.
Stephen Hargreaves, Chair of the ASB Polyfest Trust, reflected on what makes our festival special: “There are probably grandchildren now who are performing, you know, three generations on from their grandparents. And I think these sorts of shared experiences are what build communities. We can talk about similar things, and we can relate to each other because we’ve been through the same experiences.”
As ASB Polyfest enters its next half-century, it stands as more than just a cultural festival – it is a living affirmation of who we are as Pacific peoples in Aotearoa. Through our languages, our dances, our songs, and our unity, we continue to pass down not just traditions but strength, pride, and identity to the generations who will carry our legacy forward.
For complete results and more information about this year’s festival, visit the ASB Polyfest Official Website.
