By Sasha Pei-Silovo – EM TV Online
Guam will host the next Festival of Pacific Arts (FestPac) in 2016, from May 22 to June 4. The regional quadrennial cultural event will bring together 27 Pacific Island nations and territories’, with more than 2, 000 participants, including officials, expected at the event.
The festival celebrates the vast cultures of the Pacific islands, and the people of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. It aims at promoting the traditional practises of the Pacific region, cultivating a deeper understanding of the diversity of the Pacific, its people, cultures, friendships, music, and art, and enables the sharing of cultural knowledge and history.
Guam, a territory of the United States of America, will not only be the host of the 2016 FestPac but will also participate as a delegation. A co-ordinating committee, The Festival of Pacific Arts 2016 Coordinating Committee, is sanctioned by Guam’s Public Law 30-83, to administrate and manage the festival.
Governor of Guam, Edward Calvo, has given his full support towards the festival and assured the territory that he is “giving 150 per cent commitment,” to ensuring that their hosting of the 2016 FestPac is a “shining example of Guam’s Chamorro hospitality in welcoming the Pacific Island nations, as well as many residents and visiting tourists.”
The last event hosted by the territory of such magnitude was the South Pacific Games in 1999, and residents are being encouraged to take ownership of the festival.
“I encourage our Guam residents to take the time to spruce up their villages by way of beautification projects that will leave lasting impressions of Guam’s beauty to our visitors coming for FestPac,” said the governor.
The sponsorship of delegations to be hosted by villages will be the prime responsibility of the Mayors’ Council of Guam. Villagers will showcase the friendly Guam-hospitality, and visitors will feel the true ‘Guam-experience’ at the FestPac.
The 27 Pacific Island Countries and Territories expected at the festival are: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Easter Island, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji Islands, French Polynesia, Guam (2016 Host), Hawaii, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Wallis and Futuna.
