6th Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival (MACFest)-UPCOMING

6th Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival (MACFest)

6th Melanesian Arts and Cultural Festival logo 2018. Credit: 2018 Melanesian Arts & Cultural Festival National Organising Committee

Solomon Islands, we look forward to some major upcoming events this year 2018. One of them is the 6th Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival (MACFest) which Solomon Islands will host from July 1 to 10 this year, 2018. The Festival theme is “Past Recollections; Future Connections.” The event is programmed to coincide with the country’s 40th Independence Anniversary.

According to MAcfest Facebook page, 6th Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture- #macfest18 the Melanesian Arts and Culture Festival was conceived in 1995 by the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to promote and preserve Melanesian culture, tradition, values and contemporary arts in the region.

The Solomon Islands was the first MSG country to host the Melanesian Arts Festival in 1998. After this inaugural event, the festival has been held every four years on rotational basis in the five Melanesian Countries.

Festival Timeline:

 1998 – Solomon Islands

 2002 – Vanuatu

 2006 – Fiji

 2010 – New Caledonia (Kanaky)

 2014 – Papua New Guinea

 2018 – Solomon Islands

Approximately 2000 delegates from the five MSG countries (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia) will be attending the event. The Solomon Islands will have 300 delegates. Also there will be invited delegates from West Papua, Timor Leste, and Torres Strait Island of Australia. West Papua has been granted an observer status at the MSG meeting.

MACFest was one of the outcome resolutions of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Ministers meeting in Honiara late last year. During Ministers summit the group also agreed upon MSG countries to provide assistance to support the host country.

The Solomon Islands Melanesian Arts Festival National Organizing Committee (MAFNOC) has resumed its pre-festival planning process for 2018 in March this year.

MAcfest Facebook page  updated that MAFNOC Chair and Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Andrew Nihopara said the Committee is working hard to ensure that all tasks are completed a month before the event.

The main Committee will be supported by a number of technical sub-committees in various areas including Events, Accommodation, Catering, Health, Security, Quarantine & Customs, Media & Promotions, Protocol, Finance and Logistics.

Now that the National Government has just passed the 2018 budget, the Committee has focused attention on its budget to ensure the limited funds provided by the Government are strategically spent to host a better and successful festival.

The Solomon Star has recently reported that the Government has approved a total of SBD10 million to host the festival, with SBD 7 million coming from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the remaining SBD $3 million collected from other Ministries under a cost-sharing arrangement.

Credit: 2018 Melanesian Arts & Cultural Festival National Organising Committee

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MACFest Media & Promotions Sub-Committee

In supportive to the MAFNOC, one of the technical sub-committees is The MACFest Media and Promotions Sub-Committee. This is a five-member committee which is responsible for promotions and awareness of the event. For more information, updates and developments visit : http://macfest2018.com/.

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