Māoriland Charitable Trust is proud to announce Matariki, Lighting the Beacons Festival, a month-long multi-disciplinary arts festival to be held across the Kāpiti Region, July 2 – 25, 2021. 

Bookended by two amazing public light sculpture events at the beginning and end of July, Lighting the Beacons includes music, arts and theatre as well as multiple community events for Kāpiti whānau to enjoy. 

Matariki, Lighting the Beacons is produced by Māoriland Charitable Trust, the organisation responsible for Ōtaki’s highly successful Māoriland Film Festival. 

“We’re busy preparing to make this festival something incredibly special for Kāpiti. We want to help bring the tikanga of Matariki into an understood and celebrated part of living here in the pacific and the artfulness of our living, breathing contemporary culture,” Dylan Herkes, Event Producer.

Matariki is the Māori tradition that marks the rising of the star cluster also known as Pleiades. Matariki signals the beginning of Te Tau Hou Māori, the new year,  and is a time for commemorating the passing of loved ways as well as making plans for the coming year. It is also a time for celebration.

“Matariki, Lighting the Beacons Festival aims to bring together the Kāpiti Coast from Paekakariki to Ōtaki. It will give artists an opportunity to perform, sing, show their creative and visual art  talents and for those with deep knowledge of Māori astronomy, gardening and other traditions to share what they know. We invite our community to be a part of this unique time of the year in Aotearoa”.

Matariki, Lighting the Beacons Festival will include free and ticketed events for the entire whānau to be part of. Join us for Lighting the Beacons in Kāpiti this Matariki!