Building bridges at arts, culture festival

The CNMI delegation to the IX Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture has the responsibility of not only representing the islands at the festival in Palau but also of building relationships with other countries.

Several members of the delegation who departed for Palau yesterday said that their performances and display of arts and crafts will explain much of the various customs and cultures in the Marianas, but building relationships with other countries is another vital role that the delegation will play.

“This will be fun and I am sure we are all looking forward to having a good time,” said Greg Iginoef, a member of traditional dance group Uraali. “This will also give us the chance to meet a lot of people from other places and build friendship. They will learn about us and the way things are here, and we will learn a lot of the other places also.”

Further Iginoef said the trip and time spent in Palau would hopefully generate a positive perspective of the CNMI with the other delegations.

Fellow performer Shaun Odoshi agreed, saying that the experience is a golden opportunity to “show what the CNMI is about.”

“The trip will be great,” he said. “We are going to show what we know and we’ll get to learn a lot of things also.”

The two were among the first batch of members that left on board Continental Micronesia Flight 944K. Another batch will leave today while the remainder of the delegation will embark on their trip tomorrow and Wednesday. Three members, who are part of the festival’s film crew, left earlier in the week to begin filming the entire festival, as well as put together a documentary on the CNMI delegation.

Earlier, Gov. Juan N. Babauta stressed the importance of the roles each delegate would play in being ambassadors for the CNMI.

“What you do over there reflects on the CNMI,” he said. “Be the best among all the artist that are going to be there and continue to make the CNMI a proud place to live in,” he said.

A total of 183 delegates would represent the CNMI at the prestigious festival, which originated in 1972 and occurs once every four years.

The delegation consists of traditional craft makers, tattoo artists, contemporary artists, band performers, and cultural dancers, who will share with the other Pacific countries the cultures and customs of the people in the CNMI.

Joining Uraali in the traditional dance group category are Wellipal, Inatuas, Isa Dancers, and the Talabwog men and women stick dancers.

The festival kicks off on July 22 and would run until July 31. It is expected to play host to about 3,000 delegates and 10,000 visitors.

Also taking part in the festival are delegates from Guam, the Marshall Islands, American Samoa, Yap, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Palau, Pohnpei, Chuuk, and Hawaii, among others.