Afrikaans becomes “multicultural glue” through KiwiKasie
Arts Festival

The dust has settled… The third KiwiKasie Arts Festival has come and gone… This has been the biggest effort yet presented by The Afrikaans Club of New Zealand. And it was a huge success! The name “KiwiKasie” is a play of words with “Kiwi” and “Occasion” (Afrikaans: “Okkasie”).

The Afrikaans Club provides social and cultural activities for any person who enjoys the Afrikaans language in all its forms. KiwiKasie is the club’s “reaching out” project and also its flagship event.

A record number of more than 3,000 people visited the multicultural festival during the day on 4th October. In addition Afrikaans singers Jannie du Toit and Christa Steyn – all the way from South Africa – drew a full-house during the evening’s Afrikaans language concert when 850 people of different age groups attended the concert.

KiwiKasie has two components: The multicultural day festival and the Afrikaans evening concert as mentioned. The multicultural part of this arts festival was initiated by The Afrikaans Club for Southern Africans to reach out to and meet the broader community in NZ. The event drew people from all over Auckland; also from places like Rotorua, Tauranga, Hamilton & Whangarei.

The event has received a grant from Creative NZ, which was mainly used to fund an increased number of art workshops, as this is an important part of the festival. The day festival was held at the Northcross Intermediate School, East Coast Road, Browns Bay, Auckland.

The day festival was quite unique. The first expansion from last year’s event was the addition – and simultaneous use of – a second stage for the cultural performances. One stage was in the school hall and the other in the adjacent school gymnasium. A traditional “boere-orkes” (Afrikaans folk band) shared the stage for the first time with groups from Taiwan and the Middle East. A Maori powhiri also opened the day in a proper way.

Thanks to the Creative NZ grant, the public could participate for FREE in al the art workshops, which included calligraphy, Japanese brush work, cartoon art, card and mask making as well as clay artwork, decoupage on fabric, fabric painting and more. An African drumming and a kapa haka workshop were novelties. The day was supposed to end at 3pm, but nobody wanted to leave until 4pm, as the art workshops and music performances were still going strong!

An interesting mix of different cultures’ song, rhythm & dance took the stage. This included Maori, Korean, Cook Island and Middle Eastern dance groups as well as groups from the Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Japan and the Philippines. Dutch and Celtic groups added a special flavour to the party.

Thrown into the mix were local Southern African talent, such as Nico Smit with his “Boereorkes”, Afrikaans singers Marinda de Villiers and Renier Lee as well as African drum rhythms, and it would therefore not be hard to believe that this was a vibrant, interesting day.

A wide range of food for all tastes was available. Yes, the South African curry and rice, pan cakes and beef boerewors (sausage) too!

The Afrikaans Club would like to thank its sponsors, who helped to make the festival happen: AI Financial Services (primary sponsor), The Old Villa Dental Centre in Hamilton, Nautilus Financial Services, Speedy Signs (Takapuna), Stationery World Direct, Seaviews Guest House, Fred’s Fine Foods en Annique NZ.

The Afrikaans Club of New Zealand presented its most ambitious effort this year and the feedback indicated that it was a huge success. Yes, the Afrikaans language has truly become a glue between different cultures on the North Shore of Auckland…

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