Teuila Festival: People’s Festival

The staging of the 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games in sync with the Teuila Festival is an amazing opportunity, according to the Chief Executive Officer of the Samoa Tourism Authority, Papali’i Sonja Hunter.

And Papali’i believes that the festival performers and those behind the scenes will lift the standards in the competitions and productions that are offered.

“This is wonderful and we are really happy that people will witness the most television and media coverage, we will have better productions, they will have more effective ways of running each individual activity and mainly because of the fact that we know we will have an international audience.

“The Teuila Festival this year, will benefit from wider, global exposure because of the Commonwealth Youth Games being staged at the same time. The Chief Executive Officer of the Samoa Tourism Authority, Papali’i Sonja Hunter said she expects teams will be more competitive and the quality and standard of performances will be raised.

“There will be people who will actually download the activities and that means there are a lot more eyeballs on the website and it’s the same with television stations which means that we definitely have to ensure that our local productions are top notch because the whole world is watching now.”

Papali’i also believes that this there are other benefits.

“This is a good thing for us (S.T.A). However we also have to bear in mind that we as country must also be careful.

“We try as much as possible to ensure not only the local productions be of a good quality but the quality of life here must emphasized because a lot more people are going to watch our news and now it’s going to be a lot more scrutinized which is a good thing.

“Often, we have people who are interested in what we are doing here. We need to always portray it as it is; and not just more or less or near enough.”

“The exposure of our country not only in dancing and singing but also our culture because we also have the Commonwealth Youth Games, international media and people from all over the world will be watching.”

“That is, an audience we don’t normally reach.”

And while she is aware there is some public disappointment about not having a Fautasi Race, she was happy to explain the reasons behind Government’s decision.

“The government made a decision that the Fautasi Race is a traditional sport specifically for the Independence celebrations,” she said.

“This is also good for S.T.A. so that we can we can put a lot of our budget into different areas in the local production and creativity.

“Another reason being is that we are looking at cultural activities that really contribute a lot to tourism.

“The Fautasi does, but on the ratio of budget and allocation to time spent, it’s best to put it in the Independence celebration.

“We also try and promote those activities that interest and are a lot more participatory for the tourists.”

The key acts for the festival are the choir competition, different food and drink stalls and let’s not forget that it’s not just about singing and dancing it’s browsing, entertainment, demonstrations, fashions and the Musika Extravaganza to name just a few activities.

“Put together, it makes Teuila what it is for our visitors,” she said.

“It’s about having fun at the traditional fun games and entertainment, watching the police raise the flag and everything about us that tourists love.

“It’s a cultural light,” said Papali’i.

As for the cost of staging the Festival, Papali’i said that the Government budget of around 200,000 tala is not sufficient to showcase all the activities.

“ That doesn’t cover everything so we are reaching out to our sponsors,” she said.

“It’s usually the sponsors who make the Teuila Festival affordable.

“We have our traditional friends, some of the companies that are in the tourism industry and this is the time that they actually give back.

“After all it’s the People’s Festival,” she said.