THE PACIFIC MUSIC AWARDs
The Pacific Music Awards is the annual awards event, which celebrates Pacific music. The event provides the opportunity to honour the achievements and success of our current Pacific artists and also pay tribute to legacy and developing artists. The awards night allows the wide audience for Pacific music to be involved in the night, starting with the family and friends of the artists, to their fans, the Pacific community and the local music industry, to all come together on the one night, to share the positive celebration.
The awards ceremony involves the presentation of the various award categories (currently 21) and live performances (approx. 8-10), which provides a dynamic showcase of the best Pacific music talent. The performances are led by the finalists from that year, along with special tribute performances created especially for the night. The live music is at the heart of the awards and provides a vibrant talent-packed showcase of the best in Pacific music. With a solid foundation to work from, what is presented and performed on the night is absolutely unique to that event.
The ceremony is a one of a kind night and a unique experience for everyone who is involved and who attends. The Trust is proud that the awards have become the premier Pacific music event, and an iconic event for Auckland and New Zealand.
The awards ceremony involves the presentation of the various award categories (currently 21) and live performances (approx. 8-10), which provides a dynamic showcase of the best Pacific music talent. The performances are led by the finalists from that year, along with special tribute performances created especially for the night. The live music is at the heart of the awards and provides a vibrant talent-packed showcase of the best in Pacific music. With a solid foundation to work from, what is presented and performed on the night is absolutely unique to that event.
The ceremony is a one of a kind night and a unique experience for everyone who is involved and who attends. The Trust is proud that the awards have become the premier Pacific music event, and an iconic event for Auckland and New Zealand.
Objectives
"To create and manage an event that acknowledges the success of Pacific artists, celebrates and promotes excellence in Pacific music and encourages young Pacific musicians to aspire to a high level of achievement"
HISTORY
The 2004 decision was made to move the Best Pacific Music Album from the New Zealand Music Awards event. A consultative group was brought together to discuss this decision and to consider the options of where this award could be presented in the future. The key outcome from the group was the creation of the Pacific Music Awards, which would become the new home for the Best Pacific Music Album award.
From the consultative group, the Pacific Music Awards Committee (PMAC) was formed, to realise a vision and the result was the resounding success of the inaugural Pacific Music Awards that debuted at Pasifika Festival in March 2005.
Encouraged by the success of the 2005 Pacific Music Awards and galvanised by Pacific artists and the music industry who warmly welcomed the establishment of the awards, PMAC set about developing the infrastructure to make this an annual event.
PMAC continued to work on the annual awards event and formalised their structure, becoming a Charitable Trust in 2007. Three of the current Trustees were members of this original committee and remain committed to producing the annual awards event.
From the consultative group, the Pacific Music Awards Committee (PMAC) was formed, to realise a vision and the result was the resounding success of the inaugural Pacific Music Awards that debuted at Pasifika Festival in March 2005.
Encouraged by the success of the 2005 Pacific Music Awards and galvanised by Pacific artists and the music industry who warmly welcomed the establishment of the awards, PMAC set about developing the infrastructure to make this an annual event.
PMAC continued to work on the annual awards event and formalised their structure, becoming a Charitable Trust in 2007. Three of the current Trustees were members of this original committee and remain committed to producing the annual awards event.
Key milestones
2005 |
Inaugural Pacific Music Awards held, as part of the Pasifika Festival |
2006 |
Awards hosted as a stand alone event, moving to Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau |
2007 |
Pacific Music Awards Trust formed |
2014 |
Pacific Music Awards celebrated 10 years, moving from the theatre to the arena, within the Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau |
2014 |
International category introduced |
2019 |
Pacific Music Awards celebrate 15 years |
2024 |
Pacific Music Awards celebrate 20 years |
THE PACIFIC MUSIC AWARDS TRUST
The core objective of the Pacific Music Award Trust’s is:
“To create and manage an event that acknowledges the success of Pacific artists, celebrates and promotes excellence in Pacific music and encourages young Pacific musicians to aspire to a high level of achievement.”
Specifically, the Pacific Music Awards Trust are striving to:
The Pacific Music Awards Trustees are:
- Provide an event that focuses public and media attention on the excellence of our local Pacific music industry;
- Provide the Pacific music community with it’s own night of a thousand stars by creating an event that attracts NZ achievers of Pacific descent and icons from all areas of the entertainment world;
- Honour the achievements of our home-grown music talent;
- Provide a premium sponsorship vehicle by gaining extensive media exposure for the event and its supporters;
- Demonstrate the healthy state of the New Zealand Pacific music industry and highlight the essential role it plays in defining our culture and identity.
The Pacific Music Awards Trustees are:
- Rev. Mua Strickson-Pua (Chaplain)
- Sina Wendt (Consultant and Trustee)
- Petrina Togi-Sa’ena (Agent/Music Administrator/Event Manager)
- Fonoti Pati Umaga (Musician and Disability Leader)
The Trustees are an experienced group of people who are culturally and commercially aware and are driven by the Trust’s core objective. The Trust manages the key aspects in terms of event management, securing all sponsorship and funding; and maintaining all the relationships required to produce the awards event. The Trust is extremely grateful for the sponsors and funders who provide the invaluable financial support for the awards event each year.
The Trust engages a number of individuals and organisations to work with, to produce, promote and deliver the awards event. This involves a large number of people - and the Trust has established great long term working relationships with each of them. We value these relationships and their significant contribution to our awards event.
Our Trust and those we work with, are committed to delivering the best awards event possible, to celebrate Pacific music and honour our Pacific artists and community.
The Trust engages a number of individuals and organisations to work with, to produce, promote and deliver the awards event. This involves a large number of people - and the Trust has established great long term working relationships with each of them. We value these relationships and their significant contribution to our awards event.
Our Trust and those we work with, are committed to delivering the best awards event possible, to celebrate Pacific music and honour our Pacific artists and community.
Pacific Music Awards Trust - key activities
Alongside the annual awards ceremony, the key activities undertaken by the Pacific Music Awards Trust are as follows:
- professional development
- artist advocacy
- artist support
- mentoring (provided for artists and/or mentoring given by PMA artists)
- workshops (provided for artists and/or workshops given by PMA artists)
- live showcases
- artist performance opportunities
- representation at industry events
- representation at music festivals
- maintaining relationships and partnerships with our sponsors and music industry organisations; and where possible we will co-host and deliver activities together
- Tertiary scholarships: MAINZ (2017), SIT/MAINZ (2018)
- Representation and performance opportunity at PAANZ performing art market
Our Trust wants to ensure we are supporting and nurturing Pacific artists – not just with the awards event, but throughout the year as well. In particular we want to engage and support the up and coming artists, to assist them to continue to create music and sustain their career. Over the years the Trust has provided various support and opportunities for Pacific artists. This support was formalised as the Tautua Programme in 2020, following funding received from Creative New Zealand. The Trust is committed to delivering and expanding this programme for our Pacific music community.
We are also wanting to develop other platforms to profile Pacific artists and music, such as our website and social media content, our online magazine 4/4 and new video content.
If you have any questions or feedback, about the Pacific Music Awards Trust or the Pacific Music Awards event, please email us at: [email protected] or [email protected]