FIJI CULTURAL INDUSTRIES WORKSHOP: Sector Collaboration

REPORT OF WORKSHOP
FIJI CULTURAL INDUSTRIES WORKSHOP:
Sector Collaboration and Capacity Building
28–31 October 2014, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Suva, Fiji
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REPORT OF WORKSHOP
FIJI CULTURAL INDUSTRIES WORKSHOP:
Sector Collaboration and Capacity Building
28–31 October 2014, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Suva, Fiji
Compiled by:
The Human Development Programme
Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Suva, Fiji
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© Copyright Secretariat of the Pacific Community, 2014
All rights for commercial / for profit reproduction or translation, in any form, reserved. SPC authorises the
partial reproduction or translation of this material for scientific, educational or research purposes, provided
that SPC and the source document are properly acknowledged. Permission to reproduce the document and/or
translate in whole, in any form, whether for commercial / for profit or non-profit purposes, must be requested
in writing. Original SPC artwork may not be altered or separately published without permission.
Original text: English
DISCLAIMER
This publication has been produced with the support of the European Union and the assistance of the ACP Group of States. The contents
of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of
the European Union.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... 1
BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................................... 2
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 2
WORKSHOP OPENING ............................................................................................................................. 3
Welcome address................................................................................................................................ 3
Opening address ................................................................................................................................. 3
Sector overview .................................................................................................................................. 3
Workshop goals and expected outcomes ........................................................................................... 4
Background ......................................................................................................................................... 4
SESSION 1: IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISING ............................................................................................ 5
Fiji cultural industry database project ................................................................................................ 5
Rako Pasefika ...................................................................................................................................... 6
Fiji Performing Rights Association (FPRA) ........................................................................................... 7
Uto ni Yalo ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF) ............................................................................... 9
SESSION 2: UNDERSTANDING YOUR OPTIONS ..................................................................................... 10
Understanding charitable trusts ....................................................................................................... 10
Participation through ownership: Doing business in a cooperative ................................................. 11
Collaboration between businesses: The role of industrial associations ........................................... 12
Uniting to achieve common goals: Advocating through trade unions ............................................. 13
Discussion.......................................................................................................................................... 14
SESSION 3: BENEFITS AND DISADVANTAGES OF EACH OPTION ........................................................... 15
National Youth Council: Linking communities to government through an advisory body ............... 15
Social enterprise: Namana Fiji Arts ................................................................................................... 15
Cooperative: Nasinu Land Purchase Cooperative............................................................................. 16
Industrial association: Nausori Market Women Vendors’ Association ............................................ 17
Trade union: ILO................................................................................................................................ 17
Discussion.......................................................................................................................................... 18
SESSION 4: LEGAL REQUIREMENTS AND PROCESS FOR REGISTRATION .............................................. 20
Charitable trusts................................................................................................................................ 20
Cooperative ....................................................................................................................................... 21
Industrial association ........................................................................................................................ 21
Trade unions ..................................................................................................................................... 22
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Discussion.......................................................................................................................................... 22
SESSION 5: HANDCRAFT AND HERITAGE ART PRODUCERS .................................................................. 23
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 23
Models for organising crafts people in Fiji........................................................................................ 30
Group Breakout Session.................................................................................................................... 32
Discussion.......................................................................................................................................... 33
Outcomes and next steps ................................................................................................................. 34
SESSION 6: BREAK-OUT SESSION WITH VISUAL ARTISTS ...................................................................... 35
Our goals for organizing: Participants will define and agree upon their goals and objectives for
organizing themselves ...................................................................................................................... 38
Visual arts international models ....................................................................................................... 40
Discussion.......................................................................................................................................... 42
Next steps forward............................................................................................................................ 43
SESSION 7: BREAK-OUT SESSION WITH PERFORMING ARTISTS ........................................................... 44
Sector review .................................................................................................................................... 44
Setting sector priorities..................................................................................................................... 47
Current collaboration models ........................................................................................................... 49
What model is best for us? ............................................................................................................... 50
Next steps forward............................................................................................................................ 51
Closing remarks ................................................................................................................................. 51
Annex 1
List of participants ............................................................................................................... 52
Annex 2
Welcome speech (Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat) ......................................................... 58
Annex 3
Opening Speech (European Union) ..................................................................................... 60
Annex 4
Sector overview (Fiji Arts Council) ...................................................................................... 62
Annex 5
Comparision chart of legal registration structures ............................................................. 64
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SUMMARY
1.
The ‘Fiji Cultural Industries Workshop: Sector Collaboration and Capacity Building’ was organised in Suva,
Fiji from 28–31 October 2014. The workshop was organised by the Secretariat of Pacific Community (SPC)
in partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), Fiji Arts Council and the Fiji Department of
Heritage and Arts. This workshop was a follow-up to the ‘National Development Workshop for the
Cultural Industries in Fiji’, which was held in Suva, Fiji from 4–8 August 2014. Overall, over 50 participants
attended the workshop, representing the private sector, public sector and civil society organisations.
Between 20–30 participants attended the sector-specific breakout group sessions that took place from
29–31 October 2014.
2.
The workshop was made possible by the European Union/African, Caribbean and the Pacific Group of
States (EU-ACP) funded project – ‘Enhancing the Pacific Cultural Industries: Fiji, Samoa and Solomon
Islands’ – which is managed by SPC’s Human Development Programme in collaboration with PIFS, the Fiji
Department of Heritage and Arts and the Fiji Arts Council. The project recognizes the real and potential
contribution of the cultural industries to Pacific economies and works towards strengthening their
positioning in the economy.
3.
The overall focus areas of the workshop were: (1) the importance of organising; (2) organisation options
and their advantages and disadvantages; (3) legal requirements and implications of different organisation
models; and (4) determining the best organisation model for the subsector. The workshop included both
formal and informal sessions to provide opportunities for participants to discuss challenges and
opportunities unique to their sub-sectors. During the first day of the workshop, all participants from all
cultural industries sectors engaged in formal sessions to learn about the above mentioned areas. The
remaining days were used to work individually with participants in each subsector – handcraft and
heritage arts producers; visual artists; and performing artists.
4.
The workshop noted a number of issues, most of which were common across the handcraft, visual arts,
and performing arts sectors and needed to be addressed collectively. These included: advocating for the
sector, access to funding, tax status and rebates, legislation to protect the industry, training/technical
development, formal education, fair wages, marketing, management, networking, enforcement of
copyright act against piracy, performance platforms, world standard equipment and information
dissemination.
5.
There was a general interest in supporting an umbrella organisation for the craft sector where
stakeholders could communicate effectively with each other. Noting that the Fiji Crafts Society was
already in existence, the participants called for more sector collaboration to strengthen the existing body.
As a next step, it was agreed that a mini workshop on sector collaboration be held on 12 November 2014
in Nadi, just before the Western Craft Fair, which starts on 13 November 2014.
6.
With regards to visual arts, it was agreed that a steering committee be formed to explore a partnership
opportunity with Viscopy. Participants also called for more dialogue and engagement among the
stakeholders but in a more informal setting. The Fiji Arts Council agreed to send out invitations for the
first talanoa session of visual arts stakeholders in Fiji and a combined meeting of literally arts and visual
artists groups. The date and venue are yet to be decided.
7.
With regards to forming an umbrella body for the performing arts sector, the workshop was not able
reach a decision on the form this umbrella body would take and called for more legal information that
would assist them to make the decision. It was agreed that a steering committee be established to get the
information needed, continue with the dialogue process and get more consultation on the next steps
forward. The need for MOUs between parties in the performing arts sector was also highlighted. In order
to improve dialogue between bigger companies and individuals artists, it was agreed that a meeting be
held during the first week of December 2014.
8.
It was agreed that as a follow-up, SPC would circulate a report of the workshop to the participants for
comments in the next few weeks.
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BACKGROUND
The cultural industries are not new to Fiji and the Pacific; people have been producing cultural goods and
services for hundreds of years but they have generally been considered as part of the informal sector. Today,
there are strong indications that handcrafts, fashion, visual arts and performing arts have high potential for
economic growth and improving livelihoods. These sectors are also directly linked to the tourism industry, textile
and footwear industry, retail outlets, regional and international export markets, all of which are part of the
formal sector.
Recognising the need for supporting further development of the cultural industries and the associated subsectors, the European Union, through the ACP-EU Support Programme to ACP cultural sectors, is funding a
project – ‘Enhancing the Pacific Cultural Industries: Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands’ – which is managed by SPC’s
Human Development Programme in collaboration with PIFS, the Fiji Department Heritage and Arts and the Fiji
Arts Council. The project recognizes the real and potential contribution of the cultural industries to Pacific
economies and works towards strengthening their positioning in the economy. The EU contributes about
£495,000 to the overall project and additional financial support is provided by the project partners.
The main objective of this EU project is to promote a conducive national and regional environment for the
cultural industries, including the fashion industry, in the Pacific with a focus on Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands.
In order to make a real difference, the project limits itself to these three countries and focuses particularly on
four sub-sectors –handcrafts, visual arts, fashion and performing arts – which offer best potential over the next
few years.
The ‘Fiji Cultural Industries Workshop: Sector Collaboration and Capacity Building’’, organised in Suva, Fiji from
28–31 October 2014, is the third workshop in Fiji under this EU project. This workshop is a follow-up to the
National Development Workshop for the Cultural Industries in Fiji that was held in Suva, Fiji from 4–8 August
2014. The first workshop was held with the Fashion Council of Fiji in June 2014.
INTRODUCTION
The EU-funded ‘Fiji Cultural Industries Workshop: Sector Collaboration and Capacity Building’’ was organised by
the Secretariat of Pacific Community (SPC) in partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), the Fiji
Department of Heritage and Arts and the Fiji Arts Council.
The key objective of the workshop was to provide a national forum for key stakeholders of Fiji’s handcraft, visual
arts and performing arts sectors to meet and discuss the issues, challenges and way forward for the specific
sectors.
The workshop focused on the following four key areas:
(1)
The importance of organising
(2)
Organisation options and their advantages and disadvantages
(3)
Legal requirements and implications of different organisation models
(4)
Determining the best organisation model for each subsector
The workshop included both formal and informal sessions to provide opportunities for participants to discuss
challenges and opportunities unique to their sub-sectors. On the first day of the workshop, all participants
gathered collectively to engage in formal sessions to learn about the above mentioned areas. The remaining
days were used to engage specifically with stakeholders representing the following subsectors:
(i)
Handcraft and heritage arts producers
(ii)
Visual artists
(iii)
Performing artists (music and dance)
The four-day workshop was attended by over 50 participants, representing the private sector, public sector and
civil society organisations in Fiji. The list of participants is attached as Annex 1.
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WORKSHOP OPENING
Delivering opening addresses at the workshop: [L-R] Laisiasa Veikoso (Director, Fiji Arts Council), Andie Fong Toy (Deputy SecretaryGeneral, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat) and Johnny Engell-Hansen (Charged Affaires a.i, European Union Delegation for the Pacific)
Welcome address
Andie Fong Toy (Deputy Secretary-General, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Suva, Fiji) welcomed the
participants to the workshop. She said PIFS was pleased to convene the workshop in collaboration with SPC,
which demonstrated the importance regional agencies placed on developing cultural industries. The
commitment was further reinforced by the Framework for Pacific Regionalism, which was adopted by Forum
Leaders in July this year. Valuing the diversity and heritage of the Pacific, the Framework has incorporated a
culture related principal objective – ‘Sustainable development that combines economic, social, and cultural
development in ways that improve livelihoods and well-being and uses the environment sustainably’. Ms Toy
said the cultural industries can make a significant contribution to the economy and she hoped that through
combined efforts of partnerships, the workshop would result in tangible outcomes. The full speech is attached as
Annex 2.
Opening address
Johnny Engell-Hansen (Charged Affaires a.i, European Union Delegation for the Pacific) delivered an opening
address at the workshop. He said the European Union was well aware that cultural and creative industries
represented business opportunities that could grow and make the economy more competitive and that's why
the European Union was funding projects like the one for which they were there that day – “Enhancing the
Pacific Cultural Industries: Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands”. This project was part of the larger EU-funded
Programme "ACP Cultures+", which focused on addressing poverty through the development and consolidation
of viable and sustainable cultural industries in ACP countries and by reinforcing their contribution to social and
economic development, as well as the preservation of cultural diversity. The full speech is attached as Annex 3.
Sector overview
Laisiasa Veikoso (Director, Fiji Arts Council) spoke about the cultural industries in Fiji, highlighting some key
initiatives of the Fiji government and sharing the strategic steps forward. He said the Fiji Government had taken
the initiative and the lead role by investing in the ‘Fiji Made/Fiji Crafted’ campaign. This poverty eradication
programme, aimed at creating employment, had provided local people with opportunities that had turned many
of the crafters into self-determining and self-employed entrepreneurs. He emphasised seven key strategic areas
that needed to be addressed as way forward for the cultural industries: focus on education, growing
entrepreneurships, access to finance, penetration and diversification of markets, access to inputs, access to
infrastructure and supporting technology and institutional set-up. The full speech is attached as Annex 4.
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Workshop goals and expected outcomes
Jessie McComb (Culture Officer, Human Development Programme, SPC) provided an overview of the workshop
goals, programme and expected outcomes. She said one of the common themes that cut across all speeches that
morning was the thought about cultural industries being a real market opportunity for everyone and how they
needed to work together as a sector to access that market opportunity through their products and the value
cycle. That was the heart of what the workshop was all about – how the whole sector could work together to
improve individual businesses and organisations and the sector as a whole.
Jessie explained that some key questions that would be addressed during the workshop would include: why it
was important to collaborate and organise and what the benefits were; what options and models were available
legally and formally; what were the advantages and disadvantages of these options; and what model worked
best for the subsector groups. The workshop aimed to come up with clear strategies to move forward with the
agreed model and options. The first day of the workshop was dedicated to all subsector groups coming together
to learn about the first three questions. Over the other three days, the participants were expected to break into
sub-sector groups to address the questions in detail, learn from each other through open dialogue and move
towards further sector collaboration.
Background
Elise Huffer (Human Development Adviser–Culture, Human Development Programme, SPC) provided the
background to the workshop, particularly for the benefit of newcomers. She said SPC had been working the PIFS
since 2010 to support developments in the cultural industries in the Pacific. In an attempt to improve
understanding of cultural industries in the Pacific context, SPC and PIFS commissioned a couple of reports as part
of the previous EU-funded project (2010–2013). One report was authored by Letila Mitchell (Rako Pasefika) and
the other by Jessie McComb (a consultant who was later recruited as the Culture Officer by SPC).
Cultural production has been a part of the Pacific forever and Elise said to the participants that they knew this
better than her. When producers and crafters moved into the industry looking for market opportunities, it was
important for them to understand their traditions and expressions of culture and continue to value how their
forefathers engaged in these creative forms. SPC and PIFS worked for three years at regional and subregional
level. A workshop was held in December 2010 to get consensus on what the cultural industries were in the
Pacific context. A couple of sub-regional workshops were held – one with participants from Fiji, Samoa and Cook
Islands and another with the Micronesian countries. Under the current EU project, two workshops were held in
Samoa and Solomon Islands in 2014.
This year – under the current project “Enhancing the Pacific Cultural Industries: Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands”
– two workshops had already been completed. First one was with the Fashion Council of Fiji, looking at
developing a strategic plan, an implementation plan and moving forward. This workshop was held first because
the Fashion Council of Fiji wanted to submit a budget to the government. The second workshop was a national
one looking the Fiji cultural industries players – government, private sector, tourism industry, education
institutions and a range of producers. The report of that workshop was now available, though it was still in draft
form. She said one of the things they were trying to achieve as they move forward was to widen the range of
producers, knowing that there were active groups associated with the Ministry of Women and Ministry of Youth
in Fiji that were difficult to bring together under one forum.
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SESSION 1: IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISING
The session outlined the benefits of formally organising stakeholders within the cultural industry’s subsectors.
Presenters, speaking from their successful experiences, touched upon creating group cohesion and developing
shared goals and responsibilities. The facilitator for the session was Jessie McComb (SPC).
Fiji cultural industries database project
Letila Mitchell (Founder and Artistic Director, Rako Pasefika/National Consultant, SPC) informed the participants
of a Fiji cultural industries database project, which was currently being revamped by the Fiji Department of
Heritage and Arts and the Fiji Arts Council and supported by the Pacific Arts Alliance. Participants were
requested to fill in a form with contact information and provide to Sina Musche and Mauritz Van Den Bosch, two
German volunteers who were working with the Pacific Arts Alliance. It was noted that majority of the
participants attending the workshop were tracked and confirmed through Facebook, hence imperative that the
database of Fiji artists and producers be updated for future needs. The project also included profiling the
industry stakeholders and the participants were informed that they would be further approached in the coming
weeks for preparation of artist profiles, which would be loaded on international platforms such as Cultures
Connect (based out of London) and Southplanet (based out of Brussels) – thus helping to link Pacific artists to
festival directors, curators and gallery owners. The aim was to get more visibility for Pacific artists.
Advocating for your sector through collaboration
Mark Halabe (Founder, Fashion Council of Fiji) spoke on the formation of the Fashion Council of Fiji and
explained the benefits of collaboration based on his experiences from being in leadership positions in various
associations. The concept of the Fashion Council of Fiji began about five or six years ago, when Ellen Whippy
(who was involved in organising the Fiji Fashion Week) invited Mark to be a judge in the show. Mark, being a
garment manufacturer, was excited to be part of the show but was disappointed with the quality of the products
that were showcased as the designs needed a lot of work. It was clear that a higher level of education was
needed to teach designing using an infused culture where the culture element was infused into the fashion
process. In an attempt to address the issue, Ellen and Mark began plans to start an association – the Fashion
Council of Fiji. They were excited about developing an industry that was commercialized and not just infusing
culture into the programme.
Before formally registering the association, Ellen and Mark had a few informal meetings and engaged a lawyer to
seek advice on the type of association that should be formed. They were advised to form a non-profit industrial
association. The registration process took about eight months. Before the association was formed, they also
tried very hard to talk to the government, embassies and regional agencies to get funding and they all came
down to the same results – without a legally registered association, the potential funding agencies would not
take this any further. They wanted to see the article of association and the purpose of the organisation.
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Mark gave an example of the Textiles, Clothing and Footwear (TCF) Council of Fiji to further demonstrate the
importance of associations. The TCF Council comprised of manufacturers in Fiji – all exporters – which employed
100 to 800 or 900 people. Because the Council was legally registered, it was able to acquire FJD 100,000 per year
from the Fiji government to assist in marketing of TCF export products. Under the TCF Council came competing
companies, in some instance sharing same international customers, but the combined efforts of these
companies resulted in exports worth over FJD 1 million per year in real revenue. The Fiji government recognised
the association and listened to them, and therefore they had become a formidable force as an association. This
demonstrated that the strength in what a group of people could do was subject to how they were organised.
The third organisation that Mark was involved with was the Fiji Employers and Commerce Association, whose
members included employers in Fiji and their lobbying was probably the highest in the country when it came to
issues such as labour and budget. Mark was a member of the association and understood that he as a member
was nothing without the association.
Another council that Mark was involved in was Fiji/Australia Business Council and he spoke about the benefits of
such an association. At government-to-government level, there was a trade agreement called the South Pacific
Regional Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement (SPARTECA), which allows non-reciprocal preferential
trading between Australia and New Zealand and the Pacific Islands countries (PICs). Under SPARTECA, which has
been effective since 1981, goods manufactured in PICs can be exported to Australia and New Zealand duty free,
if they qualified under the rules of origin. This became an issue as under these rules of origin, it became too
difficult for other island nations to trade with Australia and New Zealand. Then PICs went for bilateral
arrangements and it was only through the Fiji/Australia Business Council that they were able to motivate
governments to change policy in this regard. As an association, members were able to motivate the officials in
Suva, who then went to Canberra for talks to get the agreement they wanted. Mark said through his experience
he is now a great believer in the power of associations.
Rako Pasefika
Letila Mitchell (Founder and Artistic Director, Rako Pasefika/National Consultant, SPC) presented on the work of
Rako Pasefika, sharing her experiences in forming a social enterprises and the success that Rako has had
performing under this enterprise. Rako – meaning a place/school of learning – was formed in 2006 as a youth
group, comprising mainly of Rotuman artists. Originally, when they started out they had hip-hop dancers, visual
artists, fashion designers, screen printers, graphic designers and musicians. Before Rako was formed, the
members, though Rotumans, found it difficult to participate in celebrations such as the Rotuma Day because
they did not fully understand where they stood. So a group was formed to bring together artists who shared
similar sentiments with regards to contemporary arts. Over the years they continued as a youth group and
received a lot of bookings from corporate groups and then with international festivals. In 2009, the realisation
came that they needed to formalise their youth group and put in place proper accounting and reporting systems,
including the constitution. They explored different options and in the end decided to form a limited liability
company as together with the art they performed, they wanted to make money for their families and do the
work full-time. The aim was to create a model that was profit-driven and also ensured that their values and
ethics were intact. In 2009, Rako became a limited liability company and moved on from there.
At present, Rako has around 30 dancers, musicians, artists and designers – six of which are directors in the
company who share benefits and responsibilities and manage to make the business work by working as a family.
They use virtues and values as fountain and ensure that all their programmes were using values within their
work. They have also managed to keep things together without people fighting or cutting friends or running way.
The company practices open communications and has a very strong rule about no gossip and backbiting. Some
confrontations take place but in a good way. The model that was used for business was ‘mind, body and spirit’ so
everything that they did focused on developing all three aspects together. The ‘mind’ model was about two
aspects where they focused on all the skills in the company to ensure that these skills were developing and
diversifying all the time through upskilling and challenging creative ability. Most of the Rako members started
out as dancers and now majority of the dancers are musicians, fashion designers, jewellery makers, etc. One of
the lead dancers came from a family of traditional masi-makers but she was never interested in masi-making so
with Rako’s encouragement, she is now one of the youngest masi-makers on the island. The skill has been
passed on to her and so in a downtime period there were other forms of income that the company could focus
on.
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Within the team, they were constantly upskilling themselves in terms of administration, management and
learning financial systems. Everyone had an accounting application on their phones that enabled them to upload
their receipts and do acquittals. Everyone knew how to fill out their FNPF forms and at the moment, they were
learning about taxation. Letila acknowledged FRCA for being very helpful to the group, coming every fortnight to
sit with the group and help them understand tax compliance issues. All Rako members were involved in
management meetings and took turns in keeping minutes of the meetings. Everything was focused on learning
and learning as a family and therefore the kids of members were also involved in the process – they go to work
with their parents, danced with them, designed costumes and made products with them. The kids also earned
pocket-money from their dancing and learned to be entrepreneurs.
As part of the ‘body’ principle of the company, Rako had a very hardline fitness regime. Initially, a lot of dancers
would come for practice with a big bottle of Coke and bag of Bongo or Twisties. Few years later, they started
coming to practice with a bottle of water, nuts and fruits. Rako has also introduced a food diary initiative to
teach their artists how to eat well and live well. They also have a strict policy in place for no alcohol, smoking or
substance abuse at work. The ‘spirit’ component of the company was about professional and personal
development. It was about giving back to the community so every year Rako did service projects. For the last
four years, Rako’s service projects have been with the Uto Ni Yalo – this teaches the artists about the
environment and how to give back to the community. Rako has also started a service project for WOWS. The
focus of Rako was also on creating safe spaces. A lot of the individuals who come into Rako come from broken or
abusive families. Rako helps to build their character and confidence by developing their skills in art. Assisting
these individuals to gain some form of employment within the company was seen as a healing process. Rako was
based on a holistic model that looked at the commercial and the social side. One of the bigger reasons for Rako’s
success was the shared responsibility principle, which they practiced within the company.
Fiji Performing Rights Association (FPRA)
Eremasi Tamanisau Jnr (Chairman, FPRA) spoke about FPRA, a non-profit collective management organisation
established in 1993 to administer copyright in the music industry in Fiji. In the South Pacific, there are only two
other such organisations, APRA in Australia and SACENC in New Caledonia. Eremasi provided a background to
the establishment of collective management organisations. Back in France, in 1830s, two composers were having
a meal in a restaurant and as they were going about their business, there was an orchestra entertaining the
diners. To their surprise, the two composers heard their compositions were being played by the band. Towards
the end of the meal, their bill came up. They refused to pay the bill because they had not received any money for
the songs that were being played at the restaurant. The dispute then escalated to the court and the two
composers won the case. The court ruled that the composers owned the rights to the songs and if their
compositions were played in a place of business, they must be paid accordingly. These two composers went on
to form the first collective management organisation called SACEM in France. After that, an international
convention was developed in the 1980s called the Berne Convention. Fiji is a signatory to this convention.
Eremasi said that the process to start FPRA in Fiji was not an easy one. In the colonial days, the Performing
Rights Association of the United Kingdom used to administer copyright in Fiji based on the 1956 UK Act. After
independence in 1970, APRA in Australia carried out this role. But the composers in Fiji felt that they must look
after these rights themselves and so the first meeting of composers and musicians took place in 1978 at the
Epworth House. The aim was to establish a local collective management organisation but this did not become a
reality until 1992. With the kind assistance of APRA, FPRA was established in 1992 as a limited liability company.
The membership at present is 633 and limited to composers only. The members have signed their rights with
FRPA so on their behalf FPRA negotiates for fees that should be paid by organisations that use their music. The
users of their work include radio stations, TV stations, nightclubs, hotels, organisers of events and games,
concerts, ringtones, etc. At the moment, FPRA was working with the public transport companies (taxies and
buses), which are the loudest users of music. The legal mandate of FPRA is the Copyright Act of 1999.
The formation of bodies such as FPRA demonstrated that there was strength in numbers. An individual
composer on his own would find it very difficult to negotiate with big companies, such as FBC and Fiji TV,
themselves. Another important point was that for FPRA there was no source of income from government or any
other organisations. The revenue that came into FPRA was from the licence fees collected from the users of the
music. It was a hard and lengthy process to get money from business companies for the music they use.
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Therefore awareness of FPRA’s role is an important aspect and FPRA has been doing this through workshops,
seminars, various forms of media and musical events. In August this year, a FPRA Music Awards night was
organised to encourage members and creates awareness of FPRA. Marketing was also an important aspect of
FPRA. It has joined the Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation (FCEF) and the Fiji Hotel and Tourism
Association to increase the visibility of its members. Through these initiatives, FPRA was also trying to make the
job of its licencing officers easier.
In terms of benefits to members, a royalty is paid to members annually based on the licence fees collected from
the users and this was shared with the members on pro-rate basis, depending on the frequency of usage of a
composer’s work during one year. Other deciding factors were things such as duration and the type of licence
held, whether it was background music or ringtone. The royalty was paid out annually a year after the actual
declaration. The next royalty payout is in November 2014 (based on 2013 assessments), which includes just a
little over FJD 245,000. FPRA also holds annual general meetings and this year it will be held on 22 November.
One of the important distinctions between a collective management organisation and other normal
organisations was that a collective management organisation does not maximise on profits but maximised on
the royalty that was paid to its members. It only held back a small amount to cover administrative costs. There
was no subscription fee for members either. FPRA also saw the importance of other intellectual property rights
partners, such authors and writers, registering as a collective management body in order to increase awareness
and present a face to the government. Through a multi-pronged approach, all collective management
organisations could then have a stronger presence in the country.
Uto ni Yalo
Rev. James Bhagwan (President, Uto Ni Yalo Trust) delivered a presentation on the work of the Uto ni Yalo Trust
(formerly known as the Fiji Islands Voyaging Society). He started off with sharing the history behind sailing in the
Pacific and the various sailing boats. The most significant artifact in the history of the Pacific was the canoe. In a
time where people were refitting vessels made for small travelling and trying to sail their cumbersome vessels
around the world, the Pacific Islanders were sailing advanced sea vessels. Not only did this lead to their
migration and settlement over the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, this also connected the Pacific islands.
James further provided an overview of the revival of voyaging and traditional navigation in the Pacific and then
spoke about the work of Uto ni Yalo.
The Uto ni Yalo Trust was established in 2013. Because of the change in legislation (to remove the word Fiji from
names of companies), the name was changed from ‘Fiji Islands Voyaging Society’ to ‘Uto ni Yalo Trust’. The aims
and objectives of the Uto ni Yalo Trust were to:

Undertake open ocean voyages along ancient Pacific migratory routes to contribute to revival and
strengthening of Pacific regional links (2010);

Form alliances with other Voyaging Societies and projects to contribute to the Pacific movement of ocean
voyaging revival, and cultural and environmental sustainability (2011/2012);

Revive and sustain traditional Fijian canoe building, sailing and navigational knowledge, skills and customs;

Contribute to sustainable development and the preservation of the Fijian marine and land environment
through resource renewal and public education programs; and

Advocate for the national protection of the Intellectual Property Rights of Fiji Island canoe designs and
associated sailing and navigation knowledge and skills.
Since early 2010, Uto ni Yalo Trust had trained over 50 sailors to New Zealand Coastguard standard (Day Skipper,
Boat Master and Coastal Skipper). By the end of the current voyage, these sailors would have covered 27,000
nautical miles or 50,000 km, which is more than once around the earth at the equator (1.35 x). These sailors are
now future leaders and ‘Ocean Champions’ who have the ability to become canoe captains in their own right.
Culture and tradition was an important part of the sailing society as these canoes become a vehicle for
showcasing the culture and traditions as well connecting to families/grassroots communities and the marine life
in a real way. The Uto ni Yalo Trust was marketing or promoting a way of life taught by their ancestors who were
great navigators that lived in tune with the nature.
In terms of the Uto ni Yalo Trust’s projects, for the first time in 100 years, Fijians have navigated a canoe using
traditional methods over 2200 nautical mile on the Uto ni Yalo. The company had to train young people in
learning these skills as an art and as science. These skills were in danger of getting lost otherwise. Uto ni Yalo
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works in partnership with the Fiji government, NGOs and civil society organisations to find the links to
communities, environment, sustainable sea transport and also promoting the traditional voyaging. On the list of
Uto ni Yalo Trust projects was the trading canoe, a long term project that had yet to start.
Participants noted the various challenges in becoming a charitable trust. It was important to have very clear
guidelines and formal structures in place (such as having an executive committee, conducting annual general
meetings, having an article of association in place, holding election of office bearers and reporting to the
government). From a loose entity, it had become a formal entity but it did not exist to make a profit but rather
to promote a way of life. Part of what makes Uto ni Yalo work was that it had the appropriate systems in place
that allowed it to operate smoothly. The process was not easy as the Trust had to deal with many requirements
such as those of customs, FRCA and the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji (MSAF). However, The Trust has been
fortunate that its work has been supported by the Fiji government.
The Uto ni Yalo Trust comprised a small group of about 50 people, of which 16 were part of the crew team. It
was important for companies to get government support and recognition. As a charitable trust, Uto ni Yalo Trust
has been able to get support from the government, funds from other organisations such as IUCN (which was
funding their voyage to Australia) and provide the canoe as a learning platform for other agencies. The Uto ni
Yalo was gifted to Fiji and Uto ni Yalo Trust sees itself as the custodian of the vessel.
Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation
Noel Tofinga (Industrial Relations Consultant, Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation) spoke about the work of
FCEF, which was formed in 1960 with the specific objective to counter the Fiji Trades Union Congress (FTUC) but
now it has digressed from this role. Before, it used to be known as the Fiji Employers Federation. Under its new
name, FCEF represents commerce entities and employers. The challenges FCEF faced was how to find a balance
in the organisation as it was representing people from different sectors and different interests. FCEF is the
biggest employer organisation and automatically recognised by the government and other organisations,
including the International Labour Organisation (ILO). As a result, FCEF sends a representative to International
Labour Conference every year. Noel echoed the key messages coming out of the previous presentations – that
there was a need for effective facilitation of supply and demand relationship. There was also a need for
sustainability and capacity building and the need to capture this through collective bargaining from a generalised
as well as a specific perspective (industries). It was also important for organisations to know their boundaries
and rights.
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SESSION 2: UNDERSTANDING YOUR OPTIONS
This session helped participants understand their options for initiating a new venture or organisation including
both non-profit and for-profit models. The presenters in this session explained the types of organizations within
each model and the possible functions and roles of these organisations. They also spoke on the benefits and
restrictions of each model. The facilitator for the session was Elise Huffer (SPC).
Understanding charitable trusts
Ana Tuiwai (Solicitor, Siwatibau & Sloan Lawyers) delivered a presentation on charitable trusts, focusing on their
role, purpose, indemnity and tax exemption. Charitable trusts laws in the Pacific have been adopted from English
laws and applied in many Pacific Islands countries with some modifications. ‘Charity’ in its legal sense comprises
four principle divisions: trusts for the relief of poverty; trusts for the advancement of education; trusts for the
advancement of religion; and trusts for other purposes beneficial to the community. These four principles decide
whether an organization is a charitable trust or not. A ‘Trust’ is a holding arrangement whereby a person
(trustee) holds the property exclusively for the benefit of another or others (beneficiaries). It is also a legal
arrangement and creates a particular interest in property between the Trustee and the Beneficiary.
The four common elements of a Trust are: the Trustee, the Beneficiary, the Trust Property and the Trust
Obligation. The Trustee occupies a very special position in law known as the fiduciary status, which is basically a
relationship consisting of trust with utmost confidence being placed on the trustees by the beneficiaries of the
Trust. The trustees also need to act exclusively in the best interest of the Trust and need to exercise a certain
degree of independence in judgement (particularly with regards to management related decisions) and not be
influenced by other parties. The trustees also have certain duties, which are legislated and found under the
Trustee’s Act. In Fiji, there is a Trustees Act of Fiji, which outlines the minimum requirements that trustees need
to adhere to. Some examples of duties of Trustees include: to be familiar with the terms of the Trust; adhere to
the terms of the Trust; preserve the Trust property; and to keep and render accounts to the beneficiaries. A
Beneficiary is defined as the class of persons who are to benefit from the Trust. The Beneficiary has certain rights
with regards to ensuring that the Trust is properly administered. The Beneficiary would actually liaise with the
Trustees to ensure that they were carrying out the required duties. The most important aspect of any kind of
Trust was the Trust Property, which can include any of the following components: real property; intellectual
property; goods and chattels; and contractual rights and interests in other properties. The fourth element of a
Trust was the Trust Obligation, which was a special duty imposed on the Trustees to deal with the Trust
Property.
Two basic requirements of charitable trust were: (1) charitable purpose as per the governing legislation; and (2)
the benefit must be for the entire public or for a significant proportion of it. Under the Charitable Trust Act of
Fiji, the ‘charitable purpose’ included the following:
 the supply of the physical wants of sick, aged, destitute, poor, or helpless persons, or of the expenses of
funerals of poor persons;
 the education (physical, mental, technical, or social) of the children of the poor or indigent;
 the reformation of criminals, prostitutes, or drunkards;
 the employment and care of discharged criminals;
 the provision of religious instruction, either general or denominational, for the people;
 the support of libraries, reading-rooms, lectures, and classes for the instruction of the people;
 the promotion of athletic sports and wholesome recreations and amusements of the people;
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encouragement of skill, industry, and frugality;
rewards for acts of courage and self-sacrifice; and
the erection, laying-out, maintenance, or repair of buildings and places for the furtherance of any of the
purposes herein mentioned.
Some notable registered charitable trusts in Fiji include the Cancer Society of Fiji and the Fiji Rugby Union. The
charitable purpose of the Cancer Society of Fiji included: (i) Cancer education; (ii) Promotion of health; and (iii)
Advocacy on awareness. The charitable purpose of the Fiji Rugby Union included: (i) To promote and encourage
the practice, the understanding and appreciation of rugby throughout Fiji; and (ii) To develop and foster the
game of rugby throughout Fiji.
If the Trust incurs certain losses or in the event of dissolution, the Trustees have a right to indemnity, whereby
they may pursue methods of recovering losses incurred out of the trust asset. If these losses are a result of
investment decisions, the Trustees – in order to exercise their indemnification right – need to prove that they
had taken reasonable care in making such decisions and that they had acted within the scope of what they were
authorized to do. The scope of a Trustee’s authorization is listed in the Trust Act.
One of the advantages of setting up a Charitable Trust is that it is exempted from paying income tax. To achieve
this exemption status, organisations registered in Fiji need to apply to FRCA. In order to award the exemption,
FRCA will look for the following characteristics of a Trust:
 it is a non-profit body
 the funds owned by the organisation will not be available to any member for personal use
 the assets of the organisation will not be available to any member for personal use upon cessation
 the assets will be distributed to other charitable organisations upon closure
Participation through ownership: Doing business in a cooperative
Ramesh Chand (Manager-Central & Eastern, Department of Cooperative Business, Ministry of Industry, Trade
and Tourism) delivered a presentation on the work of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism and the role of
cooperatives in general. The objectives of the ministry were to: diversify and expand exports, manufacturing and
commercial sector; improve investor and business confidence and ease of doing business; improve market
access of products and services to international market; to ensure compliance with national and international
standards; to enhance consumer protection and awareness; and to improve livelihoods through cooperatives,
micro and small enterprise development.
The Department of Cooperative Businesses falls under the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism in Fiji. In
2009, the Cabinet provided the mandate to restructure the Department. In 2011, the cabinet noted the status of
the restructure of DOC and revitalization of the cooperative business sector and approved a new way forward.
Under its role, the Department is responsible for: formulating & Implementing policies & strategies; facilitating
the promotion and establishment of cooperatives; strengthening monitoring and evaluation; and training and
development.
There were different ways of registering a business and cooperative was one option. Cooperative was defined as
a legally registered business organisation voluntarily formed and run by its members to solve a common
problem. Cooperative was seen as way of eradicating poverty though the collective effort of its members. There
were 295 registered operating cooperatives in Fiji at present – 87 in the central division, 46 in eastern, 56 in
northern and 106 in the western. The types of cooperatives operating in Fiji include: Consumer Cooperative
(Naule Cooperative Store, Naimasimasi Cooperative); Credit Cooperative (CCSLA, Burns Philip Employees T/C
Cooperative); Producers Cooperative (Matasawalevu Cocoa Cooperative, Koronivia Farmers’ Cooperative);
Marketing Cooperative (Wainikoro Fisheries Cooperative); Handicraft Cooperative; (Manavure Cooperative);
Land Purchase/Settlement Cooperative (Nairirileka L/P Cooperative); Service Cooperative (Northern Health
Services Cooperative); Tourism Cooperative (Discover Fiji Tours Cooperative); Multipurpose Cooperative (Fiji
Teachers Union Cooperative).
In terms of benefits to the people, cooperatives: ensured that goods were supplied at a reasonable price;
facilitated and coordinated marketing of goods; encouraged savings and loan; provided employment and return
on members’ income; and shared costs amongst members through bigger bargaining power.
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In terms of benefits to members, cooperatives provided the following advantages: easy and inexpensive to
register; a legal entity which is convenient for business; tax holiday for 8 years; cooperative laws are designed to
assist and protect ordinary people in business; liability of members is limited to their share; and dividends/bonus
for members. A comparison of cooperative, sole trader and private company was noted, which is highlighted in
the table below.
COMPARISON BETWEEN A COOPERATIVE, SOLE TRADER AND PRIVATE COMPANY
COOPERATIVE
SOLE TRADER
PRIVATE COMPANY
Purpose
Service Driven
Profit Driven
Profit Driven
Ownership
Members
Owner
Shareholders
Voting Rights
One member One vote
Owner is the boss
Depends on the shares held
Liability
Members are liable up to the shares
Owner is liable
limited
Registration
Easy to register
Easy to register
Costly
Capital
Shares from Members
Owners contribution – Limited
Capital
Investment by Shareholders
Tax
8 years – no tax
Profit - taxable
Taxable
Management
Democratic
Autocratic
Majority shareholder dictates
It was noted that any group of at least 10 people or more that desire to form a cooperative need to meet for the
purpose of forming a formation committee. The committee, which needs to consist of at least seven people,
shall look into: the need to form a cooperative; the business that the people want to engage in; the objectives of
the cooperative; and the proposed name of the cooperative. The formation committee is responsible for holding
a founder’s meeting and preparing all documentation such as business plan, constitution, by-laws and
submitting the application to the Registrar of Cooperatives. Some disadvantages of cooperatives included:
having limited resources; inefficient management; lack of secrecy; absence of motivation; and disputes and
differences.
Collaboration between businesses: The role of industrial associations
Joe Taoi (Textile, Clothing and Footwear Council of Fiji) delivered a presentation on TCF, focusing on the history
of TCF Industry, the TCF Council of Fiji, benefits of membership, trade agreements, ‘Make it in Fiji’ (MIIF)
initiative and the way forward. The TCF industry in Fiji is a major employer of low income earners, employing
around 8000 people, 70% of which are women. The TCF Council of Fiji represents interests of Fiji’s TCF industry,
in particular manufacturers, and promotes industry-marketing and best practice. It also engages with the
government on policies, laws, incentives and trade and investment facilitation. In addition, the council
administers the ‘Make It In Fiji’ initiative. The Fiji Government recognises TCF Council of Fiji as an industrial
association and as a result TCF can actively engage with the government in consultations and negotiations
involving TCF industry workers.
As an example of the power of associations, the TCL Council was able to lobby to increase the minimum wage
rate for a trainee in the TCL industry from FJD 1.80 to FJD 2.00 per hour. Also, ‘Make it in Fiji’ (MIIF) Initiative
was a certification programme that promoted sale of locally manufactured products from TCF companies. An
independent auditor was engaged to assess compliance against the quality standards. In order to be certified,
companies needed a minimum B grade pass. Currently 11 factories were certified under this initiative in Fiji.
Some of the benefits of TCF Council of Fiji included:
 increasing network;
 access to training on industry needs;
 access to seminars, conferences and trade shows; access to information (weekly newsletters/local
industry trends and news);
 access to trade negotiations and policies;
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access to new business needs (online sales);
access to national budget submissions;
access to minimum wage negotiations and employment related proposals by the industry; and
access to quality standards and best practice under MIIF certification.
As way forward, the TCF Council of Fiji felt that it was important to consolidate and form an association and get
the right people as board members. It was also important to serve members’ and industry interests, consider
partnership with other stakeholders, establish relationships with public sector and practice good governance. In
terms of partnerships, the TCF Council of Fiji has partnered with the business councils of Australia, New Zealand,
Papua New Guinea and the United States, being aware that it was not possible to work alone in this industry and
that building relationships with other stakeholders was important as this further strengthened the lobbying
power of the association. In terms of establishing relationships with the public sector, it was important for an
industrial association to work with the government and be part of policy consultations and be recognised. In
order to get greater support and recognition, it was important for an industrial association to be a registered and
fully-functioning body with a proper secretariat and systems in place. In terms of practicing good governance,
transparency was important so that members were fully aware of what was happening and were part of the
efforts of the industry and the association. Collaboration and cooperation were important in the industry as
opposed to competition. It was important to know who the players were and how the industry worked.
Uniting to achieve common goals: Advocating through trade unions
Surkafa Katafono (National Programme Officer, ILO), delivered a presentation on trade unions, focusing on the
advantages and disadvantages of trade unions, guiding principles for ILO and steps for formation of unions and
the Decent Work agenda. ILO was seen as a three-legged stool comprising of employers, workers and the
government. It could not work without either party. In Fiji, some of the key trade unions issues were the Fiji
Commerce and Employers Union, the Fiji Trades Union Congress and the Fiji Teachers Union. ILO was part of the
United Nations family but it was unique in the sense that unlike other UN agencies, its primary counterpart was
the government while the employers’ and workers’ representatives were called social partners. All three sides
have an equal voice in shaping ILO’s policies and programmes. This was known as ILO’s Tripartite Structure. ILO
had nine guiding principles and four pillars of Decent Work Agenda and it was important for all parties to be
aware of these.
Surkafa outlined the advantages and disadvantages of forming a union. To form a union, one needed to work for
someone. If all employers were very good employers, giving workers full rights and benefits, then there would
be no need for a trade union but unfortunately this was not the case as sometimes unilateral decisions were
made by employers without the knowledge of employees. This is where the role of unions came in – to advocate
for the workers’ rights. The advantages of a trade union included:

On the job, an employees’ union brings together the collective strength of the employees to ensure
meaningful negotiations with management for an equitable contract.

Negotiations can includes wages and salaries, staffing & overtime, safety & health, cost of living raises,
provisions for continuing education, adequate pensions, vacations, equitable promotion systems &
transfer policies, and a workable grievance system.

Through the union, employees oversee carrying out the provisions of the contract. If necessary, a union
may take contract violations to third-party impartial arbitration.

Outside of the workplace, unions work for employees as well. The status of an employee’s profession and
the well-being of the individual practitioner are affected not only by employing institutions but also by
government.

Union organizations have been extremely effective in advocating on behalf of their members in the halls
of government and divisional levels.

Every day unions work hard for their members in Parliament, courts and other govt. departments.

Additionally, unions offer professionals the opportunity to meet and interact with other professionals in
their field or in related areas of work.
The disadvantages of having a union included:

For employers: Rise in labour costs - with collective bargaining, employees are free to talk with each other
before sending a representative on their behalf to negotiate wages, benefits and working conditions, all
of which can lead to higher production costs
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If employees do not agree to the wage, benefits or workplace rules requested by union members, they
are legally allowed to strike.
If the employer promotes workers based on parameters such as merit, productivity or other objective
means, the employer may lose this opportunity with a union workforce.
Many unions negotiate workplace rules that promote and protect workers based on seniority, rather than
merit. So for termination, the employer may have to terminate workers that are hired most recently, not
necessarily those workers who are the least productive.
Decreases the ability of employers to discipline workers as unions react to instances of employee
discipline, may limit your options to deal with workers you deem poor performers.
With an organized labour force, the employers are likely to face more challenges to actions they take
regarding an employee’s status. E.g. individual employees might not have the financial resources or will to
contest a termination, a demotion, a lack of promotion, or alleged harassment or discrimination. A union
worker may be encouraged to file a suit or appeal the employer’s actions, and may be offered union
support to do so.
Union members may pay dues and they can request that these are deducted from their payroll, adding an
extra task for employer’s accounting department.
Discussion
A query was raised on what the Fiji’s government rationale was for disallowing private sector companies from
using the name ‘Fiji’ in their business name. Only two companies – Fiji Water and Pure Fiji – were allowed to use
the name Fiji. Ramesh Chand (Department of Cooperatives) said he will respond by email when he goes back to
the office.
A query was raised on what type of taxation would be levied on funds that were raised by a charitable trust. It
was highlighted that charitable trust organisations had a tax exemption status with regards to income tax but
were liable for VAT and other taxes such as Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) and Pay As You Earn employee
declaration (PAYE). With regards to whether a charitable trust organisation was liable to pay withholding tax,
this would depend on the extent of exemption that FRCA has given the organisation (if it has applied for
exemption).
The issue of a trust company wanting to register as a cooperative was discussed. It was advised that the
company had the option of dissolving the trust and forming a cooperative. It was also possible to form a forprofit subsidiary body under the main parent body.
The difficulties associated with dislodging management or board members from a charitable trust organisation
were discussed. It was noted that Charitable Trust Act of Fiji was more applicable to government funded trust
organisations. In the case of non-government funded trust organisations, the constitution of the trust needed to
be strong and cater for such provisions. Charitable trusts facing these problems were urged to liaise with the
Ministry of Justice.
An issue was raised on whether the assets of a charitable trust organisation can be donated upon its dissolution.
It was noted that FRCA will look for relevant clauses in the constitution of the organisation and then based on
the status of assessment, will decide whether the assets need to be donated to another trust or not.
A question was raised on whether it was possible for a sole trader to set itself up with a self-regulating board of
trustees to operate in a public environment. It was advised that this was not legally possible as sole proprietor
was a one-person business.
The issue of artists forming a cooperative was discussed. It was possible for artists to do their performance by
being in a cooperative and the cooperative can do negotiations on behalf of the artists and retain a certain
percentage for administrative costs.
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SESSION 3: BENEFITS AND DISADVANTAGES OF EACH OPTION
This session aimed to address the benefits and disadvantages of each option through an open discussion with
government representatives and participants that had already formally organized their groups. The facilitator for
the session was Letila Mitchell (National Consultant, SPC).
National Youth Council: Linking communities to government through an advisory body
Manasa Vatanitawake (Board member, National Youth Council, Fiji) spoke on the work of the National Youth
Council, highlighting the issues and challenges faced by the council. It was noted that at present, there were
more challenges than benefits facing the Pacific Youth Council as a charitable trust body and also the case with
the national youth councils. The National Youth Council recently registered as a charitable trust organisation to
look after the interests of youth in Fiji. About 5–7 years back, the members were struggling with how to register
the council. They had to change the name (as the name ‘Fiji’ could not be used) and look at other factors such as
the mandate, structure and board members. The registration process took a lot of time but this did not stop the
council from carrying on with its activities with the youth. The National Youth Council is now a registered
autonomous body, housed within the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the central and eastern division. It works
with all youth groups at grassroots level, regardless of race and ethnicity. The council has two arms – the
Provincial Youth Forum of the Fiji Islands (which looks after the youth in the provinces) and the Youth Assembly
of the Fiji Islands (which looks after the youth in the urban areas and other non-provincial forums).
Manasa also spoke about the Pacific Youth Council, which was established in 2006 in New Caledonia. At present,
the Pacific Youth Council was trying to dissolve its status as a youth group established in New Caledonia and find
a way of establishing it in Fiji, adhering to the laws and rules of Fiji. The Pacific Youth Council is made up of
national youth councils of ten Pacific Island countries, Fiji being one of them though Fiji had yet to become a full
member. The Pacific Youth Council was hoping to receive Fiji as a full member at the next general assembly in
2016. As identified by the youth, employment was one of the four pillars of focus for the council over the next
four years. The council was also working with regional agencies such as PIFS and SPC.
Social Enterprise: Namana Fiji Arts
Tessa Miller (Co-Creator, Namana Fiji Arts) gave a presentation on the work of Namana Fiji Arts and her journey
in the process of establishing Namana. Namana was created out of Tessa’s passion for creating art such as
painting, sculptures, fabric, pots, baskets and bags. It grew from a small business to organising art fairs and to
introducing the ‘Art Cart’ in hotels. At present, the ‘Art Cart’ exists in two hotels in the Coral Coast – Outrigger
and the Shangri-La Fijian Resort. Namana Fiji Arts specialise in authentic Fijian craft but it has been challenging
mainly due to lack of product supply and also with Namana being a very small operator among giant operators.
Taking an innovative approach, Namana has managed to overcome this competition by creating free art
demonstrations where guests could come and learn about craft-making from them. This became very popular
and sales at the Namana outlets increased as well as sales for other Fiji-made products in other outlets that sell
Fiji handcraft increased. Namana Fiji Arts also invite their suppliers to the demonstrations in order to improve
their awareness – this has also helped increase sales.
15
Another area that Namana saw potential in was making market-specific products, particularly targeting Fiji
destination weddings. Commissions for art were another excellent revenue earner though a bit sporadic.
Community was the backbone of Namana – workshops have been held and planting has been done for
sustainable supply of raw materials. Recently, Namana began work with the masi-makers of Vatulele Island,
helping them to strengthen their raw material supply and practice sustainable ways of processing masi. The
challenges faced by Namana in operating the enterprise included: limited product range and supply; product
innovation and development; ideas for innovation, quality control (finishing); links between suppliers; access to
constant supply of quality raw materials; pricing structure; and sustainable practice. One time, Namana had to
import tapa from Tonga when raw material ran out. The solutions for addressing the challenges included:
cultivation of agriculture for handcraft as opposed to wild harvest; holding workshops on product development/
inspiration/innovation; creating a database of producers/suppliers; collaborating on sustainable practices for
raw material suppliers; and establishing value-time and traditional knowledge.
The benefits of operating a social enterprise were:
 The enterprise was self-funded and not reliant on aid or donor funding
 The enterprise was visible because it was acting constantly to generate income.
 The enterprise was independent. It provided the ability to address problems right away and not having
to write proposals in order to seek assistance.
 With partnerships in community, the enterprise was exposed to more ideas and opportunities and able
to facilitate its vision by spreading knowledge in the communities through workshops.
The disadvantages of operating a social enterprise were:
 Limitations due to funding – certain work have to be put on hold until finances improve.
 Classification as a business can be a disadvantage – Namana worked a lot with communities and did
community work out of passion, but because it was a business, nobody would fund any community
related activities (such as youth workshops) of Namana unless they knew what Namana stood for.
Cooperative: Nasinu Land Purchase Cooperative
Muni Deo (CEO, Nasinu Land Purchase Cooperative) spoke about the work of the Nasinu Land Purchase
Cooperative. The Cooperative was engaged in selling freehold property for residential as well as commercial
purposes. To become a member of the Cooperative, one had to buy FJD 2500.00 of the shares. The members
have a common goal and that is to have a piece of freehold land. The Cooperative has to work in stages to
develop and give land to its members. Out of 447 members, the Cooperative is yet to give land to 200 members.
The advantages of being a member of the Nasinu Land Purchase Cooperative were:
 Members of the Cooperative are given a block of land at a reasonable price, which is much less than the
current market rate. This was the greatest advantage to members.
 Children of members are given a piece of freehold land at a much subsidised price. For example, if the
value of land is FJD 100,000, the member’s child will be able to buy the land from the Cooperative at
FJD 30,000.
 Cooperative members get training on management, accounting systems, bookkeeping and filing.
 Have one common voice with the government – this is the Cooperatives’ strength.
 By coming together and investing in the land, the cooperative works towards building a sustainable
livelihood for its members.
The disadvantages of being a cooperative in the land purchase business were:
 The difficulty of evicting squatters from the land. The Nasinu Land Purchase Cooperative has spent
around FJD 100,000 and engaged four law firms to evict squatters from its land.
 Dealing with disputes among members. The Nasinu Land Purchase Cooperative tries to manage its
teams well and solve disputes in a fair manner.
The Nasinu Land Purchase Cooperative has also allocated 10 acres of freehold land to the Fiji Government – free
of charge – to settle all the squatters on its land in a central location.
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Industrial Association: Nausori Market Women Vendors’ Association
Salote Delasua (President, Nausori Market Women Vendors’ Club) spoke about formation of the Nausori Market
Women Vendors’ Association. She thanked SPC and the UN Women for giving her the opportunity to attend the
workshop. Salote, originally from Vanua Levu, was selling out of the Nausori Market and has been a vendor there
for 20 years. She said being a market vendor was a privilege as the income that was derived allowed her to look
after her family, church and community. She said she had personally seen a lot changes taking place at the
Nausori market over the years. Before people used to look down on market vendors but the vendors were
thankful that they were able to sell their produce and take cash home.
In early 2014, under a UN Women project, two training sessions were conducted for market vendors, focusing
on how to get the market vendors organised in such a way so that they could work together, decide their
priorities and take action together. The training was a good opportunity for the vendors to raise their issues,
which they have been wanting to raise with the market management but did not know how to. The training was
done using a toolkit that describes the steps to build and maintain a democratic organisation representing all
market vendors. The training also focused on the need to build a strong foundation (such as a constitution) and
how to choose right kind of leaders/executive committee. The training provided an opportunity for market
vendors to participate in decision-making.
Another issue discussed was how to build the necessary skills and knowledge to run an association. UN Women
assisted in the set-up of the Nausori Market Women Vendors’ Club, which had about 300 members at present.
The women vendors are now able to collectively discuss the issues that affect them and present their concerns
to the market management through the association’s executive committee. The market management is
attentive to the issues as the association was now speaking as one voice. After the UN Women workshop,
vendors were required to map their own market section. The whole mapping exercise was done by the market
vendors and it was very helpful as vendors learnt lessons on how to document their issues, how to identify their
priorities and how to communicate these priorities to the management. Salote said it a challenge to get
organised in a market space but she was happy that they had moved forward to form an association that will
benefit everyone in the long run.
Trade Union: ILO
Surkafa Katafono (ILO) spoke about the disadvantages and advantages of trade unions in earlier session so in this
session, she raised the issue of poor treatment being given to performing artists when they go to hotels to
perform and what the artist needed to know in terms of their rights. When a hotel hires a performing artist to
perform at its premises, the hotel can be seen as an employer. Artists were supposed to be treated well and
given access to proper changing rooms and bathrooms. An artist should also be able to negotiate the wages for
the performance. Whether an association is formed, or a cooperative, within the overall organisation it was
possible to have a trade union, which would negotiate the artists’ human resource needs and terms and
conditions at work. The other important issue was occupational health and safety. When an artist goes to a hotel
to perform, the hotel as well as the artist needs to take care of the health and safety needs. There should be an
OHS policy, which is compulsory and a part of the business licence process. Another issue that could be included
in the policy is sexual harassment.
As a member of ILO, Fiji has ratified eight fundamental ILO conventions. These labour standards have become a
part of Fiji’s Employment Relations Promulgation. All these conventions need to be followed through. ILO was
currently trying to help the Fiji government to ensure that these labour laws were adhered to in line with the
international standards. ILO also focused on employment and looked at employment creation, skills
development, youth employment, green jobs and global jobs pact. At present, ILO was working with the Fiji
government on a study that is expected to feed into the development of a national employment policy, an
umbrella policy that will set direction for the government in the employment area. ILO was also assisting the
Ministry of Labour with the National Employment Centre, which is now running fully-fledged. ILO was also
working with the training institutions that provide skills-based training, such as TPAF (which was an ILO baby), to
ensure that training met industry needs.
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Discussion
It was highlighted that many youth in the villages were involved in association or cooperative related work but
were not paid for the work. For example, with regards to the National Youth Council, the only person who was
paid was the General Secretary of the National Youth Council; rest of the members were volunteers. It was
noted that the National Youth Council was currently organising a workshop in Levuka, the last of the six
workshops, where youth get a chance to raise the issues they face in their communities. Based on the feedback
received from the workshops, an outcome document will be prepared next week and tabled in parliament to
raise the issues of youth in Fiji. The advantage of being affiliated to the Ministry of Youth was that the youth
were able to participate in events at all levels – rural, provincial, national and international forums and
workshop, which helped to build knowledge and skills in youth as well as introduce them to income-generating
projects.
Tessa Miller’s journey to establish Namana was commended and said to hold important lessons and good ideas
for the youth. The issue that Tessa brought up about not recognising the value in the art form was not
necessarily pointed at the youth but addressed to the general buy-in from public and not only the end customer
but wholesale buyers who ask to bring the price down for art and handcraft. It was suggested that the talents or
value that youth have can be better utilised when youth are brought into cultural industry workshops and their
perceptions are sought on what they see as a trendy product. Linking youth with organisations such as the Fiji
Arts Council and other craft companies could be beneficial for the youth. Tessa Miller expressed interest in
working with youth groups to see how they could work together and benefit each other.
A query was raised on whether there were any opportunities/funding from ILO that was available for youth
artists to be attached to associations such as Namana. ILO representative said that ILO was the poorest of all UN
agencies but it can set aside seed money to attract other bigger donors. ILO has a global project called green jobs
so they would be very interested in recycling projects and those that are integrated with climate change. It was
also clarified that SPC and PIFS were not donors but could help to find money for projects.
It was noted that one of the difficulties faced by the cultural industries was to reach out to the youth groups and
bring them to such discussions. Occasionally groups would come to SPC at Nabua and sell quality jewellery and
art pieces but it was difficult to get these people into workshops. There are a lot of activities going on but
organisers such as SPC did not know don’t know how to contact these crafts people despite getting their phone
numbers (with no responses when called). The workshop was seen as the beginning of improving linkages with
all stakeholders in the cultural industries.
It was noted that Viti-E-Loma Youth Group had 30 members who pay an annual membership fees of FJD 20.00 to
be able to benefit from training conducted by the group and to be able to vote. Other members are working
members and there are about 50 of them. Working members were those who were contracted for small jobs
and benefited from these jobs. The latest programme Viti-E-Loma had ventured into was establishing small
micro sustainable projects (recognising talents of youth in areas such as musical talents, comedy, etc). It was
noted that Viti-E-Loma was registered under the Ministry of Youth and Sports but not under the Charitable Trust
Act. If there was a need for Viti-E-Loma to have trustees (because of the various activities they venture into),
then there was need to formalise the group. It was highlighted that there was an age limit for youth that were
part of youth groups under the Ministry of Youth and Sports. If Viti-E-Loma wanted to remain under the Ministry
of Youth, then later on this could be a problem for its members. Two options were suggested for Viti-E-Loma: (i)
it could shift and register as a cooperative; and (ii) it could register a cooperative and have a separate income
generating arm – in this option the club can be a member of the cooperative and the individuals can be
members too. It was noted that registration of charitable trusts needed to be done at the Registrar of Titles. VitiE-Loma did not want to lose its affiliation with the Ministry of Youth because of the benefits. On the other hand,
Viti-E-Loma members have come up many income-generating projects and considering that 80% of the members
are unemployed, the members were looking for practical solutions. It was advised that Viti-E-Loma could still be
affiliated with the Ministry of Youth and Trust but be registered as charitable trust. Clubs, associations and trusts
that are affiliation to the ministry were known as unincorporated entities. They are recognised by the law as
there is legislation that governs these types of entities. It was noted that a cooperative was a formal registered
business organisation. Groups that are affiliated with ministries were not allowed to do legal business or sell
products though groups have been found to be doing so.
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The structure and work of the Fiji Arts Council was highlighted. The council is a statutory body registered under
the Charitable Organisation Act. It receives funds from the government for capacity building of its members. To
become a member of the Fiji Arts Council, a person has to register with the council by giving the required
contact details so that the council can maintain a database of who they can work with. There is no membership
fee. The council oversees the development of heritage arts, performing arts, visual arts and literary arts. At one
point the council was an incubator for the Pacific Islands Voyaging Society. The council has also been a stepping
stone for fashion designers. Council runs lot of training and workshops and therefore communities can make a
written request for the type of workshop they need. As part of the Fiji government’s ‘Look North’ policy, the
council was currently running workshops in Labasa and Taveuni. The Fiji Arts Council does not have funding for
projects but can help communities look for funding. There are some things the council won’t do, for example,
they received a request from a group of women in Vanua Levu who wanted to weave Daku fans. The council had
to reject this request because making of Daku fans was restricted only to the Daku village in Tailevu as it was
their traditional artefact. The council has also developed a sustainable education programme targeting Pemac
teachers from 4,000 schools so that arts programmes are initiated in schools right from primary school.
With regards to the Fiji National Employment Policy, it was noted that ILO has been concentrating on skills and
ADB has been targeting diagnostic studies (and have also funded a series of these studies). They are working
with relevant government agencies – ADB linking up with the national strategic planning ministry and ILO with
labour ministry. Most of participants at the workshop were affiliated with youth and women ministries and they
were advised to go through these ministries to link up with the national strategic planning ministry and the
labour ministry. The established employers would be affiliated with the Fiji Chamber of Commerce and they can
feed in through the employer’s representative. Established union or industrial associations can feed in through
the Fiji Trades Union Congress representative. ILO considered these to be the three-legged stool that could be
used for making submissions on the Fiji National Employment Policy. ILO was looking at holding a national
stakeholders meeting in week of 18 November 2014.
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SESSION 4: LEGAL REQUIREMENTS AND PROCESS FOR REGISTRATION
This session presented the legal requirements and process for registering each type of organisation. The
facilitator for the session was Jessie McComb (SPC).
Charitable trusts
Ana Tuiwawa (Solicitor, Siwatibau & Sloan Lawyers) delivered a presentation on the legal requirements for a
charitable trust in Fiji. The entities and models that were legislated under the Company’s Act included a sole
trader, a company limited by guarantee and a limited liability company. The charitable trust model has its own
Act while the associations, cooperatives, societies and clubs also have their own governing legislation. The two
main pieces of legislation that needed to be looked at when establishing a charitable trust were the Charitable
Trust Act of Fiji and the Trustees Act. The Charitable Trust Act looks at the appointment of trustees, power of
Registrar of Titles and the power of the Minister of Justice and also looks at a variety of purposes that are
available for organisations who want to use this model. The Trustees Act looks specifically at trustees, focusing
on their appointment, discharge and the general powers of trustees.
The registration of a charitable trust is done by the Deeds Office under the Registrar of Titles Office in Fiji. All
required documents need to be compiled before making an application. If an organisation wants to make some
changes in the composition of the Trust (such as changes to the registered address or appointment of additional
trustees) after a Trust is registered, then these changes need to be minuted and filed. The two documents
needed for registration are the Trust Deed and Incorporation for Application, which are prepared by solicitors
who mainly liaise with the trustees while working on the two documents. The trustees have a final say on the
content of the two documents. The Trust Deed will need to: state a minimum of three and a maximum of five
trustees and their details; outline the charitable purpose and mission; have certain clauses addressing the
appointment and discharge procedures for trustees; the duties/powers of trustees and their administration role;
clauses on indemnification and limitation of trustees liability, dissolution of trust; and the management and
meetings of trustees.
The Application for Incorporation Document will contain all the details required by the Registrar’s Office (such as
addresses, registered office) as well as the common seal, statement of asset and minutes of the meeting. It is a
compulsory requirement for minutes of meetings to show the appointment of Trustees. The Certificate of
Incorporation is given on the condition that annual reports and trustees memorials (details of trustees) would be
submitted on an annual basis.
Ana was asked to elaborate on how a company limited by guarantee (or Hybrid) worked. Under this model, the
company does not have shareholders or any capital. Instead of shareholders, the company has members.
Activities that cannot be carried out under a charitable trust can be done under this hybrid model. If the
company folds up, the liability is limited to the amount of shares members contributed, which could even be as
low as one dollar. The advantages of a hybrid model were that it qualified as non-profit and could get tax
exemption. However, any money made by this company has to be invested back into the charitable trust.
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Cooperative
Ramesh Chand (Manager-Central & Eastern, Department of Cooperative Business, Ministry of Industry, Trade
and Tourism) presented the legal requirements for registering a cooperative. In the first instance, any group of at
least ten people or more desiring to form a cooperative may meet for the purpose of forming a formation
committee. The formation committee needs to consist of at least seven people. The committee shall look into:
the need to form a cooperative; the business the people want to engage in; the objectives of the cooperative;
and the proposed name of the cooperative.
The formation committee, from among the 7 members, shall elect a President, Secretary and a Treasurer to lead
up to the Founders Meeting. The other roles of the formation committee is to: inform the Department of
Cooperatives of their intention to register a cooperative; work with the Department official in writing up the bylaws of the cooperative; assist in the preparation of the business plan; and compile a list of prospective members
and a record of probable contribution to share capital.
The objectives need to be very clear and precise. It should include what the cooperative aims to achieve for its
locality, member and the community. It should state the purpose of the cooperative and the scope of the
cooperative. The cooperative also needs to have by-laws, a business plan and a founders’ meeting. The annual
general meeting is the supreme body and then comes the board of directors. Every three years (one term), three
people will step down and three new ones will be elected. A person can serve two terms (six years) only and
then step down. A cooperative needs a good business plan so that members know where they are heading and
whether they are making a profit or not and also to see the viability of establishing the entity. Once the bylaws
and the name of cooperative are finalised, the Formation Committee will call for a Founders’ meeting where the
prospective members shall formally decide to form a cooperative and sign a written declaration to this effect. A
register of members shall be opened, the by-laws shall be approved and the first officers of the group shall be
elected.
Finally, the application for registration is made on the prescribed form to be submitted to the Registrar of
Cooperatives with the following:
 Copy of the minutes of Founders Meeting
 The proposed By-Laws signed by the applicant
 A list of officers, their names, addresses and qualification
 The registration fee of $115.00
 Feasibility Study report or Business plan giving all budget plans estimates and cash flow forecast of the
proposal
 Support letter
If the Registrar is satisfied that the cooperative has compiled with the provision of the Cooperative Act, the
Registrar shall then approve registration and sign the by-laws. A certificate of Registration will then be issued.
Industrial association
Elona Balewai (Industrial Associations Unit, Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations, Fiji)
delivered a presentation on the legal requirements for registration of an industrial association. ‘Association’ was
defined as any group of people coming together because of a common interest. There are currently 188
registered associations in Fiji. To register an association, Form A has to be filled; list of officer bearers has to be
filled (List C), 3 original copies of the constitution and minutes of the inaugural meeting has to be attached.
When the Ministry of Employment gives out Form A and List C to fill, it also gives the template for the
constitution so that the association’s constitution is aligned to the Associations Act. There is no fee for
registration of associations.
The Registrar of Industrial Association will only register an association if it complies with the requirements of the
Association Act. Once registered legally, the association is expected to conduct an annual general meeting or an
extra meeting in accordance with the association constitution and submit the annual report and financial
statement, which must be audited by an independent auditor. Information must be submitted to the Registrar
anytime when requested. Annual general meetings of the association can only take place when there is a
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quorum as stated in the constitution. At the AGMs, the association needs to approve the committees report and
the financial statement, elect office bearers and consider motion if any and any other business. AGMs should be
conducted before 31 March as all returns need to be submitted by that date.
One of the weaknesses found with existing associations in Fiji was in the area of returns. Associations were not
submitting the required returns on an annual basis and they could be deregistered for non-compliance. There is
a standard annual return form that associations were required to fill. A statement of income and expenditure
has to be submitted as part of the annual return and it was noted that some associations were using retired
auditors to do independent auditors. The Department has a list of registered auditors and they would only
accept audited reports in line with their list of approved auditors. If an association wants to change its name, it
needs to contact the Registrar’s Office to do this legally. Any changes to name or constitution of the association
needs to be voted for at the association’s annual general meeting and evidence in the form of minutes needs to
be submitted to the Registrar’s Office.
Trade unions
It was noted that for registration of a trade union, the union needs to submit four copies of the constitution,
minutes of the inaugural meeting and completed form for office bearers. The registration fee was FJD 1000.
Seven or more members were needed to form a trade union.
Discussion
A query was raised on what penalties were in place if a society does not renew its list of trustees and what
powers the members had to correct something like this. It was noted that there was no such penalty for
associations. It was further noted that for associations that are registered under the ministry of employment, the
office bearers were the trustees. Once the office bearers change, the trustees changed automatically. The case
was different for charitable trusts as the trustees were different from office bearers. In some cases, it was
observed that while office bearers changed on a regular basis, the trustees remained unchanged for years.
Further discussion took place on how such trustees could be removed.
It was noted that trustees that have been on board for a long time can be removed through provisions in the
constitution. In a cooperative, there are no trustees, the office bearers were trustees. The office bearers of an
association, in line with the association constitution, have to serve a certain term. There was no such thing as an
everlasting trustee and the constitution should cover the dissolution of trustees. In case of an organization that
is operating without a constitution, it is up to the board members to handle the issue. It was compulsory for a
cooperative with more than 50 members to have a supervisory committee, which acts as a watch dog. It was
noted that the Ministry of Justice in Fiji was undertaking a monitoring role for government-funded charitable
trusts. It was also noted that the Charitable Trust Act underwent certain amendments last year because of
certain discrepancies (as in the case of the Cancer Society).
Participants noted the challenges and limitations faced by some groups and artists who were not supported by
their communities and elders in their formation stages. However, these artists have gone ahead to prove
themselves and ultimately gained the respect and trust of their communities and are now in a positon where
elders are coming forward willingly to share their traditional knowledge with the artists. In Rako’s case, parents
are seeing a difference in the behaviour of their children who are members of Rako – children are more
disciplined and brought home money that they earn through Rako. The elders in the community are also
showing their support by sharing their traditional chants with Rako.
It was confirmed that if a cooperative fell under a charitable trust, then any profit made from the business would
need to be reinvested into the trust. Groups who were interested in getting more information on this were
urged to contact Ramesh and Ana. Groups could also talk to an accountant or tax agent. It was also highlighted
that for business registration, there was a need to consider other requirements such as registering for FNPF,
FRCA requirements and obtaining a business licence from the city council.
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SESSION 5: HANDCRAFT AND HERITAGE ART PRODUCERS
This one-day session was dedicated specifically to the handcraft and heritage art producers of Fiji. Around 30
people participated in this session, inclusive of handcraft producers, government ministries and affiliations and
other stakeholders. The session aimed at understanding the current status of the handcraft sector, who the
actors were, what the actors were doing, how all stakeholders could work together, the challenges faced by the
producers, the challenges faced by the sector as a whole and what could be done collectively to address the
challenges. The session began with an introductory session of the participant and/groups, followed by
presentations and discussions on various models that could be adopted to improve networking and linkages
among the handcraft stakeholders. The session concluded with a discussion on what the issues, challenges and
priorities were for the various groups and the way forward.
Introduction
Rako Pasefika
Letila Mitchell (Founder and Artistic Director, Rako Pasefika) gave a brief introduction on the work of Rako
Pasefika. Rako, comprising 35 members, was a collective forum for young artists who engaged in a range of art
forms such as dancing, music, designing, masi-making and weaving. The interest of Rako was predominantly
Rotuman, but the group also contained some part-Fijian, part-Samoa and Tahitian dancers. Rako provided a
space, a home and a community for the artists to feel supported and connected. Their expression of art was
more of a contemporary nature but they placed great value in incorporating traditional knowledge, skills and art
into their work.
With regards to work in the handcraft sector, Rako encouraged young people to engage in masi-making, weaving
and creating other handcrafted products. It was observed that young people knew a lot about dancing but not
about other traditional art forms such as weaving. As part of a project Rako started two years ago, members
engaged in creating handcraft products such as bowls and lamp shades. Also, two young Rako dancers have
become masi-makers and started generating income for their families through this art. The villages who supply
masi and the traditional designs also benefit as they get a 5% royalty on every new product that’s created by
Rako crafters. In addition to the financial perks, knowledge was being transmitted down to young people
through this project. Rako had also started two projects to revive the traditional Rotuman tapa and tattoo
designing skills as they had lost about 80% of the knowledge and skills in this area. Rako placed high value in
connecting properly with the elders to ensure that traditional knowledge and designs were used in a proper
manner to create new products.
Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Elise Huffer (Human Development Adviser-Culture, HDP, SPC) provided an overview of SPC’s interest and work in
the cultural industries. SPC, a regional technical agency, began looking at the cultural industry in the Pacific in
2010. Letila Mitchell and Jessie McComb, two culture experts, did a lot of background work in the area to find
out the opportunities that existed and how SPC could assist in developing and marketing the sector. Elise saw
the participants as experts who knew where things came from and what it meant to them. SPC was trying to link
their expertise in order to create more opportunities and one of the ways was to link all stakeholders together
through a collective forum. Elise said whatever they shared at the workshop, the objective should be to create
and strengthen linkages so that there are more opportunities for producers, particularly for the young people.
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Rotuma Women’s Association Fiji & Rotuma
Marseu Rafai (President, Rotuma Women’s Association Fiji & Rotuma, Fiji) spoke about the work of the Rotuma
Women’s Association, which comprised more than a hundred members. The aim of the association was to bring
the Rotuman’s craft groups to work together and share the knowledge and skills that they have inherited from
their ancestors. In Rotuma, each district had its own interpretation of how they did things and had its own
announcement. Smaller groups often had their own interpretation of Rotuman culture and arts. For example,
each district may be known for the distinct manner in which they folded mats.
The association also aimed to promote women’s participation in the community and at large. At some level,
women still feared come out into open forums to discuss their issues and share their knowledge. Another way
the association was helping to promote women’s participation was by promoting their handcrafted products –
some items were displayed at the workshop for participants’ viewing. The association helped to link Rotuman
women’s aspirations with the government ministries so that they could be supported by the government. The
association was affiliated with the Ministry of Women in Fiji.
In terms of strengths and weaknesses, the association’s strength lay in having excellent craft people, and this set
them apart from other groups. The association’s weakness was that women were still frightened of facing
people and speaking up. The association members needed education to improve their marketing skills that
would enable them to sell the products and make a profit.
The long distance between Rotuma and Suva often affected the work of the association members. When raw
materials run out on the island, they have to wait for supplies from Suva, which take about two months for ships
to deliver. Sometimes the materials would get wet or go missing while being transported and this affected the
work of craft people. Another problem was communication. It was difficult to communicate from Rotuma as
most people didn’t have phones, some couldn’t afford to have phones and those that had phones faced
problems during bad weather. The island also had very few cars and fuel was very expensive.
The Fiji government has been assisting the association in the area of sewing, teaching the members how to
repair sewing machines, how to cost the products and how to maintain accounts and records. At present, the
association had three sewing machines operating in Rotuma, which are used to sew garments and generate
income from sale of these garments. Women had gone beyond their traditional roles of planting flowers, doing
flower arrangements and cooking to generating income through their traditional skills. Another area of concern
for the association was language. The young Rotuman generation could only speak Fijian, Hindi and English but
not their dialect.
Drodrolagi Women’s Group
Seramasi Latinara (Secretary, Drodrolagi Women’s Group, Nadi) spoke about the Drodrolagi Women’s Club,
established in Nadi in 2012. The Club, which is registered under the Ministry of Women, brings together 10
housewives with varying skills, such as weaving, sewing, pot planting and cooking, and helps these women to
generate income through these skills. The club’s performance went down after Sera left for New Zealand but she
returned this year and managed to revive the group. Members are currently working on activities such as
designing shirts and creating prints, making beads and jewellery, making salusalu and cooking food to sell to
school children. A couple of months ago, the group also started talking about expanding its work.
Seramasi raised the significance of the salusalu. Traditionally, women from certain provinces were allowed to
make salusalu using specific material and methods. These days, salusalu-making has been commercialised and
people have been making it anyhow, and some using plastics and ribbons. This was taking away the real identity
of where salusalu came from. Traditionally, only Fijian chiefs could wear it and now anybody can. This was one
of the things that Sera had raised with the Fiji Arts Council and the ministry. Sera also emphasised the
importance of retaining one’s own culture and passing it on to their children, noting that in recent times young
people were more interested in technological gadgets, such as iPads, tablets, computers and phones, than art
and craft.
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Kasanita Vu – masi maker
Kasanita Vu (Masi-maker) spoke in Fijian language, sharing her experiences as a masi-maker. She is known as
one of the top masi-makers in Fiji and has been awarded a Fijian craft licence by the Ministry of Industry and
Trade in Fiji. She has represented Fiji in few festivals, such as the Melanesian Festival of Arts (PNG) and the
Festival of Arts (Vanuatu). Her masi designs have also been exhibited in few Fiji embassies around the world. She
works on her own and sells her products out of the Suva Handicraft Centre. She studied up to class eight only but
through weaving and selling her masi, she has managed to meet her household needs and educated her children
to university level. Even today, she can weave a masi during the night and sell it in the morning for FJD 100–150.
She thanked the organisers for giving her the opportunity to share her experiences.
Hookers Women’s Club
Taina Daunivalu (Member, Hookers Women’s Club) spoke on the work of the Hookers Women’s Club, which was
established three years ago. The club has nine members. Taina joined the club at her daughter’s insistence who
knew her mother was very skilled in sewing and embroidery. She was brought up to learn these skills, which was
passed on to her from her mother. Taina has also received second prize from the Fiji Craft Society for
embroidery. Taina highlighted that with a lot of new machine-driven embroidery coming up in the market, the
skill of doing embroidery from hand was fading away. Hookers Women’s Club was trying to revive these skills by
bringing back grandmothers into the club. The biggest problem faced by the Club was not having enough
resources as all their members were housewives or retired mums. They could only buy the raw materials when
they had enough money. The Club is also in touch with the Fiji Arts Council to look at marketing the range of
products the Club produces, such as bed covers, quilts, pillow cases, cushion covers and table mats.
Marica Lomasalato
Marica Lomasalato (Culture and Heritage, Fiji Arts Council, Tailevu) spoke about her experiences as a sole-trader
in the screen printing industry. Based in Tailevu, Marica has been running a small business screen printing for the
last 15 years. She thanked the Fiji Arts Council for helping to her to sell her products. Marica has been
conducting workshops around Fiji for women’s groups to develop screen printing skills, particularly on how to
print on cushion covers, table cloth, etc.
OKATI
Mary Rokonadravu (Publisher, IKATO) spoke about her journey as a writer and publisher. Though she was part of
the literally arts industry, her work was linked to the craft group because of the beautiful and amazing stories
that the craft group had. She as a writer wanted to share these stories with everyone. This could also be seen as
a marketing aspect for the group. One of the ways this could be done was through the journal – OKATI – which
aimed to capture and disseminate such stories. Mary was planning to launch a Pacific-based journal – OKATI – on
1 December 2014. The bi-monthly magazine would focus on writing, art and photography and will be available
online and print. There would be three sections in the magazine and people could contribute articles as relevant
to them. To source stories, Mary had put out a poster on Facebook calling for stories but was disappointed with
the lack of response from Fiji. She was happy to receive good responses from PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
and New Caledonia. Artists who were interested in a space in the magazine could provide the artwork and share
photographs if they wished to. If artists wanted to be profiled, OKATI could prepare their profiles for publishing
in the journal.
Mary’s advice was that sometimes, one needed to grab the opportunity that came their way and if one were
part of a group, then they needed to give and share life experiences in order to help others. Artists should not
plagiarise but aim to modify what they have learnt and create their own unique creations. The more one shared,
the more new ideas would emerge and no one can take that away from the person – this was important to take
away fear.
Viti-E-Loma Youth Group
Manoa Dugulele Gucake (Advisor, Viti-E-Loma Youth Group) spoke about the work of Viti-E-Loma Youth Group,
which was established in 2009. The club originated in the Lomaiviti Province in Fiji but could not register using
25
the province’s name so instead ‘Viti-E-Loma’ was used. The Club has around 40–50 registers members. Through
grass-cutting contracts, such as those with Davuilevu Housing and Davuilevu Methodist Primary school,f the Club
earns about FJD 3500/month, which is shared among the members with grass-cutting contracts. The club is also
engaged in a range of activities such as organising a Cultural and Fun night, organising sports events every three
months, assisting in church activities and providing financial support to league rugby and volleyball teams.
The Club has started a Butu programme (meaning to step on something), where members engage in small
income-generating projects and the money earned is collected and deposited with the Unit Trust of Fiji. The club
was surprised at the range of talents that the members displayed. Under the Club project plan for 2009–2015,
the club embarked in an ambitious project to acquire farmland, build an equipment shed, build a business centre
and park and buy grass-cutting machines. To date, they have built the equipment shed, bought the grass-cutters
and bought the land. The business centre was almost halfway ready. In terms of training of members, members
had undergone leadership training at Nadawa done by the Department of Cooperative. Another training session
has been done with the Land Transport Authority at the club’s base. As a result, 19 club members are now
holding driver’s licences and two members are with PSV licences. The club also a Facebook page called viti_eloma. The club saw the culture workshop as a forum for networking and where they could learn from other
participants.
Mili Biaukula, a youth member of Viti-E-Loma Youth Group since 2012, spoke briefly about her work in designing
coconut shell jewellery. She has been travelling to outer islands such as Levuka for her work and also markets
items in shows.
Nation Centre for Small & Micro Enterprises Development
Ravi Chand (CEO, NCSMED) spoke about the role of NCSMED in supporting small and micro businesses in Fiji. He
was particularly appreciative of the women in the workshop who were skilled, talented and empowered.
According to NCSMED, around 70% of people in Fiji were directly or indirectly getting a livelihood through the
SME sector by making a decent living through their talents. It was a big part of the system relating to jobs and
livelihoods. Bigger skilled employment businesses created fewer jobs and more focused on downsizing than job
creation. In the cultural industry, there was a lot of innovation and the actors were viewed as job creators and
drivers. A lot of creativity was generated within the different sectors. NCSMED was now trying to make the
cultural industry a target area for its support as it had become a large sector and had tremendous potential for
growth. Before, the cultural industries used to be mixed with other major sectors (such as agriculture and
tourism) and support was provided on an adhoc basis. NCSMED had to make the cultural industries a priority
sector so that enough resources could be allocated to this sector. If NCSMED didn’t have the required resources,
they could help SMEs to look for other sources of support. In 2015 and beyond, strengthening of this sector was
in their radar and so they had to strategize how they could effectively support this sector. Ravi said that
realisation came from attending forums, such as the workshop, and that’s where they were made aware of the
sector’s importance.
NCSMED runs a programme called Northern Development Programme in Vanua Levu, which provided assistance
to people who were trying to run businesses and had associated project costs. Under this programme, 60% of
the total project cost can be funded through a grant (not a loan). The Fiji Government has been providing FJD 1.5
million every year as grant towards the programme. The Island of Kiwa and Rabi were the first to benefit and
received support for some ceramic and pottery makers and handcraft people. In Savusavu, NCSMED supported a
music group who performed at resorts. NCSMED hoped that similar programmes would be available for the
Eastern and Central division people. NCSMED also runs a Business Incubator Programme, under which training
and business counselling is provided. NCSMED does not have craft-making experience but can assist in the area
of business and welcomed anyone who wished to bounce ideas off them or to seek their advice before starting
their business.
NCSMED also promoted the Fiji government initiative – Buy Fiji Made – and can provide advice on the usage of
the logo and the quality of products that were needed for a company to be able to use this logo. It was noted
that some Fiji Arts Council members have been given permission to use this logo. Currently, the major handcraft
centres and outlets in Fiji were selling craft under this logo. The logo licence is free for SME in Fiji at the moment.
NCSMED was planning to establish an SME Sale Centre in Suva (Robertson Road) in December 2014 to launch a
range of craft products created by SMEs who found it difficult to connect to the market and were not
26
comfortable negotiating a deal with big retailers. With the SME sale centre, crafters were required to send a
sample to the centre in order to promote the product. Once an interested buyer is found, NCSMED would
connect the buyer to the crafter. NCSMED could also sell products directly from the centre though the primary
function of the centre was not to sell but to look for a market for crafters. The centre also plans to have an
online facility where products will be seen with the name and a small story about the creator, and this way the
products could get international exposure as well. On the issue of high cost of freight to outer islands, such as
Rotuma, Ravi informed that these things could be easily addressed though a freight subsidy. Under the Fiji
government’ ‘Look North’ policy, a freight subsidy had been instituted, which encouraged buyers from Suva to
go to North and buy from there. Ravi asked for participants contact details so that NCSMED could contact them
later on. He also invited the participants for a visit to NCSMED and the SME Sale Centre.
Akanisi Waqanicaka (Senior Research Officer, NCSMED) thanked PIFS and SPC for the invitation. Recently, she
had been participating in all culture workshops organised by the two agencies and had learnt a lot about the
various sectors involved in the cultural industries. She said it was important for NCSMED to have this knowledge
so that they could support these groups.
Pravind Anand (Manager-West, NCSMED) said he had a banking background and over 27 years of experience in
the SME sector. Pravind was based in the west but he encouraged members to feel free to contact him if they
needed to. He said he was circulating a list to get names of all participants and would be contacting them to see
how he could assist them.
Uto-ni-Yalo and Fiji Society for Visual Communication
Carson Young (Vice President, Uto ni Yalo) spoke about the Fiji Society for Visual Communication and briefly
touched on the Uto-in-Yalo Trust (as this had already been comprehensively covered the previous day by Rev.
James Bhagwan). The Fiji Society of Visual Communication was a collective forum of about 60 commercial artists
who engaged in a range of visual art forms such as advertising, branding and graphic designing. The group also
had a presence on Facebook. Carson was drawn to craft because of his origins but he worked in the commercial
sector. As part of his work with Uto ni Yalo, he goes on sailing trips and each port he goes to, he looks for art
centres. Some carving schools around the region have been known to offer apprenticeships in carving. Carson
felt that a school should be set up in Fiji that provides education and training on contemporary and traditional
art.
Carson said it was a challenge in this day and age to maintain traditional designs and not letting these get mixed
with designs from other cultural groups. He asked whether it was right and relevant to mix local designs with
Samoan or Maori motif mixing with local ones. Carson mentioned Mark Halabi’s point on the relation between
craft and economic. At some point, it was about a trade or exchange between one’s talent and money. At some
point an artist may have to deal with infusion and mix to make art more relevant to the audience. Carson
explained why the Fiji government was placing restrictions on the usage of the word ‘Fiji’ in names of companies.
If the government did not do this, then people will sell more products online, and this would dilute the Fiji brand.
Companies that registered before this particular legislation was passed were lucky, such as Fiji Water and Pure
Fiji.
Jewellery maker – Paras Ram Nair
Paras Ram Nair (Jewellery-maker, Suva) spoke briefly about his work. He was a self-employed jewellery-maker
and started this business in 1964. He has been a member of the Fiji Arts Council for 30 years and the council
engages him to run training and workshops when needed. Last year, the council engaged him to run a workshop
in Taveuni to teach the women jewellery making skills. This year, the University of the South Pacific had engaged
him to run a workshop in Ba for the Ba Women’s Forum.
Naisoso Youth Empowerment and Sports Club
James Ma’afu (member, Nadi District Youth Council) spoke briefly about the work of the Naisoso Youth
Empowerment and Sports Club, which was affiliated with the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The club started as a
volleyball sports club last year but members felt that the club also needed to focus on community work in
addition to sports. As a result, the name was changed to Naisoso Youth Empowerment and Sports Club. The club
27
managed to form four volleyball teams (three men’s team and one women’s team). The club could not play
volleyball this year as all its players were working full-time. James said he was fortunate to be at the workshop to
learn more about the sector.
Muanaira Youth Group
Filipe Baleikoro (President, Muanaira Youth Group) spoke about the work of the Muanaira Youth Group, a group
established in Lau that had 50 active members located on the island and 30 in Suva. The group registered with
the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Fiji two years ago. Filipe said they faced challenges in trying to maintain their
sivisivi (weaving/carving) traditions, which included producing handcrafted products such as mats and canoes
(camakau and drua). They had to compete with bigger companies that have started using new technology and
machines to create these products in bigger quantities over a short period of time. He said with sivisivi slipping
out of their hands, he put up a proposal to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to start engaging the Group in
seaweed farming and chicken and pig farming in Suva. He said sivisivi was part of the traditional skills that were
passed to them from the islands. He had grown up seeing his father and uncle cut down trees and carving them
to build canoes. When he moved to Suva for education, his father had begun creating other new craft such as
carving turtles and bats out of vesi trees. He said there was a time when big retailers, such as Jack’s and Tappoo,
came looking for them to buy sivisivi but nowadays they had to run after these retailers. This was because the
retailers had started investing in their own machines for wood carving products. Also, there are some other
machine producers, for example, a producer in Vatuwaqa (Suva, Fiji), who could produce 100 to 150 wood craft
per day using a machine. In comparison, only two to three such craft could be produced per day using traditional
methods.
Filipe said with the traditional knowledge going out of their hands, they had to think outside the box. He said his
group were also trying to revive the traditional skills of making canoes. For two years now, a canoe race was
being organised during the Hibiscus Festival in an attempt to revive these skills. At present, Filipe’s father and
uncle were trying to get a big vesi tree to make a four-metre long drua and take it to an exhibition in Germany.
Filipe requested that a model or structure be created for the survival of traditional skills and also if a cultural
centre could be built that could serve as a coordinating centre for producers, where their issues and requests
could be channelled and addressed.
Fiji Craft Society
Niqa Tuvuki (Craft Development Officer, Fiji Arts Council/President of Fiji Craft Society) spoke about the Fiji Craft
Society, highlighting its background, role, key initiatives, challenges and future outlook. The Fiji Crafts Society
was established under the Fiji Arts Council in 2010 and works to achieve the following objectives: (1) Provide
professional development; (2) work in collaboration with the Fiji Arts Council in the interest of crafts people; (3)
provide opportunities to crafts people; and (4) Participation in national events. The constitution of the Fiji Craft
Society was still in draft form and currently being finalised in consultation with SPC. The total membership was
about 250 and predicted to increase once the organisation gets an appropriate database. The annual
membership fee was FJD 10.00 and FJD 20.00 for groups with more than 10 members. The membership, which is
open to all Fiji citizens, will allow artists to take part in events organised by the Fiji Arts Council. The organisation
has helped to develop the strength of women in the craft sector in Fiji and is instrumental in organising craft
workshops.
One of the key roles of the Fiji Craft Society was to issue craft licences to crafts people that meet the necessary
requirements. 15 other new applicants were going to be awarded licences the following month at the craft fair.
The licencing system was a demonstration of Fiji government’s support to help marginalised groups that had the
right skills but lacked recognition. The licencing has promoted these people and lifted their level of participation,
giving them the recognition they deserve. The licencing certificate allows the members to promote authentic
Fijian-made produce, showcase their skills in international market and promoting the Fiji craft as a brand. For
this purpose, the licenced craft people are issued special stickers to tag their products. The stickers show the Fiji
craft logo, which helps to differentiate authentic Fijian craft from craft made in other countries. It was noted
that the positive impact of the Fijian craft brand has been seen – large retailers would not allow the products to
be sold without the sticker and these products have also been showcased in Fiji embassies and the Fiji Showcase.
The logo has empowered the grassroots people and helped them face competition from foreign productions.
The sales have also improved as more tourists are attracted to home-made products. The Fiji Arts Council is the
28
designated authority to ensure compliance with the criteria. There is a compliance committee, which is chaired
by the Ministry of Trade and has the Fiji Arts Council as a member.
It was noted that the Fiji Craft Society needed support from all relevant government ministries, especially these
responsible for sectors such as women, trade, tourism, industry and national planning. The Fiji Arts Council used
to be affiliated with the Ministry of Women and since they moved from there, it has been difficult to work with
them. It was highlighted that whenever there is a craft fair, the ministries have to work together and support the
Fiji Arts Council. The Fiji Craft Society was planning to organise the North craft fair soon. They were also involved
in regional and international meetings and events such as the Pacific Festival of Arts.
The workshop noted the following recommendations from the Fiji Craft Society to support the success of the
Fijian Crafted brand:
a.
The Fiji Arts Council, as a significant body supporting and advocating the value of an often overlooked and
undervalued section of our culture sector, cannot work in isolation – it needs the strongest arms of
financial support from the government and technical and human resources to achieve the best in the
overall development of the craft industries in Fiji.
b.
A national organisation supporting craftspeople, and appears to be considered the unrecognised,
marginalised in the hierarchy of the visual arts. It is very tough for craftspeople to be recognised as
valuable contributors to society as their production of work is so individual and labour intensive. Training
needs to be provided for cultural producers in areas of marketing and quality control on products to meet
the market standards.
c.
A national awareness drive has to be adopted to increase awareness among producers of the criteria for
Fijian Crafting Branding and encourage producers to become members of the Fiji Craft society so that
they could be monitored on the quality of products to meet standards of being licensed.
Department of Heritage and Arts
Sipiriano Nemani (Principal Policy Convention Officer, Department of Heritage and Arts, Fiji) spoke about the
work of the Fiji Department of Heritage and Arts, which comes under the Ministry of Education, National
Heritage, Culture and Arts. To recognise the enormous work and skills that Fiji craftspeople have, the Pacific Arts
Alliance, in collaboration with the Department of Heritage and Arts, was in the process of updating an online
database of crafts people in Fiji. Participants at the workshop were encouraged to complete the contact details
form and hand it over to the two German volunteers at the workshop. Updated information on the artists would
assist the Department in finding opportunities for the artists. Craftspeople were encouraged to use this as a
means to earn and create linkages. Sipiriano said the cultural industries play a pivotal role and thanked SPC and
PIFS for organising the workshop. He emphasised the need to put on paper the issues, needs and challenges of
practitioners and to come up with concrete outcomes at the end of the workshop.
It was highlighted that the Fiji government needs to introduce a culture and education programme in Fiji schools,
where practitioners could also go and teach students in this area and where activities such as a cultural week
could be promoted. This approach would enable young people to recognise the knowledge and skills in this area.
It was noted that sometimes students get inaccurate information and totems so it was important for them to
learn this directly from ‘real’ people or practitioners. The national curriculum was currently being revised to
make curriculum more localised and at the same time aiming to bring back external exams such as Intermediate
and Fiji Junior Certificate that had been scrapped few years back. It was important for the revised curriculum to
incorporate culture components, which could look at teaching students simple things such as how to make
perfumes by pounding ants. This way, knowledge of traditional practices will not be lost and would be easily
passed on to the younger generation. The Department of Heritage and Arts was currently working with
stakeholders, including SPC, to develop a Cultural Industries Framework, which would be a living and working
document designed to assist the artists.
Fiji Arts Council
Venasio Komai (Information & Planning Officer, Fiji Arts Council) spoke briefly about the role and structure of the
Fiji Arts Council, which was established in 1964 to promote art in Fiji. The funding that the council receives from
the government covered daily operations of the council only so when it came to organising events and
workshops, the council had to look for funding from other donors.
29
Models for organising crafts people in Fiji
In this session, presentations were made on two types of international craft models – vertical and horizontal –
either of which could be adopted for organising crafts people in Fiji or used in a combined approach. In the
vertical model, there was more governmental support whereas in the horizontal model, different organisations
worked together.
Vertical model
Letila Mitchell (National Consultant, SPC) presented examples of vertical models – the World Craft Council (WCC)
as an international model and the Australian craft network as a regional model.
World Craft Council
WCC is a non-profit, non-government organisation that was established in 1964 to strengthen the status of
crafts, including: promoting fellowship; fostering economic development; and to offer craftspeople
encouragement, help and advice. WCC is organised into four major regional clusters – Europe, Asia Pacific, North
America and South America. The biggest regional group is Asia Pacific, which covers the craftspeople in the
Pacific Islands region through the South Pacific office. The South Pacific Office is now non-existent and this is an
area that needs to be strengthened because of the high number of crafts people in the Pacific region as well as
readily available raw material for making craft. WCC has five membership categories: National Entity; National
Associate Member; International and Regional NGO Member; Individual Member; and Honorary Member.
World Craft Council
President,
Advisory
Committee
Sec Gen
Europe
West Asia
Central Asia
Asia Pacific
North
America
South-East
Asia
South Asia
South
America
East Asia
South Pacific
Pacific Craft
Network
WCC Asia Pacific Region branch looks after six regions – West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, South-East Asia, East
Asia and South Pacific – and has a NGO status with UNESCO. Current Pacific members are Crafts Council of
Australia, Australasian Crafts Network and Craft Victoria – none from the Pacific Island countries. The key
objectives of WCC Asia Pacific Region were to: Revive languishing crafts; Strengthen status of crafts; Improve
quality of life of the craftsperson; Serve as an agency of co-operation and network; Technical assistance by
training courses, workshop; Financial assistance to craftspeople through the establishment of an Asia Pacific
Craft Fund; To disseminate knowledge by lectures, seminars, etc; and To provide a network.
Australia Craft Design Centers
This is a craft network of 12 art centres, which are peak organizations from all states and territories in Australia
that represent the professional craft and design sector. The organizations engage with the sector at a local,
national and international level and offer services and programmes that support sustainable practice. The range
of products being sold from these centres is very diverse and goes beyond weaving and carving. The prices are
also high – tapestry can sell for AUD 10,000. This Australian model shows how different groups were coming
together in clusters in their own areas. These centres are supported by the Australian government and the
30
Australian Arts Council. The 12 art centres are: Craft Australia, Central Craft, Artisan, Design Tasmania, Canberra
Glassworks, Object, Guildhouse, JAM FACTORY, Craft, ACCA, Craft ACT and Australian Tapestry Workshop.
Horizontal model
Jessie McComb (Culture Officer, SPC) presented an example of a horizontal model for organising crafts people in
Fiji, adopted from the Indian craft model comprising of Crafts Council of India (CCI), All India Artisans and
Craftworkers Welfare Association (AIACA) and Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), which had
linkages with the producers, NGO, business members and state craft councils.
Crafts Council of India
CCI was founded in 1964 as a not-profit society
and established craft councils for 9 different
states in India in partnerships with the
government of India. The purpose of the
council was to increase national awareness of
the
economic,
social,
cultural
and
environmental importance of artisans and their
crafts. CCI has some very specific programmes
such
as
skill
upgrading,
marketing
opportunities, (training, technical assistance,
product development, exhibitions) Kamala
brand for craft excellence (giving award to
master level products) and preservation of skills
(provide scholarships, create opportunities for
artisans and their children to build capacity).
All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association
AIACA was founded in 2004 as a membership based apex body (similar to an industrial association) and
comprised 55 member organisations, including NGOs and private businesses. After it was formed, the
organisation recognised that more needed to be done than just policy as it was more important to help the
producers sell and increase production. It introduced a number of programmes and projects to help the
producers. In addition to policy advocacy and research work, it introduced a craft certification programme and
an enterprise support programme. Under the craft certification programme, AIACA works with the communities
and they certify the craft process – i.e. the actual process of producing the craft (how did they get the raw
material, how did they work with the wood, etc). Research is done and the traditional practice is documented
before it is certified. Organisations that want to create products will follow the certified process. AIACA also
helps in increasing market access and improving standard of living of craftworkers.
The idea for forming an apex membership body for the craft industry in India emerged out of discussions
between leading craft enterprises and experts. The experts agreed that past attempts to work with the
government on issues like policies, tax regulations and access to credit and social security for artisans were
unsuccessful due to their isolated nature. The crafts sector of India is the second largest employer in the country
after agriculture, yet the government gave it a low priority compared to other sectors in policy-making since
craftspeople operate in the informal sector. With the increasing globalized Indian economy, artisans were facing
new challenges.
To address these concerns, AIACA was created in 2003 as a membership-based apex body that would represent
artisans at the national level. The organisation’s original goal was to help artisans articulate their needs and
advocate for favourable policies for the sector. AIACA brought together private businesses, non-profit
organizations and cooperatives working in the crafts sector to address issues that affect them all. After operating
as an informal association for one year, AIACA was formally registered under the Societies Registration Act on 30
January 2004. However, AIACA’s work in the initial years saw that providing policy inputs was not adequate as
the need for many producer groups was first, access to markets and to technical inputs. Hence, the focus of
31
AIACA's work expanded to create programmes and platforms that would assist craft producers to showcase their
products and become commercially sustainable organizations.
Export Promotional Council for Handicrafts
EPCH was founded in 1986 as a non-profit, membership apex body to promote, support, protect, maintain and
increase export of handcrafts. It is self-sustaining council where all activities are self-financed. EPCH also
launched the Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair in New Delhi, which is the largest wholesale trade show of
handcraft products in India. The organisation has a specific focus on exports and engages in information
dissemination and awareness raising, quality & design improvement, standards for export, market scoping visits
international trade fair participation and government and private sector negotiations.
Group Breakout Session
Four breakout groups were formed, consisting of: Group 1 Women’s groups; Group 2 Fiji Craft Society groups;
Group 3 Youth groups and Group 4 Support groups. The support groups had a different set of questions from the
other three groups. The responses of groups are summarised in the two tables below:
Group 1
Women’s groups

Provide training to rural women’s
groups

Resource centres for women to
train and work in villages (physical
space)

Women’s expo

Overseas trainers – JICA, sewing,
Indonesian Government

Donations of materials and
equipment
Group 2
Fiji Craft Society groups

Marketing products

Fijian crafted programme

Identifying different skills with a
group
Group 3
Youth groups

Advisory role

Assistance – financial grants

Increased networking capacity
with other stakeholders

Training – carpentry, farming ,
commercial




Registration and business support
Funding for material
Market outlets
Strengthening of craft skills





Machine, equipment
Raw material – inconsistent
supply
Having more exhibitions
More awareness programmes –
training in pricing, upgrading
quality of products, consistency,
quality control
Who are you currently
partnering with?


Ministry of Women
Fiji Arts Council

Department of Heritage and Arts
Who would you want to
partner with?

Fiji Arts Council (for groups that not
partnering yet)



Ministry of Women
Ministry of Youth
Government ministries














Of the options presented
yesterday, which one do you
think fits the craft sector
best?



Cooperatives
Associations
Umbrella structure to collaborate

Individual business (Sole trader)
What is working well in your
current structure/affiliations?
What are your top four
priority needs?
32




Opportunities – employment,
business ventures
Capacity building and
empowerment
Training (specific) & upskilling
Recognition – capabilities,
power, voice
Nausori Town Council
Davuilevu Housing Community
Ministry with Education
Ministry of Agriculture/Fisheries
Pacific Feeds
Naisoso Island resort
Nadi Christian school
Fijian Holdings
Department of Heritage and Arts
Fiji Arts Council
Ministry of Women
Department of Cooperatives
NGOs
NCSMED
Vertical structure to link with
FAC through cultural centres
Role and services
Structure/issues
Fiji Craft Society

Making links between
craftspeople

Marketing/promotion

Exhibitions

Assist producers

Combined voice




Uto Ni Yalo Trust

Support transport

Research tangible and
intangible knowledge

Gallery space for craft
to raise value of the
sector
Group 4
NCSMED

Business development agency

Training

Financial literacy

Business plan training

Assessments by banks

Clustering

Mentoring

Support services

Promotional and sales centre

One-stop-shop development
OKATI

Communications
support for marketing
and story telling

Website development
- FAC website, Crafts
Society page with
profiles

Branding - ICH
Rediscover our roots
Improve communications – lack of follow-ups from workshops, information not conveyed to participants
Family values need strengthening
Church to focus more on youth
Discussion
The following key points were noted from the discussions in the overall session:
 Copyright protection of traditional craft designs – the issue of protecting designs of Daku fans was noted.
Traditionally, these fans could only be kept by Daku men and women and was not for sale. It is believed that
only the Daku group can do the weaving as they were believed to be gifted. However, just before his death
George Cakobau gave permission to his people to sell the Daku fans. Women have been saying that they can
make FJD 200 from selling Daku fans rather than just sitting at home. Making Davu fans was a family affair
and the whole family was responsible for weaving the fans. The Fiji Arts Council was aware of the issue and
the compliance committee had talked about how to licence this and how to approach Daku village with the
issue. It was also noted that some traditional craftspeople would never teach or impart their skills and
knowledge to others as it was sacred to the group only.
 Impact of new technology and machines – due to new technology and machines, traditional craft was
becoming heavily commercialised, such as the making of tanoa. The question was whether young people
should be advised to shift their focus from the traditional skills of tanoa-making to adopting new methods. It
was also noted that there was a market for genuine handcrafted product and a small story tagged on the
tanoa could alert the buyer to this and fetch the producer more money than a machine crafted tanoa. It was
important to focus on packaging and marketing and target a niche market – it was better to produce few
products but high quality ones that could be sold for a higher price.
 Promoting and marketing products through events – It was a noted that the Fiji Craft Society organises craft
fairs in the Western, Northern and Central division once a year. The one in the western division took place
this year, the Northern one would take place next year, followed by the Central fair the following year. A
suggestion was made that when an event is organised, a space should be created so that producers could
perhaps have an evening together where they can share their experiences.
 Supporting village resource centres – a number of resource centres have been built at village level with the
assistance of the Fiji Arts Council and the Ministry of Women and other relevant ministries. The ownership
rested with the villages themselves. Most of the support for women affiliated resource centres were being
provided by the Ministry of Women. These centres are not equipped with computers or a library but
comprises of an empty space that is used for working on craft and selling craft.
 Increasing private sector involvement in exhibitions – the issue of increasing private sector involvement in
organising art and craft exhibitions was raised. Suggestions were made to look at tertiary institutions as
potential partners in this area. Currently, exhibitions were predominantly organised by the Fiji Arts Council
however it was noted that the Fiji National University had organised an exhibition last year. Normally the
biggest expense was associated with the hiring of venue and this is where tertiary institutions and the private
sector can assist with costs. It was also noted that last year and this year SPC had organised for craftspeople
to come on a Saturday and showcase their products. Diplomatic missions were also engaging with the Fiji
Arts Council to place orders for craft products.
33
 Recognition for excellence – it was noted that several sectors in the Fiji cultural industries organise special
exhibitions or competitions to reward artists. This was evident in the visual arts as well as the craft sector.
The National Heritage Exhibition was one such externally funded event where international judges were
brought in to select the winners, who received prize money for best craft. Organised by the Fiji Arts Council,
one such exhibition was going to take place on 13 November 2014 at the Koroivolu Park and would provide a
platform for everyone to engage in competition and check whether their products are in par with their peers.
The Fiji Arts Council has budgeted for four exhibitions in 2015. The Council has observed that participants
learn by being just part of this exhibition and has seen a dramatic change over the year.
 Sub-sector exhibitions – the issue was raised of whether the sub-sectors, such as pottery or weaving within
the handcraft sector, should consider organising their own exhibitions and not be reliant on the Fiji Arts
Council to organise events for them. It was commented that while the Fiji Arts Council was doing a great job,
it should not be overburdened. It was also recognised that while there was a need to undertake an overview
of the whole craft sector, it was equally important to understand how these specific sub-sectors worked and
what their specific challenges were.
 Partnerships with other sectors – It was noted that there was a need to increase partnerships of crafts groups
with other major sectors such as agriculture and tourism. In the case of Viti-E-Loma Youth Group, one of its
members who specialises in coconut shell designs was being personally approached by the Ministry of
Agriculture. The group felt that the Ministry should liaise with the group rather than the individual members.
This issue was seen a separate project that the Fiji Arts Council could look at supporting.
 An umbrella organisation for the craft society – there was a lot of discussion on whether there was a need for
an umbrella organisation and if there was, what form should it take. There were some suggestions that
instead of forming a new organisation, craftspeople could consider joining the Fiji Craft Society as this body
already existed and was in the process of being registered. It was felt that it would take unnecessary effort
and time to establish a new organisation. Any crafts person in Fiji could become a member of the Fiji Craft
Society. However, no decision was made on the form this umbrella organisation would take as participants
called for more sector collaboration on the issue, perhaps in the form of a mini workshop before the election
of office bearers takes place for the Fiji Craft Society in November this year.
Outcomes and next steps
The need for strengthening partnerships was noted, particularly among the following groups:
 Ministries of Women, Youth, Education, Agriculture
 Fiji Arts Council and Fiji Crafts Society
 Associations
Based on the overall feedback, the following were identified as priorities for the craft sector in Fiji:
 Raw materials
 Training/awareness
 Market access opportunities (exhibitions, retails markets)
 Skills upgrade – looking at how to improve craft skills and create higher quality and consistency.
The following were the agreed next steps by the craft sector in Fiji:
(i)
There was a general interest in supporting an umbrella organisation for the craft sector where
stakeholders could communicate effectively with each other. Noting that the Fiji Crafts Society was
already in existence, the participants called for more sector collaboration to strengthen the existing body.
As a next step, it was agreed that a mini workshop on sector collaboration be held on 12 November 2014
in Nadi just before the Western Craft Fair, which starts on 13 November 2014.
(ii)
It was agreed that as a follow-up, SPC would circulate a report of the workshop for comments in the next
few weeks.
34
SESSION 6: BREAK-OUT SESSION WITH VISUAL ARTISTS
This session was attended by about 20 participants, inclusive of visual artists and the stakeholders that support
them. The session focused on determining methods for formally organizing the visual arts group and developing
a strategy for the way forward.
Visual arts organisations and collectives in Fiji: A snapshot of our history
Letila Mitchell (National Consultant, SPC) presented a snapshot of Fiji’s visual arts history, looking at the events
that took place over the last 10 years. It was noted that a lot of effort had gone into building this sector and they
had come a long way. Letila shared her experiences related to the establishment of the Fiji Visual Arts
Committee.
The Fiji Visual Arts Committee was set up in 2007 under the Fiji Arts Council’s incubator programme. In 2008, the
committee was able to hire someone to look after its work. In 2009, the visual artists met to hold an election of
office bearers for the committee. The committee’s key role was to work towards developing fine arts in Fiji. In
2010 and 2012 more consultations took place and new elections of officer bearers were held.
Some of the key projects that were set up by the committee included:
 Setting-up an open call for artists to perform for FOPA and festivals – Key breakthrough for the
committee, even had expressions of interest from internationally based Fijian artists.
 Secured a gallery space at the Suva Central building – members gave 5% contribution to keep the space
going.
 Advocated endorsement of National Gallery and gifting of St Stephens
 National Fine Art Exhibition 2007–2010
 Initiated the Wasawasa Festival – brought all partners together
 Tagimoucia Gallery set up – as part of the yellow ribbon project (involving prisoners)
 The Breaking Barriers Project – St Giles Mural project, MamaHanua
 Caramaka – professional pathways (focusing on developing new artists), began in 2010
Over the years, few other bodies – Red Wave Collective and Western Arts and Crafts– were formed to provide a
collective space for visual artists. In addition, a number of private/independent initiatives were formed, such as
the Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture, Fiji Society of Visual Communications, Toorak Art Gallery, Waisiliva Art
Gallery, ReCreate Fiji and Youth Champs for Mental Health, Tokani Art Agency, Vasu and Pure Fiji Art Gallery.
35
Red Wave Collective
This is an initiative of the Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture that focuses on supporting the professional and
artistic development of Red Wave member artists. It is funded by OCAC through the University of the South
Pacific. Founded in 1997 by Epeli Hau'ofa, the Oceanic Centre sets out to provide an autonomous space in which
artists and practitioners can evolve and explore new methods of creativity. A lot of senior artists had their first
incubation space at this centre.
Western Arts and Crafts
The Western Arts and Crafts Society, founded in 1993, used to be a registered charity organization based in Nadi.
It was a support group formed by local artists and crafts people to promote the growth of arts and craft in Fiji.
The aim was to provide a gallery and studio space for artists to train and network. This space took the form of
the CreatiVITI Art Centre, which is based in Martintar, Nadi and hosts bimonthly exhibitions and workshops. It
was noted that this organisation was active until the end of 2013.
Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture, USP
Johanna Beasley (Visual Arts Coordinator, Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies) spoke briefly
about the history and work of the Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture, based at USP. When Johanna first started
work at the centre, the focus was on visual arts and along the way it moved into dance performances. As a
result, visual arts became marginalised and became pressed for funding. Despite the challenges, the visual arts
component at the centre did strengthen later on with appointment of directors. Traditional artists were brought
back and a galley, though a small space, was opened for exhibitions. Workshops also started. The centre gives
artists a small studio space and access to equipment. Every year people are willing to apply for positions to come
into the centre. One of the challenges faced by the centre was the limitations and restrictions it faced by being
under the control of USP. The centre needed approval from USP for its undertakings and this sometimes affected
the intended work of the centre.
Fiji Society for Visual Communication
Carson Young (Vice President, Uto ni Yalo Trust) spoke about the Fiji Society for Visual Communication. This
association comprised a range of visual artists, such as graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animation
artists and art directors. The association believed that the only way to strive for excellence was to do the
groundwork before embarking on new initiatives and undertake peer review. The association encourages
upskilling of artists in non-creative areas, such as getting an accountant to train on how to keep books. The
association also undertakes mentoring of students, building their confidence and critiquing their portfolios.
Members were also advised on the concept of ethics – refrain from poaching clients from other artists and to
keep with fair market rates.
Toorak Art Gallery
Peni Vuidreketi (Visual Artist, Waisiliva Arts Initiative) spoke about the Toorak Art Gallery, which started in 2013.
The gallery brings together a group of artists in a collective forum to voice their concerns with regards to art
issues. The gallery provides a space for artists and focuses on marketing art.
Waisiliva Art Initiative
Warwick Marlow (Director, ReCreate Fiji) spoke about the history of Waisiliva Art Initiative, which is operating
out of the Leleuvia Island. The initiative was started by Craig Marlow and late Josie Crick with a couple of shows
about 10 years back. Josie passed away in 2013 and Craig got hold of Suva-based artists to hold a memorial show
in December 2013. Waisiliva Arts Initiative was holding four exhibitions – two on Leleuvia Island and two in Suva.
The challenge of holding exhibitions on the island was that it limited audience. The challenge of holding the
exhibition in Suva was that art pieces that did not sell had to be transported back to Leleuvia Island. The Leleuvia
Island Resort has facilitated artists by providing a large exhibition bure, an art gallery and a bure for artists to
work in. It was noted that the Waisiliva Arts Initiative has engaged a lawyer to decide on the formal structure of
36
the group. There were some mixed reactions to what the core group of members would be and whether a tiered
approach would work if a sub-group was to fall under the core group.
RecreateFiji
Warwick Marlow (Director, ReCreate Fiji) spoke about ReCreate Fiji, a group that grew out of the Western Art
and Craft. The group has 255 members but in terms of operations, it just manages a Facebook page used for
selling art for a small a commission. The group’s biggest challenge was funding and getting on board members
who were willing to take risks for the development of the group. The company was mindful of how counterproductive it can be if board members did not understand how subsistence artists worked and what their needs
were. Warwick raised the need for more socially acceptable models that can be tweaked to the local context.
Youth Champs for Mental Health
John Mausio spoke about the Youth Champs for Mental Health, which started in 2010 as a community recovery
outreach programme for survivors of psychiatric/mental illnesses. The group aimed to provide rehabilitation
through arts that would assist these survivors to overcome the stigma they carried of being unworthy. The
survivors were empowered by learning and developing skills in art. The Youth Champs for Mental Health was
planning to launch an arts gallery at the Saint Giles hospital in Suva in 2015 that would display art specifically
made by these survivors.
Research on the visual arts sector
Lingikoni Vaka’uta (Artist & PhD Research Student) spoke about his PhD thesis, which was based on the visual
arts sector in Fiji. He said most of the people in the workshop were interviewed during the course of his
research. Lingikoni highlighted the need for visual arts courses to be taught at university level. The three
universities in Fiji were not offering any visual arts courses and this was leading the artists to follow New Zealand
standards. Art judging in Fiji was also observed to be a problem as prominent people were brought in who did
not understand the visual arts sector in Fiji. Lingikoni said his study was very frustrating as it was difficult to get
accurate information. When there was no local literature, then literature had to be pulled from contexts outside
Fiji. He acknowledged that at the workshop, they were trying to get the artists to work together, hoping they will
stick together. He suggested that the umbrella organising body for visual arts at the national level should be
hybrid or a limited guarantee company. The company needed to have a commercial arm as it was mainly
livelihood that drove visual arts in Fiji.
The issue of organising exhibitions for the visual arts sector was raised. It was noted that funding for exhibitions
was available from some corporate companies and embassies. The French government was funding a lot of
exhibitions and in the past had provided substantial funding for a show that was advocating for HIV issues. It was
also suggested that banks could be approached to support art exhibitions and take care of the money side of the
event. This leaves the artists free to focus on marketing their art while other people are roped in on the finance
side. It was noted that Westpac in Tonga has also started sponsoring art exhibitions.
Peace building: Building accountability and transparency
Koila Costello-Olsen (Executive Director, Pacific Centre for Peace-building, Fiji) presented an overview of the
work of the Pacific Centre for Peace-building (PCP) and spoke about issues relating to responding to conflicts,
perceptions, importance of doing analysis, styles of communication and role in decision-making. The session
improved participants understanding of how they could strengthen themselves and their professional
relationships so that they could treat people the way people wanted to be treated as well as help people
become what they wanted to be.
PCP was registered as an NGO under the Charity Trust Act on 29 October 2007 after it broke off from the ECREA
Peace Programme. PCP provides facilitation, training, counseling, research and mentoring in areas of
peacebuilding and conflict transformation. It has 14 staff that joined PCP with a vision and passion to uphold
what the organization believed in. PCP was made up of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious team and has two offices,
one in Suva and one in Labasa.
37
PCP provided training on handling stress and trauma and the session was normally attended by nuns, ordains
and church workers who were in their 30s or 40s. Most of these people did a lot of community work at a very
low cost and often had to deal with certain levels of risk, trauma or violence. The training involved engaging the
trainees in a physical activity, such as weaving, as it was believed that doing physical work helped the trainees to
think clearly. After the activity, trainees had to share what they felt.
Koila emphasized that to respond to conflicts effectively, a person had to be committed to being non-violent in
his or her approach, be guided by values, see conflict as an opportunity to address an issue constructively and be
committed to demonstrating ways of being inclusive in one’s decision-making process. It was important to
ensure that the people who are affected by the decisions are actually involved in sharing what they believed was
effective.
Following the presentation, an activity was carried out to demonstrate the importance of dignity. A bag full of
various items (such as a tanoa, candles, books, coconut scraper, wooden spoons, coloured strips of paper,
woven fan, rolling pin and scrubbing brush) was passed around and participants were asked to pick one item
from the bag. Koila asked the participants to use the item they picked and based on their pick, describe what it
meant in terms of dignity and what it meant when dignity was violated. For example, when applied in the
context of a tanoa – dignity meant being able to sit in a circle that has been created by an individual and other
people and being able to share stories if needed to. The circle represented respect and equality and indicated
that all people sitting in the circle had equal voice and standing. When a person’s dignity was violated, that
person would not sit in the circle and then sitting around the circle would become exclusive to only a few.
A question was raised on how to deal with the issue of someone distracting the trainer in a workshop,
particularly if the training is done in a rural setting where situations could get a bit sensitive. Koila explained that
the body language in the room would tell the trainer a lot about the level of resistance that existed and it
depended on whether the trainer was a male or female, where the trainer was from, what the trainer wore and
what the trainer brought. The trainer had to earn the trust of trainees and at the same time set guidelines right
in the beginning so that everyone could talk freely with each other. If a trainee had to leave the room, he/she
should show respect to the trainer by informing the trainer first before leaving the room while the training is still
on. The trainer conducting training in a rural village should be aware that the training may be disrupting the
routine work of the villagers so they might accept or not accept the trainer in their space. In this situation, the
trainer needs to talk to the trainees if they look inattentive and give permission for them to attend to urgent
matters and return to the training later. Koila said a trainer should never stand and shame people as it was very
disrespectful.
Koila was asked if she had seen a radical shift in the behaviour of society where children nowadays were
encouraged to speak more compared to before. Koila commented that the older generation of Fiji and the
Pacific have grown up in systems and families that have discouraged them from speaking up. And after many
years, that generation of people were still working on themselves to stand up for what they believed in. It was
not an easy process as it takes education and time to learn new forms of behaviour and effort to work on
unlearning and relearning something. Koila said that the Pacific placed a high value on preserving relationships
and in order have a quality and respectful relationship, one had to be courageous and honest. If someone was in
conflict with a person, it was best to tell this person on the face rather than telling others.
Our goals for organizing: Participants will define and agree upon their goals and objectives
for organizing themselves
Eliser Huffer (Human Development Adviser-Culture, SPC) explained what was expected of the participants in this
session. She said there was a need to understand what visual artists were doing, the lack of discourse and reflect
about contemporary art in Fiji. She said a lot of things have been tried and in ten years’ time they don’t want to
keep on trying. She said what was really happening was that people in the sector had different ambitions and
different reasons for engaging in contemporary art. One of the things raised was that no visual artist in Fiji has
had a solo show – this was important in contemporary art when it came to telling a story. Elise said there was a
need to seek solutions to these issues. There was a request from the participants for Lingikoni Vaka’uta (Artist &
PhD Research Student) to present the findings of his PhD thesis before they started discussions in this section.
38
Lingikoni Vaka’uta (Artist & PhD Research Student) did a quick presentation taking the participants through his
thesis, which was based on the visual arts sector in Fiji. Lingikoni said there was confusion about the definition of
art as the current definition was western adopted. Before, art was seen as functional, not art. Lingikoni also
highlighted that the reason why the Fiji Arts Council was blamed for not doing enough was because it did have
enough funding and this was tied to the budget for the Department of Arts and Heritage. The Fiji Arts Council
was not ignoring the artists but they were overwhelmed with work and looking for funding. Highlighting the
need for courses in visual arts, Lingikoni said that the reason why art programme failed at FNU was because it
relied mainly on graphic designing and screening printing. In addition to embassies and hotels, the Lingikoni’s
study recognised expatriates as providing a big market for art.
Issues, gaps and opportunities in the Fiji visual arts sector
Issues
The following issues, faced by the visual arts sector, were identified during discussions in this session:
 Having access to affordable raw material
 Courses can be created by the local universities so there was no need to buy from overseas
 New Zealand is leading contemporary art in the Pacific – run a symposium. No Pacific Islands country
representatives.
 Politics – backbiting, an obstruction to development and comes about due to lack of opportunity, using
media to slander
 Status of the artist (three types)
 Art research
 Art discourse
 Art critics
 Art judging
 Multitasking obligations
 Art markets and marketing (tourism, expatriates, working/local)
 Fine art vs. tourist art
 Art pricing
 Art education
 Range of artists and work (some being commercialised)
What’s working in the sector?

Increased communication within the sector among artists and among stakeholders.
Gaps in visual arts in Fiji








Need for more art fairs and exhibitions
Lack of formal art training
Need for support system – such as an art gallery – when an artist is forced to do a solo exhibition, it
helps the artist to grow.
Need a national collective body that strengths lobbying power (and also looks at education system
strengthening, curriculum) – could be a social enterprise, cooperative or loose collectives or tertiary
institutions departs. There were no cooperatives in the visual arts sector in Fiji.
Access to funding
Training institutions being demand driven and not offering visual arts courses
Need for guidelines/standards/codes of practice localised to Fiji
Definitions of art – needs defining as there were various forms of art such as fine art, contemporary art,
heritage art, etc.
39
Opportunities

Art curriculum – there was a move by the Fiji government three years ago to develop an art curriculum.
This needed to be followed-up as no one was sure of the status.
What would be the functions of the national lobbying body?
No decision was made by the participants as to what form the proposed national lobbying body would take
(whether an SME, independent, social enterprise, cooperative, tertiary institutions departs, loose collectives or
an industrial association). The discussion then turned into what the participants wanted this body to do, which
included:
 Lobbying for education
 Access to funding
 Public art measures and spaces
 Tourism investment quota (having a quota that a certain % would go to the local art body)
 Public discourse
 Valuation of the art industry (this would help to influence perception of the artist and the art, affect
economy and get a better chance at budgets – the government will get the right information to
understand what can be done in schools and tertiary institutions).
 Increasing awareness of the industry
 Mentoring
Things to consider



Potential duplication of the national lobbying body with the Fiji Arts Council (but noting that unlike the
Fiji Craft Society, FAC is not a lobbying group but kind of an implementation arm of the government).
Decentralizing into districts
Collective organisations/society
Visual arts international models
Letila Mitchell (National Consultant, SPC) presented on visual arts international models, focusing on two bodies –
Artists Alliance (New Zealand) and the National Association of the Visual Arts (Australia) that are set up in
Australia and New Zealand.
Artists Alliance (New Zealand)
The Artists Alliance is a not-for-profit membership based organization, established in 1991 in New Zealand. It has
a network of over 500 individual artists, art workers, tertiary institutions and arts organizations.
The key projects of Artists Alliance include:
 a subscription programme;
 providing resources, career advice, networks and advocacy;
 mentoring and internship programmes;
 professional development workshops; and
 access to opportunities, funding and awards.
The organization also has a database of resources such as law/contracts/copyright, oily rag projects, art
initiatives, professional development for visual artists workbook and studio directory. It partners strategically
with other arts organisations in New Zealand. Creative New Zealand gives annual funding to the Artists Alliance
in the form of core grant but can also provide project funding if needed. Artists Alliance can charge for services
depending on the membership status. It does a lot of work through the Tautai Contemporary Arts Trust.
40
Visual Arts
Collectives /
Agencies
•Tautai Contemporary Arts Trust
•Portrait Artist Association
•Indigenous Art Trade Association
•Sculptors Society
National
Agencies/
Alliance
International Visual
Arts Network
•Visual Arts Toi Maori Aotearoa
•Australian Arts Council
•National Association of Visual Arts, Australia
•VISCopy, Visual Arts Collecting Agency
•NZ Artists Alliance
•CNZ
Regional
Network
•Pacific Arts Association
•Pacific Arts Alliance
•Art Association of Australia
and New Zealand
International
Agencies
•International Art
Association, UNESCO
partnership
•CIOFF
•International Association of
Art Critics
National Association of the Visual Arts (Australia)
The National Association of the Visual Arts is a not-for-profit, membership organisation and the peak body for
visual, media arts, craft and design sector in Australia. It engages in several functions such as:
 Securing policy and legislative changes;
 setting and monitoring adherence to best practice standards;
 advocacy, research, policy, project development, data collection and analysis;
 support services to individuals/companies/organisations; and
 industry news, funding, awards, residency, opportunities, career advisory, assistance with disputes.
The organisation has a Code of Practice, which sets guidelines for how the commission would work, the ethics
that had to be followed and how the commission should operate with clients (and vice versa). The Code of
Practice is also used for art festivals, cultural protocol and making sure that indigenous work of local
communities is copyrighted. The organisation also looks after the files of artists. It works well because of the
funding it gets from the government through the ministry responsible for culture.
Viscopy
Viscopy provides copyright licensing services for 40,000 international artists and beneficiaries in Australian and
New Zealand through reciprocal agreements with 45 visual arts rights management agencies around the world.
It ensures that artists are given due royalty for their work and manages the collection of royalties from the users.
It extends copyright over the use of artworks in books, websites, greeting cards, posters, newspapers,
magazines, television, exhibition catalogues, merchandise, advertising and film. Viscopy has a copyright
education programme as well as an Indigenous Artists’ Business, which provides artists, arts centers and
communities with information about copyright, licensing and thereby ensuring community control over artworks
and cultural content.
Pacific model – Pacific Arts Alliance
Letila Mitchell spoke about the Pacific Arts Alliance and how the founding members put in FJD 20.00 each to
start the organisation. The only intention at that time was to connect artists in the Pacific Islands region, share
resources (such as contract templates) and information (such as exhibitions). At present, the Pacific Arts Alliance
had 480 online members who were active in their own pages and 19 core members from the various Pacific
41
Island countries. The role of the core members was to be a focal networking person in their respective countries,
responsible for connecting the national group with the regional group. In this manner, the Pacific Arts Alliance
has managed to create a great support network. When international invitations come up, information is
disseminated, and whoever can raise the required funds to cover the expenses, attends these events. It was
noted that the Solomon Islands Arts Alliance was an extremely successful body. It started off with only five
members and now has 5000 members. Last year, it registered as a legal entity and was in the process of
structuring itself formally.
Discussion
Some of the key issues arising out of the discussions in this session are summarised as followed:

Establishment of a body similar to FPRA – suggestions were put forth that the best way forward for the
visual arts sector in Fiji was to establish a body like FPRA. It was noted that APRA played a role in
establishing FPRA and thoughts were shared whether it was worth exploring if Viscopy could work in a
similar manner with the visual arts industry in Fiji. With FPRA, Fiji musicians get royalty for their songs
played overseas. Same concept could apply with the visual artists. In the music industry, the royalty
goes to the beneficiary after the death of the composer and the same concept can be applied in the
visual arts industry. Radio stations are licensed by FPRA and they record the programmes, time,
duration and the composer of the songs they play – this information gets submitted monthly to FPRA.
FPRA then sends this to APRA in Sydney and these records are captured for an artist throughout the
year. At the end of the year, the dues are added up to give royalty to the artist. It was also noted that
royalty differed for the various users and was based on a percentage of the users’ gross revenue.

Formation of a steering committee – there was a suggestion for visual artists to form a steering
committee. The Steering Committee could be given a timeframe of perhaps two years to work towards
establishing a copyright organisation for the visual arts sector. It was suggested that the steering
committee needed a very strong leader to move this initiative forward.

Support for arts organizations – it was noted that the Pacific Arts Alliance does not operate on funding
so there was no need for government funding. However, there was assistance available from regional
organizations to assist with some of the functions of the body. SPC funded a website developer for a
year to get the Pacific Arts Alliance website going and supported a couple of tours. SPC also supported
the first artist forum that was held in PagoPago, American Samoa. The second forum was held in
Solomon Islands, hosted by the Solomon Islands Arts Alliance. Guam has put in a lot of funding into
bodies looking after arts and humanities and was making a big commitment to host the Guam Festival
in 2016. There were also plans to develop a Pacific audience to the festival and this was an excellent
opportunity for PIC artists. It was further noted that the Council of Pacific Arts meets every two years
and sets the direction for culture and arts policy in the region. USP was participating in this forum and
there was need to get other sectors to come in. It was noted that SPC had worked with SPTO for two
years on developing the Pacific Tourism Strategy so that culture and arts were recognised by the
tourism industry.

Government budgets for culture and arts – it noted that SPC was monitoring PIC government budgets
for culture, ie the percentage of total budget that is allocated to culture activities. It has been found
that the culture and art budget had gone up in Fiji and Samoa while in other PICs it has plateaued. The
Fiji Department of Heritage and Arts receives a budget of around FJD 100,000 a year and this is
allocated to covering requests made to the Fiji Arts Council and the National Trust of Fiji. FAC does not
work like the Australia Arts Council and there was a need to discuss issues relating to how the role of
the Fiji Arts Council could be improved.

Language barriers – it was highlighted that most local artists have a problem with the English language
as it was not their first language and this affected the quality of writing if the artist had to get things
done in English.

Communication and dialogue – the need to increase communication and dialogue among the visual arts
stakeholders was highlighted. There was a call for more meetings and maybe another meeting with the
42
industry, hotel managers, landowners and funding agencies, all in one room. This would provide an
opportune forum to discuss the lack of local art in Fiji hotels – more Indonesian art hanging on walls.
Another suggestion was to have multiple talanoa sessions in an informal gathering or to create a
discussion group that linked all stakeholders. It was also highlighted that the literally art and visual arts
groups could also meet for a combined informal session.
Next steps forward
There was general agreement on the following outcomes of this session:
1.
Formation of a steering committee – a committee to be formed to explore a partnership opportunity with
Viscopy. SPC would provide support to the committee but the visual arts industry in Fiji needs to drive
this initiative as the SPC Human Development Programme did not have adequate human resources to
manage this on its own. The following members agreed to be in the steering committee – Lingikoni
Vaka’uta, Carson Young, Warwick Marlow and the Fiji Arts Council (as advisers only due to human
resource constraints). The steering committee later asked Maria Rova if she would like to join.
2.
First talanoa session – It was agreed that the Fiji Arts Council would send out invitations for the first
talanoa session of visual arts stakeholders in Fiji and the combined meeting of literally arts and visual
artists groups. Joana said she could explore if USP could provide the venue. The Fiji Arts Council said they
could also provide the venue.
43
SESSION 7: BREAK-OUT SESSION WITH PERFORMING ARTISTS
This session focused on determining methods for formally organizing the performing arts groups and developing
a strategy for the way forward. Around 30 people attended this session, representing the musical, visual
performing and support groups. Jessie McComb (Culture Officer, SPC) provided a brief background to the whole
workshop, particularly for the newcomers. She said that the day’s session was dedicated to talking about the
performing arts sector and they would be discussing issues such as where the artists were at the moment in
terms of individual or business performance, what the gaps were, how the gaps could be addressed and what
they perceived the structure of collation to be.
Sector review
Performing arts and music value chains
Jessie McComb (Culture Officer, SPC) presented an overview of performing arts and music value chains in the
Pacific. Within the music sector, musicians and song writers were seen as the fountain of the sector, providing
opportunities for other players and
contributing to the development of the
sector. Three issues that needed to be
addressed by the music industry included:
lack of technical skills, lack of managers and
research & development. There are a lot of
sales avenues – selling online and production
of physical CDs, though some were illegal and
some legal sales. The illegal sales were more
prevalent in the Pacific Island countries.
Illegal customers were those who either
purchased from illegal stores or shared music
illegally. The existence of FPRA in Fiji was a
huge benefit for musicians in Fiji. None of the
other Pacific Island countries had a similar
body in place. Some areas that needed to be
further developed in Fiji were appropriate
technical skills, good sound engineers and
44
good recording equipment.
Another way of looking at the value chain was to look at the music value cycle – creation, production, promotion
distribution, consumption and development – which was a reinforcing cycle. On the consumption side, there was
a need to link better to the tourist market,
video sales and the Australia and New Zealand
markets. On the development side, there was a
need to focus more on formal training, market
research and producers. On the production
side, most of the musicians in Fiji were selfmanaged but were limited by quality sound
recording facilities and equipment. Without the
support of recording studios and proper
managers, development of the industry was
limited. On the promotion side, more work was
needed to improve promotions through
marketing agencies, social media and tours.
When it came to distribution, the issues
relating IP production, video production and
tours needed to be addressed.
Within the performing arts sector, the
foundation was set by the performers and the choreographers – in most cases they turned out to be the same
people. The performers were predominantly gaining income from live performances in tourist market, local
market, tours and festivals and beyond the region as well. Intellectual property rights needed to be
strengthened – good source of revenue but rights needed to be protected. For live performers, it was important
to look at audience development and making sure people value their work so that live shows ran full house.
Other weak areas for the performing arts
sector were arts and marketing and
sponsorship for travel to perform in
international festivals. The performers could
look at engaging independent marketing
agents who may be providing similar
services to other performers in the industry.
Groups such as Vou and Rako in Fiji were
handling the marketing aspect themselves
and it seemed to be working well. However,
independent art and marketing could assist
in gaining more access to markets. In terms
of research and development, there was a
need to looking at active research, reviews
and critiques, formal training and
sponsorships. The dance value cycle worked
similar to the music value chains and the
sector faced similar issues.
Music and dance in Fiji
Letila Mitchell (National Consultant, SPC) presented what was currently happening in the music and dance sector
in the Fiji. She said that back in 2007, when she was working with the Fiji Arts Council, there was no platform for
dancers and musician to show their original performances on stage and no space where the whole sector could
come together to meet. A lot had changed over the years and a number of initiatives have been formed to
showcase local talent. Some of the key initiatives include:
•
•
•
•
Phat Friday (for emerging musicians/dancers)
Poetry Slam
45
MIC Show
Dance Fiji
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
National Youth Band
Kula Film Awards and Fijiwood Dance
Competition
Oceania Dance Theatre
Pacific Voices
Rock Challenge/Tadra Kahani (for schools)
StageTech (Recording and distribution support
for musicians)
Kaila Star Search
FPRA Music Awards
Dancing Super Star
Secondary Schools Band Competition
•
•
•
•
•
HipHop Concert, Vou > World HipHop
Championships
Extreme BattleZones, Troop Ten/ Biscuit
Crew/ Extreme
Performing arts groups registered with
Ministry of Women, Ministry of Youth,
community0based
Fiji Arts Council and Fiji Department Heritage
and Arts, Cultural Grant, National Youth
Council Grants
Indonesian Scholarships
Fiji Made, Fiji Composed
The formal performing arts organisations/enterprises include:
•
Fiji Performing Rights Association
•
Kingdom Creative Arts
•
Vou Ltd
•
Kulture Entertainment Ltd
•
Rako Pasefika/ TiPau Ltd
•
Knox and the Brotherhoood
•
Conservatorium of Music/ Kabu ni Vanua
•
First Fighter Productions
•
Procera Fiji
The key collectives/cultural groups include:
•
Okati
•
Masti Arts and Dance Group
•
Shobna Chanel Dance Group
•
Lei Entertainers
Discussion
It was noted that the music and dance sector in Fiji was booming and growing but there was still a way to go.
Some of the key issues that were raised following the two presentations included:
1.
Sharing stories using various media forms – it was observed that the workshop was resulting in a lot of
good and inspiring stories that need to be captured in some form and shared with a wider audience, such
as through radio and television talk shows. It was also suggested that the SPC Regional Media Centre
could be approached in this regard.
2.
Supporting artists – The issue of supporting artists was raised. Artists who had no money to record their
music can approach companies that can provide the initial support before letting the artists venture out
on their own. The challenge was how to ensure that the CDs were sold without the artist being ripped off
and how to market the artists in Fiji first and then explore overseas markets.
3.
Establishing a dedicated Pacific Radio Channel – Suggestions were made for the sector to explore setting
up a Pacific radio channel that would specifically play music created by Pacific artists. It was felt that
currently, local artists were not given enough coverage by the radio stations and also artists had very
little control over how their music was played. SPC was asked to consider assisting in setting up this
dedicated radio channel. Some artists also faced the issue of radio stations telling them that their songs
were not good enough so were less frequently played but these songs eventually went on to become
popular in Australia and New Zealand. Participants also noted the claim made by radio stations that the
music they played on the radio was based on public-driven surveys. To ensure local artists get more
exposure, FPRA was currently in the process of preparing a paper with the Ministry of Trade and
Industries that would call for 30% coverage of local artists’ songs on radio stations.
46
4.
Need for national legislation – The need for legislation was highlighted to ensure that radio stations
played a set percentage of local content on air. It was noted that New Zealand had such legislation in
place but none of the Pacific Island countries did, therefore there was a need to push for laws in this area.
5.
Better reward for Tadra Kahani performers – there were concerns that a lot of effort was being put into
Tadra Kahani performances but the artists receive less monetary value for the hard work they do.
6.
Lack of platform for hip-hop artists – The need for a better platform for hip-hop artists was highlighted. It
was noted that in 2007, Battle Zone was established that provided a big hip-hop platform to local artists
but this initiative was no longer active. It was also noted that Fiji was represented in an international hiphip competition for the first time but it was very costly to send a team overseas.
7.
Funding for training – Masti highlighted that they had to fundraise to send their dancers for training
overseas. It had recently sent two dancers to India for dance training and they are now able to provide
this training to other local dancers. The Indian High Commission used to fund dance training but Masti
was not sure whether they still do. It was noted that most funding was channelled to regional
organisations. SPC was requested to look into this issue and see how better support can be mobilised
from donors. It was also noted that a lot of funding was available but groups needed to register formally
in order to be eligible for funding. If a group was not legally registered, it would be difficult to get funding
due to accountability issues. It has been observed over the years that artists have registered formally or
joined formal groups for this purpose. APRA has also contributed to the development of musicians over
the years.
It was noted that the dance groups, which are linked to the Fiji Department of Heritage and Arts could
access grant for dance training. Vou was recently given funds for a two-month training programme for
some of its dancers overseas. It was important that grant requests were sent to the Department at least
two months prior to planned training or event because it took time to process the request. It was
highlighted that some embassies – such as US and Indian – were also giving scholarships and funding for
workshops but these are sent through the Foreign Affairs and then gets trickled down to the Department
of Heritage and Arts to manage. Therefore, it was important for artists to link up with the Department.
Funding was also available from the Ministry of Youth but through the National Council of Youth.
8.
Opportunities for dancers in Bollywood and film productions – it was noted that the number of Bollywood
films being shot in Fiji has increased over the years. This also presented an opportunity for local dancers
to become part of the production and one that also paid well. The challenge however was that in some
cases at least 40 dancers were required for a production and no dancing group in Fiji had this number of
dancers so there was a need for better collaboration among the various dance groups in the country.
Setting sector priorities
Three breakout groups were formed to discuss what was working well for them, what their top five needs
were, what their current partnerships were like (who, what, how) and who they wished to partner with. The
responses of groups are summarised in the table below:
1.
What is working
well right now?
Musicians/songwriters

NGO funded projects

Media partnerships (FBC and work
with youth)

Promoting through social media

Receiving royalty for work
(beneficiary)

Ease of access to recording studios

Regular engagements due to
better promotion through social
media

Improved financial control

A large talent pool (consistency,
reliability, support )

Community service for struggling
artists
Dancers

Regular performances (most groups
funded this way)

Dance classes and raining (Vou, Rako
– picking dancers from communities,
training and stage experiences

Social media (main marketing
strategy for main groups – most
offers come through Facebook)

International tours

Local performances
47
Support Groups

Existing relationships

FPRA (collections)

Livelihoods (Rako, Vou)

Growth and diversification
2.
What are your
top five needs?






Access to funding (education,
donors, purpose) - Business
launch, recording studios,
instruments, equipment,
marketing, lawyers
Marketing and management and
networking
Education
Corporate partnership
Ease of access to a quality studio
(world standard)
Enforcement of copyright act
against piracy





3.
What are your
current
partnerships
like?






FPRA & musicians/songwriters
Consumers
Government and NGOs
Other artists
Police
FIPO
Dancers association (looks after the
group, funding, made up of dance
group leaders, tax exempt status,
fair prices)
Government support (tax rebates,
legislation to protect the industry,
funding, sponsorships, travel
facilitation, training/technical
development)
Performance platforms (Dance
festivals, local, international, in all
areas of Fiji) – improves skills,
knowledge sharing, etc.
Awareness (funding, resources –
information dissemination),
workshops, monthly newsletters,
Funding for sponsorship performing locally and
internationally, international stage
exposure, fund tours, transportation
costs
Vou:
FAC, DHA, Tourism Fiji, Rosie Tours, ATS
Pacific, Auckland University, Auckland
Museum (research & creation)
Masti:
Corporate clients, festivals, resorts, media
(FBC, Fiji Sun)














Funding
Communications/
information/ marketing
Education (formal training)
Decent work
(conditions/rewards/payme
nt)
Sign on to international
human rights convention –
ILO
Access to international
markets
Dedicated radio channel for
regional music
Valuation of the industry
Marketing and
communication agencies
Business skills training
Youth engagement
Women engage
Private sector (bus, clubs,
beverage companies)
Sports bodies
Kula Vibes:
Self, Namana Arts and Crafts, community
of performing arts (other artists), resorts
Lei:
hotels and resorts, primary schools,
Culture and Entertainment, youth
communities
4.
Who do you
want to partner
with?








International publishers (e.g. Sony)
Financiers e.g. Bill Gates
Foundations
Renowned musical brands (e.g.
Taylor Guitars, Yamaha) for
brands, equipment, instruments
Effective entertainment lawyers
Promoters
Project managers
Volunteers
Embassies











Min of Education ( incorporate in
school curriculum)
Dept of Heritage and Arts (most not
partner yet)
Fiji Arts Council
Min of Youth and Sports
Min of Women
Min of Industry, trade and Tourism,
Embassies
Film Fiji
NGOs
Musicians
National Council of Youth
Priority issues from breakout sessions
The following priority issues were noted for the music and dance sector in Fiji:







Advocate for sector
Access to funding (education,
purpose)
Tax status and tax rebates
Legislation to protect the industry
Travel facilitation
Training/technical development
Fair wages



donors,



48
Marketing and management and networking
Education
Ease of access to a quality studio (world
standard)
Enforcement of copyright act against piracy
Performance platforms
Information dissemination
Current collaboration models
Letila Mitchell (National Consultant, SPC) spoke about the international models for music and dance sectors,
looking at Music Australia, International Music Network, Danz New Zealand, World Dance Alliance,
International Dance Network and the Pacific Dance network.
International models – music and dance
Music Australia
Music Australia was established in 1994 as the Music Council of Australia to provide a unified voice in Australia
for all forms of music, a role that remains unique to this day. It is a not-for-profit, proprietary limited company
funded by the Australian Arts Council. Music Australia plays an advocacy role to the government.
Danz New Zealand
Danz New Zealand is a not-for-profit, membership organization based in New Zealand. It provides support and
services to individuals and organizations working in the New Zealand dance industry. A dance strategy has
been passed in parliament, which demonstrates the New Zealand government’s commitment to the industry.
World Dance Alliance (WDA)
WDA serves as a primary voice for dance and dancers throughout the world, encouraging the exchange of
ideas and the awareness of dance in all forms. WDA branches out into two main groups, WDA-Asia Pacific and
WDA-America. The organization’s activities are implemented through four networks: Research &
Documentation; Creation & Presentation; Education & Training; and Support & Development. Two dance
groups from Fiji are members of WDA – Vou and Rako.
International music and dance networks
These are networks comprising of international, regional and national companies and organizations, including
individual artists. A lot of the international companies have resources and contract templates on their websites
and local companies can grow by tapping into these resources and networks.
Pacific Dance Network
The Pacific dance network comprises the artists’ networks (PaCaa, SIAA, TAHA, GAA), collecting agencies
(FPRA, Saracens, APRA) and festivals/events (FestNapuan, Pacific Music Awards, Fiji Music Awards).
Music
Companies/
Agencies
•Conservatorium of Music
•Bands
•Independent musicians
•Composers
•Music Australia
•Australian Arts Council
•APRA AMCOS
National
•Puatatanga – Contemporary Maori Music Committee of
Te Maori Aotearoa
Agencies/
•Composers Association of New Zealand
Alliance
•FPRA
•Sarcens
•The Asia Pacific Society for
Ethnomusicology
•Pacific Arts Alliance
Regional
•PIMA
Network
•Australasian Performing
Rights Association
International
music network
International
Agencies
49
•International Music Council
•CIOFF
•International Society for
Contmporary Music
•International Alliance of
Women in Music
What model is best for us?
In this section, discussion took place on the type of model that could be adopted for the performing arts sector
in Fiji. No decision was made on what model would suit best but there were suggestions that this body should:

be an umbrella body that has a collective voice and is neutral

engage FPRA as a key partner as the music sector was already benefiting from FPRA

work on the concept of collective bargaining power

facilitate access of funds from donor agencies

either combine music and dance sectors or have a subsector group under a core group
The Fiji Arts Council pointed out that it was working on one genre at a time. Currently, it was trying to get the
Fiji Craft Society moving and then it was planning to work on visual arts sector next. The Fiji Arts Council
confirmed that the umbrella dance body was welcome to join the council and would get desk space to start off
its work. This would not limit the body to any partnerships. It was noted that FPRA, when it first started, was
posted under the Fiji Arts Council and became independent from the council later on.
Breakout group session 2
For this breakout group session, the participants broke into three groups to discuss the type of priorities and
objectives and the type of legal registration that the proposed umbrella organisation would have. The
responses of the groups are summarised in the table below.
Group 1
Priorities
and
objectives





Legal
registration
structure

Group 2
Funding (finding funding)
Framework to guide the sector
(laws, policies)
Legal representation/power
Access to national and
international bodies (markets,
festivals)
Collaboration with other
stakeholders

Industrial association (nonprofit, tax exempt, members
are independent and operate
independently)





Advocacy and lobbying (policy
and legislation)
Capacity building and
development
Broker partnerships
Look after artist welfare
Accountability and standards
(self-regulation; quality and
pricing)
Charitable trust with limited
guarantee company
Group 3



Unity and equity
Lobbying/negotiation
Industry representative to
government
Independent hosting body or
national consultative body for
events
Resources



Limited liability company – reason
being non-profit, tax exemption
(need to get tax approval)
While the three groups shared similar views on what the priorities and objectives should be for the umbrella
organisation, they all differed in their preference for the legal registration structure, stating their preference
for an industrial association, a charitable trust or a limited liability company.
Jessie McComb further explained the various types of organisation structures and discussed the differences in
terms of taxation, membership, ownership, purpose, voting rights, capital and funding and management, etc.
The comparison table of the various legal registration structures is attached as Annex 5.
The following points were noted as part of the discussion on the structure:

Management of FPRA operates under a board of directors and three members from the board change
every term. No seed capital is set aside for FPRA and its only source of revenue is from licence fees.
Though FPRA is not dependent on donor funding, it may request sponsorship for FPRA Music Awards.
KMPG handles its accounts. Shareholders share the profits – what’s left as surplus is shared out as royalty
to members and FPRA retains 5% for its operational cost.

The total cost for setting up a charitable trust could be around FJD 1000–5000, most of it being legal fees.
Most legal practitioners could come on board and help for free if interested in looking after artist welfare
50
and well-being. A charitable trust company can access more opportunities from donor agencies.
However, it was difficult to get trustees in Fiji to join a trust company because of the high risk involved in
them becoming liable for losses.

It was noted that a limited liability company may not be eligible to access funding from UN agencies but it
may get equipment if the need is justified. Members of a limited liability company were saved from risky
situations.

It was also noted that an association itself could be non-profit but the members of the association could
be holding other jobs or running other companies and making a profit for themselves.
There was a general consensus that a decision on the umbrella body could not be made at the workshop that
day as a lot of other stakeholders had to be consulted. Participants moved on to agree on the next steps to
move the initiative forward.
Next steps forward
Participants in the performing arts in Fiji agreed on the following next steps:
1.
Seek more legal information – there was general consensus on the need to engage a lawyer, consult an
accountant, understand the registration requirements and seek information from other similar/model
organisations.
2.
Establish a steering committee – It was agreed that a steering committee would be formed and tasked to
get the information needed, continue the dialogue process and seek more consultation on the next steps
forward. It was further agreed that the steering committee members who will lead the initiative would be
Skilz, Knox, Amit and Vou. They will be supported by SPC, PIFS and the Fiji Arts Council.
3.
Memorandum of understanding between parties – it was agreed that the agreements were necessary to
improve working relations and networks.
4.
Dialogue between bigger companies and individuals artists – It was proposed that a meeting be held
during the first week of December 2014 to improve communication between bigger companies and
individual artists.
Closing remarks
Jessie McComb (Culture Officer, SPC) thanked the participants for their time and useful contribution to the
workshop outcomes. She also thanks the Fiji Arts Council, Department of Heritage and Arts and PIFS for
supporting the workshop. On behalf of the participants, Eremasi Tamanisau Jnr (Chairman, FPRA) thanked SPC,
PIFS and Fiji Arts Council and Department of Heritage and Arts for the wonderful opportunity to address
something that has been missing for a long time. He said the music and dance sectors now had the direction
they needed.
51
Annex 1
SECRETARIAT OF THE PACIFIC COMMUNITY
Fiji Cultural Industries Workshop: Sector Collaboration and Capacity Building
Venue: Pacific Island Forum Secretariat Main Conference Room
Suva, Fiji Islands
th
st
Date: 28 – 31 October, 2014
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Fiji
TiPau Ltd
Paul Dominiko
Director
TiPau Ltd
Address: 72 McGregor Road, Suva
Tel: (679) 9422982
Email: pauldominiko@gmail.com
Viti-E-Loma Youth Group
Manoa Dugulele Gucake
Advisor
Viti-E-Loma Youth Group
Address: Lot 8, Cowled Street, Davuilevu Housing, Nausori
Tel: (679) 3540075 or 9954737
Email: mdugulele@gmail.com
Namana Fiji Arts
Tessa Miller
Co-Creator
Namana Fiji Arts
Address: Lot 2 Novoto, Queens Highway, Baravi, Coral Coast
Tel: (679) 9944004 or 7744004
Email: namana@connect.com.fj
Siwatibau & Sloan Lawyers
Ana Tuiwawa
Solicitor
Siwatibau & Sloan Lawyers
Address: 8 Holland Street, Suva
Tel: (679) 3319167
Email: ana@sas.com.fj
University of the South Pacific
Peni Fong
Visual Artist
Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies
Address: University of South Pacific, Laucala Campus, Suva
Tel: (679) 3232834 or 9377691
Email: fong_s@usp.ac.fj
Johanna Beasley
Visual Arts Coordinator
Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies
Address: University of South Pacific, Laucala Campus, Suva
Tel: 3232833 or 9339988
Email: johanna.beasley@usp,.ac.fj
Kulture Entertainment Ltd
Arthur Philitoga
Company Director
Kulture Entertainment Ltd
Address: Intercontinental resort & Spa, Natadola, Sigatoka
Tel: (679) 994669
Email: kultureband@hotmail.com
Crafts Makers
Shazaiah Acraman
Fashion/ Jewellery Designer, poet and songwriter
Address: 21 Anand Street, Suva
Tel: (679) 9214877
Email: shazaiahacramancollection@gmail.com
Marie Chute
Weaver
Address: Matana Street, Nakasi
52
Tel: (679) 8369263
Email: chuteshirley@yahoo.com
Muanaira Youth group
Filipe Baleikoro
President
Muanaira Youth Group
Address: Lot 3, Niudamy Road, Nakasi
Tel: (679) 3309926 or 9302440
Email: filipe.baleikoro@govnet.gov.fj
Nadi District Youth Council
James Ma’afu
Member
Nadi District Youth Council
Address: P O Box 11628, Nadi Airport
Tel: (679) 9520208
Email: jaymaafu@gmail.com
Uto ni Yalo
Carson Young
Vice President
Uto ni Yalo
Address: 1 Denison Road, Suva
Tel: (679) 7266904
Email: carsonfiji@gmail.com
Performing Artist
Elena Baravilala
Singer & Song Writer/ Project Director
Elena Music
Address: Lot 55 Kaunitoni Street, Vatuwaqa, Suva
Tel: (679) 8355949
Email: baravilalaelena@gmail.com
Inoke Kalounisiga
Singer/ Songwriter
Address: 4 Uduya Point, lami
Tel: (679) 9143689
Email: knoxfijifire@gmail.com
Rotuma Women’s Association
Marseu Rafai
President
Rotuma Women’s Association Fiji & Rotuma
Address: 73 Pathik Crescent, Namadi Heights, Tamavua
Tel: (679) 3322804 or 9372259
Email: hart@unwired.com.fj
Fiji Arts Council
Laisiasa Veikoso
Director
Fiji Arts Council
Address: Level 1 Procera House, Waimanu Road, Suva
Tel: (679) 3311754 or 9442089
Email: Veikoso_l@hotmail.com
Niqa Tuvuki
Craft Development Officer
Fiji Arts Council
Address: Level 1 Procera House, Waimanu Road, Suva
Tel: (679) 3311754 or 9090072
Email: niqatuvuki@hotmail.com
Venasio Komai
Information & Planning Officer
Fiji Arts Council
Address: Level 1 Procera House, Waimanu Road, Suva
Tel: (679) 3311754
Email: venasiok@gmail.com
Nation Centre for Small& Micro Enterprises
Development
Akanisi Waqanicakau
Senior Research Officer
NCSMED
Address: 82 Robertson Road
Tel: (679) 3312991 or 3312992
Fax: (679) 3302356
53
Email: awaqanicakau@ncsmed.org.fj
Pravind Anand
Manager- West
NCSMED
Address: Robertson Road
Tel: (679) 9967260
Email: pravindnand66@gmail.com
Serua Provincial Youth Council
Kusitino tabaiwalu
President
Serua Provincial Youth Council
Address: Naitata, Navua
Tel: (679) 9587859
Email: Augustine.tabaiwalu@gmail.com
ILO
Surkafa Katafono
ILO
Email: surkafa@ilo.org
Viasi Naitura
Technician Lights
Address: Raiwai
Tel: (679) 9299602
Ministry of Industry & Trade
Ramesh Chand
Manager- Central & Eastern
Department of Cooperative
Ministry of Industries & Trade
Tel: (679) 3315260/ 9946049
Fax: (679) 3479628
Recreatefiji
Warwick Marlow
Director
Recreatefiji
Address: 06 Anderson Road, Martintar, Nadi
Tel: (679) 9409670
Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation
Susan Miller
HR Consultant
Address: 79 Cakobau Road, Suva
Noel Tofinga
IR Consultant
Fiji Commerce & Employers Federation
Address: 79 Cakobau Road, Suva
Tel: (679) 9214048
Email: ivconsultant@fcef.com.fj
Nausori Market Woman Vendors Club
Salote Delasua
President
Nausoro Market Women Vendors Club
Address: P O Box 3498, Nausori
Tel: (679) 8773687
Nasinu Land Purchase & Housing
Cooperative Ltd
Muni Deo
CEO
Nasinu Land Purchase & Housing Cooperative
Address: 68 Suva Street, Suva
Tel: (679) 3305838
Fax: (679) 3311255
Email: nasinuland@connect.fj
Stephen Vete
Supporter/ Advicer/ Member
On The Spot (Tonga)
Address: 2/51 Duncan Road
Tel: (679) 3302295
Email: stephenvete@gmail.com
54
Masti Arts
Adeish Karan
Co-ordinator
Masti Arts
Address: Howell Road
Tel: (679) 9056692
Email: ad3kumarb4@gmail.com
Rako pasifika
Sina Musche
Volunteer
Rako Pasifika
Address: 30 Knolly Street, Suva
Email: sina.musche@gmail.com
Mauritz Van Den Bosch
Volunteer
Rako Pasefika
Address: 30 KNolly Street, Suva
Tel: (679) 9786936
Email: mauritz.vdbosch@mail.de
Ministry of Education, Heritage & Arts
Ulamila Liku
Clerical Officer- Cultural Industries
Ministry of Education, Culture, Heritage & Arts
Address: Level 4, Takawaya Building , Toorak
Tel: (679) 3316955/ 956
Fax: ( 679) 3310357
Email: ulamila.liku@govnet.gov.fj
Vereniki Nalio
Senior Cultural Development Officer
Ministry of Education, Culture, Heritage & Arts
Address: Level 4, Takawaya Building , Toorak
Tel: (679) 3316955/ 956
Fax: ( 679) 3310357
Email: vereniki.nalio@govnet.gov.f j
Drodrolagi Womens Group
Seramasi Latinara
Secretary
Drodrolagi Womens Group, Nadi
Address: C/- Nadi District Youth Council, P O Box 11628, Nadi Airport
Tel: (679) 9465987
Email: jiosejam@gmail.com
Visual Artist
Lingikoni Vaka’uta
Artist & phD Research Student- USP
Address: 16 Hamilton Beattie Street, Suva
Tel: (679) 7169184
Email: lingikonivakauta@gmail.com
John Mausio
Tel: (679) 9090190
Email: m_jonbryan@yahoo.com
Peni Vuidreketi
Visual Artist
Waisiliva Arts Initiative
Address: Leleuvia Island Resort
Tel: (679) 7489915
Email: wvuidreketi@gmail.com
British Council
Ingrid Leary
Director NZ
British Council
Address: Apartment 5 E, Queens St, Auckland CBD, 1142, New Zealand
Tel: +6421322240
Email: Ingrid.leary@britishcouncil.org.nz
OKATI
Mary Rokonadravu
Publisher
OKATI The Journey of Writing from the Pacific Islands
Address: Suva
55
Tel: (679) 8715866
Email: okati.editor@gmail.com
Ministry of Youth & Sports
Francis Helen Samanunu
Clerical Officer
Ministry of Youth & Sports
Address: P O Box 2448, Government Building, Suva
Tel: (679) 3315960/ 3397812/ 7306757
Email: fsamanunu@govnet.gov.fj
Ministry of Employment, Productivity &
Industrial Relation
Elenoa Baleiwai
RIA Officer
Ministry of Employment, Productivity & Industrial Relation
Address: Level 4, Civic House, Suva
Tel: (679) 3303500
Fax: (679) 3304701
Email: elenoa.baleiwai@govnet.gov.fj
56
SECRETARIAT OF THE PACIFIC COMMUNITY
P.O. Box 3 Luke Street, Nabua, Suva. Tel. (679) 3370733, fax (679) 3770021
Email: spc@spc.int
SPC Executive

Ms. Fekitamoeloa Utoikamanu, Deputy Director General
Email: FekitamoeloaU@spc.int
Tel: (679) 3379 308
Human Development Programme

Elise Huffer, Human Development Adviser (Culture)
Email: EliseH@spc.int
Tel: (679) 3379387

Jessie McComb, Culture Officer
Email: JessieM@spc.int
Tel: (679) 3379495

Luisa Mavoa, Programme Administrator
Email: luisam@spc.int
Tel: (679) 3379 411

Akeneta Raituku
Email: akenetar@spc.int
Tel: (679) 3379 351
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat

Glynis Miller
Trade Development Officer
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat
Tel: (679) 3312600
Email: glynism@forumsec.org.fj
Rapporteur

Avnita Krishna Goundar
Rapporteur
Tel:
Email: avnitag@siyaahi.com.fj
57
Annex 2
Opening Statement by ASG Fong Toy at Fiji Cultural Industries Workshop, 2831 October, Suva, Fiji
Fiji Cultural Industries Workshop: Sector Collaboration and Capacity Building
28 – 31 October 2014
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Main Conference Room and Committee Room A
Opening Statement
by
Andie Fong Toy
Acting Secretary General
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat
Mr Johnny Engell- Hansen, Chargé d’ Affaires a.i, European Union Delegation for the Pacific
Mr Laisiasa Veikoso, Director of the Fiji Arts Council
Dr Elise Huffer, Human Development Programme Adviser - Culture,
Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Resource Persons and Participants
1. A warm welcome to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. We are pleased to convene this workshop in
partnership with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, reflecting our commitment to provide support for
the development of cultural industries in the Pacific. I understand that some of you have participated in earlier
workshops to support Fiji’s cultural industries, and it is pleasing to witness the continuity in building your
capacities.
2. The specialised workshop this week is focused on assisting you to organise yourselves into appropriate
cultural industries subsectors. May I at the outset, acknowledge the funding assistance for the workshop from
the ACP-EU Support Programme for the ACP Cultural Sector under the 10th European Development Fund.
3. The Pacific region is extremely rich in culture and traditions. It is a resource that has untapped development
potential. In all our regional interactions, including meetings of Leaders, Ministers and Senior Officials, we are
reminded of our rich cultural diversity, a diversity with a regional dimension and that affects our daily lives.
Our cultures, traditions, languages, social values, behaviours, and other resilient aspects of our livelihood,
allow us to deal with the challenges we face through globalisation, climate change and other calamities. The
cultural
traditions of our people give us the shared purpose that is so important for our region. Sustainably and
sensitively developing our cultural industries will support our rich diversity. Fiji is an excellent example of a rich
melding of cultures that has successfully harnessed commercial returns from its cultural traditions.
4. The Framework for Pacific Regionalism, adopted by Forum Leaders in July this year, values the diversity and
heritage of the Pacific where we seek an inclusive future in which cultures, traditions and religious beliefs are
valued, honoured and developed. The Framework has as a principal objective, Sustainable development that
combines economic, social, and cultural development in ways that improve livelihoods and well-being and uses
the environment sustainably.
5. Partnerships with governments and the private sector will increase market opportunities and improve
service delivery. Supporting the cultural industry in our Pacific island countries can make significant
contributions to respective economies. Assessments of the cultural industries in the Pacific reveal that
countries that have proactively engaged in organising cultural focus groups were able to reap significant
benefits. The workshop will focus on the ways in which such organisation can effectively occur. Through the
combined efforts of the Fiji Arts Council, the Department of Heritage, Art and Culture, SPC and PIFS, we hope
that this workshop will drive the change needed for a more organised cultural industry that is forward thinking
in its approach to cultural development.
58
6. The Forum Secretariat has continued to play an important role in supporting the development of cultural
industries on different fronts. This has included support to countries to manage their traditional knowledge
and intellectual property that recognises levels of development. In addition, our Pacific Islands Trade & Invest
network of offices has been supporting Pacific artists in commercialising their art and crafts through an
established exhibition to showcase and sell their products at Maketi Ples. We have continued to support other
engagements that facilitate our artifacts being displayed in museums and international fora.
7. As the Deputy Secretary General responsible for Economic Governance at the Secretariat, I am also
privileged to be part of the Advisory Board for the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development Initiative which
advocates issues of gender and women’s economic empowerment in the Pacific region. As the cultural
industry is a significant source of revenue, livelihood and employment for women, and given that the majority
of creators and producers of cultural products and services are women, the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific
Development Initiative should be encouraged to support the development of cultural industries in the Pacific.
8. Let me conclude by confirming that our partnership with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community will
continue over the next 18 months, to support the industry and provide technical assistance and policy support
where necessary and appropriate. I would like to thank again the European Union and its Delegation in the
Pacific for the funding assistance and their continued commitment to support broader economic and social
development in the Pacific region through the European Development Funds.
9. I wish you a constructive discussion over the next days, and I encourage you to consider tangible ways in
which productive alliances can be formed amongst the owners of cultural expressions for improved returns on
investment.
Vinaka!
59
Annex 3
Fiji Cultural Industries Workshop: Sector Collaboration and Capacity Building’
28-31 October 2014, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Suva, Fiji
Opening address by Johnny Engell-Hansen, Charged Affaires a.i, European Union Delegation for the Pacific
I am very pleased to be here today for the opening of this workshop.
Let me first say that I am delighted to see so many cultural organisations – successful cultural organisations,
meeting and discussing the development of their organisations, sharing best practices, and discussing new
ways for cooperation and cohesion.
The cultural sector and the cultural industries in particular, have an enormous potential for the economic
development of the region. Government and regional and cultural organisations are at the same table, talking
about how best to create synergies for the development of the sector.
Cultural and creative industries possess considerable growth and innovation capability and usually involve
quite a significant number of youth. This means both growth and jobs - that's why each country, each region
should support and exploit their potential and should include their development in its long-term policy
strategies.
The European Union is well aware that cultural and creative industries represent business opportunities that
can grow and make the economy more competitive. Supporting innovative entrepreneurship and stimulating
and strengthening creativity and all links and forms of the innovation chain are becoming more and more
important.
That's why the European Union is funding projects like the one for which we are here today: “Enhancing the
Pacific Cultural Industries: Fiji, Samoa and Solomon Islands”. This is part of the larger EU funded Programme
"ACP Cultures +", which focuses on addressing poverty through the development and consolidation of viable
and sustainable cultural industries in ACP countries, by reinforcing their contribution to social and economic
development, as well as the preservation of cultural diversity.
As I have said when addressing past events organised by this program, a cluster economy around arts,
adventure and aspirations could develop in the Pacific - with Fiji at its core. The potential is big for culture and
creativity to play a significant role in the economy of the region.
Unlocking the potential of cultural industries and spreading it into other sectors of the economy may not be an
easy task, though.
Indeed, for this sector to be successful, political recognition and strategic alliances are fundamental. There are
a multitude of stakeholders who need to be brought to the table: the public sector and its cultural institutions,
the private sector which covers a wide range of commercial operations in all fields of cultural production and
distribution; the non-profit sector including many theatre and dance companies, festivals; and nongovernmental organisations such as advocacy agencies, actors and musicians’ unions.
The informal nature of many cultural industries, which struggle to emerge to a formal economy, also affects
the development of the sector and its potential spill-over to the wider economy.
First, the legal environment regulating the formal recognition of cultural industries is to be accompanied by
the development of a stronger organisational culture that enables growth and accountability, whether this is
within an association, a network, a council, a private company.
Secondly, development is needed in public-private partnership; in collaboration between small business
advisory services and cultural producers and entrepreneurs; in dialogue and coordination of action between
government departments themselves, and between government departments and arts bodies and artists.
60
You will discuss these issues and the potential for developing effective partnerships over the next few days.
I would like to acknowledge the Secretariat of the Pacific Community for continuing to work hard in promoting
the development of the cultural sector in the Pacific.
I would like to also acknowledge the Fiji Arts Council, the Department of National Heritage, Culture and Arts
and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat for their continuous support to this project.
Last but not least, I would like to commend you, representatives of cultural industries and organisations – it is
your talent, your creativity, your passion and your contribution to the cultural, social and economic
development of this region and of the world that will make the real difference.
I wish you well in your discussions over these next two days.
Thank you
61
Annex 4
Fiji Cultural Industries Workshop: Sector Collaboration and Capacity Building’
28-31 October 2014, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, Suva, Fiji
Sector overview by Laisiasa Veikoso, Director, Fiji Arts Council
On behalf of the Ministry of Education, Department of Heritage and Arts, the Fiji Arts Council and its Board, I
wish to say it is a great privilege and honour for me to be here today to share my thoughts on a very important
topic and agenda which is very close to our nation’s cultural development agenda and priorities.
Fiji is blessed with a rich cultural tradition, with talented artistic individuals and communities living across the
length and breadth of this country. In many parts of this island nation, communities have access to natural
and material resources, human resources, cultural assets, indigenous knowledge, traditions and customs that
can be the key agents for social and economic development. Our artists have tapped deep into their creative
talents and resource to design pieces that take inspiration from their roots.
As cultural stakeholders, we need to invest in our people. We need to invest in the things that are important
to people, things that make people grow in their chosen profession.
The arts play an important role in the life of communities. They are important for the expression of the life
and culture of communities and the transmission of values and ideas from one generation to generation. The
arts are a major form of human communication and expression. Individual groups use the arts to explore,
express and communicate ideas, feelings and experiences.
The Fiji Government has taken the initiative and the lead role by investing in the Fiji Made Fiji Crafted
campaign. This is our poverty eradication programme aimed at creating employment. Through it we have
integrated our crafters into the program by making them agents of change, economic transformation and the
creation of opportunity. This program has provided our people with opportunities and has turned many of our
crafters into self-determining entrepreneurs who are now self-employed.
Ladies and gentlemen just earlier this year in the month of July, we had the National Cultural Stakeholder
workshop and there were 7 key points that I wish to re-literate with us this morning as a strategical way
forward for us.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Education of creative people and talent, both formal and informal (importance of local and community
based learning, apprenticeships of craftsmen, internships)
Growing Creativepreneurs and Industry: how to increase knowledge, how to create ways and means
for collaboration and cooperation locally, nationally, and internationally.
Access to finance. There needs to be increased quality of sources of finance and institutions,
development of alternative sources of funds.
Penetration and diversification of market: Access to market information domestic and international,
export and imports services, increasing branding.
Access to inputs: need to protect, develop and utilize inputs of raw materials, natural resources and
cultural resources (importance of identification, documentation, restoration and revitalization, mapping
and database, archiving); research to identify alternative and sustainable sources of raw materials, and
research and understanding how cultural assets and heritage, traditional knowledge can be used to
inspire and innovate more contemporary.
Access to infrastructure and supporting technology, Internet and telecommunications infrastructure.
Institutional set up.
Active participation of stakeholders – synergy, coordination and collaboration between intellectual, business,
government and communities (creative communities), quantity and quality of organizations, appreciation and
participation in international fora, and creation of public space for expression, critical thinking and creativity.
62
In conclusion, we understand what and why and the challenges, but one of the most important lessons we’ve
learned is our individual dedication and commitment in making this work. Now, we will disagree, sometimes
fiercely, about how to get there. As it has for more than two centuries, progress will come in fits and starts. It's
not always a straight line. It's not always a smooth path. By itself, the recognition that we have common hopes
and dreams won't end all the gridlock or solve all our problems or substitute for the painstaking work of
building consensus and making the difficult compromises needed to move this work forward. But it’s that
common bond that we all share is where we must begin.
The Fiji Arts Council has listened to you, we have learned from you, and you've made us a better fighter, a
better organization and a better team. And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the Government of
the more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies
ahead.
We've got more work to do.
May we continue to remember our fore artists, may we remember their experiences and their stories and
experiences and the stories and experiences of our elders. May we live up to their examples.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless Fiji
63
Annex 5
COMPARISON CHART OF LEGAL REGISTRATION STRUCTURES
Profit
Income Tax
Membership
Liability
Registration
Ownership
Purpose
Charitable
Trust
Non-profit
Tax exempt
Possible
Linked to
mission
High level
$1,000-5,000
Difficult
Trustees &
Office Bearers
Linked to Act
Specific
Depends on
constitution
Donors &
Trustees
Trustees &
Board
Association
Non-profit
Tax exempt
Yes
Linked to goals
Limited
Free
Easy
Members
Member driven
& external
One member
one vote
Members &
Donors
Board &
Secretariat
Cooperative
For profit
8 year tax
holiday
Yes
Shareholders
Limited to
share
$115
Easy
Shareholders
Service driven
One member
one vote
Members &
grants
Members &
Executive
Committee
Social
Enterprise
For profit
Taxed
Employees
Shareholders
Shareholders
Guarantee
Limited
$1,000-5,000
Easy
Founder or
Board of
Directors
Social &
commercial
Owner is boss
Founder &
profits
Founder &
Board
Trade
Union
Non-profit
Tax exempt
Yes
Employees
Limited
$1,000+
Difficult
Members
Advocacy for
rights
One member
one vote
Members
Members &
Board
Network
Unincorporated
No earning and
no taxes
Yes
Anyone
High
Not registered
Founder
Founder driven
& internal
Owners is boss
Founders
Founders
(Source: SPC, 2014)
64
Voting Rights
Capital & Funding
Management