Probably one of our more remote festival activities took place on Aotea Great Barrier Island. Situated 90 kilometres from Auckland City – a 30-minute plane ride – Great Barrier Island is on the outer edge of the Hauraki Gulf in New Zealand’s only national marine park. Over 70% of the land is protected conservation park and the island is a dark sky sanctuary. Small Island Big Ideas is the generic name given to a range of festival events that have been held on this island since 2015, and this year it was incorporated into the Festival of Adult Learning Ahurei Ākonga 2024.
Tim Higham and Sandy Burgham are co-directors of the festival and according to Sandy the current Small Island Big Ideas festival format started in response to COVID.
“We realised that the festival had to be about bringing new thinking to the island; we needed to look at other ways to deliver festival events after COVID, so our first one was a monthly fireside chat with authors. There is a lot of creative and artistic talent on the island, so we try and highlight that. Then the year after, we hosted the world premiere of the short film Hawaiki. Later in 2023 we hosted the Inaugural Writers’ Festival.”
Hawaiki was shot largely on Aotea by New Zealand artist Nova Paul (Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, and Te Māhurehure ki Whatitiri, Ngāpuhi). In 2023 it was selected for the Sundance Film Festival with the world premiere being held on the island in January that year. Hawaiki is about trees, and Nova used an early 19th century filmmaking technique, where she boiled down puriri and pōhutukawa leaves to create an acidic solution she could use as a film developer.
This year, festival organisers once again shifted their thinking to make sure what they delivered was appropriate for the times and that they “arouse curiosity and conversation that takes our world and communities forward”. They took a literal translation of the festival name – Small Island Big Ideas.
“We are a tiny island with around 1250 people living here and like every small/tiny island in the world we are unique,” Sandy says.
“We wanted to look at transformational ideas that have been explored by other similar sized islands around the world and deliver these in a series of podcasts. The first podcast was launched during the Festival of Adult Learning Ahurei Ākonga, as we realised the links and goals that we share with the ACE Festival.”
The organisers put out a call on their local radio station, Aotea Radio, asking listeners from other islands what they would like to hear about, and interviews took place over the phone, with podcasts developed from there. About 12 “other island” stories will be completed as part of the project.
One episode is released each week and broadcast on Aotea FM and the Small Island Big Ideas website, with the first one airing during the Festival of Adult Learning. Each episode is 60 minutes long. The aim is to identify “big ideas” that have created a social and economic reset for the community – things that have helped communities flourish and inspired others about the benefits of an off-grid lifestyle.
Sandy says the series of podcasts also focuses on leadership within communities.
“There’s a lot of learning about what it takes to be a visionary leader and what we have found is that they come from within the community. It is about ‘conscious maturity’ which is needed to navigate the complexity of living within a small community. How do you unite the fans, the fence sitters and the naysayers? What our interviews have shown, and what we delivered in the podcasts, is the idea that leaders demonstrate conscious maturity that respects all perspectives and listens to all voices. Another key learning from the interviews is the importance of slowing down and relishing the small conversations.”
Sandy says the festival organisers were very thankful for the Festival of Adult Learning Ahurei Ākonga funding that enabled them to complete and launch this important and valuable work that will hopefully contribute to thinking on the island.