25 Feb 2013
Chair of the Arts Board of Creative New Zealand Alan Sorrell has welcomed the appointment of Associate Professor Hon. Luamanuvao Winnie Laban QSO as a new member of the Arts Board and her subsequent appointment as Chair of the Pacific Arts Committee.
Luamanuvao Winnie Laban will replace outgoing board member and Pacific Arts Committee Chair Pele Walker who has resigned after more than six years in these roles.
“The board has appreciated Pele’s outstanding advocacy for Pacific arts. She has been instrumental in the development of an increasingly vibrant, strong and diverse Pacific arts scene in New Zealand,” Mr Sorrell said.
“We are welcoming Winnie as an enthusiastic advocate for the arts and look forward to her being a member of the board, and Chair of the Pacific Arts Committee.”
Luamanuvao Winnie Laban is Assistant Vice Chancellor (Pasifika) at Victoria University following a Parliamentary career in which she held positions as the Member of Parliament for Mana, Minister of Pacific Island Affairs, Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, and Associate Minister of Social Development, Economic Development, and Trade.
Elected in 1999, Luamanuvao Winnie Laban was the first Pacific Island woman in the New Zealand Parliament. She resigned in October 2010 to take up her position at Victoria University.
Departing Arts Board member Ms Walker said that during her term it had been wonderful to see the increasing confidence of Pasifika artists in the value of their work and the strength of their voice, with many now well recognised beyond the Pasifika community.
“There are many examples of our Pasifika artists reaching a broad audience. I have been able to watch the development Pasifika artists and groups as they go from small local beginnings to now confidently taking their place on national and international stages.”
For more information please contact:
Helen Isbister
Communications Manager
04 473 0187
021 244 4016
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