What is the land like?
The 6 hectares/14.8 acres offered for the project are untouched and natural. The land has never been exposed to pesticides or chemical process of any kind. The soil is volcanic, the most fertile on the planet. It is located on the quiet side of an already quiet island.
What is next?
During Phase I, we are focused on research + development – August and September saw the completion of a needs assessment conducted with Naihné and Louniel tribal leadership. Our small team worked with villages east of Fetukai to learn their perspectives on improving life in the region. In December, we will initiate a feasibility study of the acreage provided by the Naihné, within their much larger area of tribal lands, to evaluate the ability of bamboo and peanut stocks to sustainably support local building and biofuel needs. Additionally, we will continue outreach and partnership conversations with local, cultural, governmental and international organizations working in and around Tanna to respect regional authorities and introduce our project as a contributor to improved ecological practices, artistic collaboration and international awareness.
VPF’s aim in Phase II is to work with the tribal members who approached founder Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) about cultivating an arts, digital and green energy education center serving the Fetukai region of Tanna in developing programming that employs a digital media lab enabling youth to create new works and record elders’ traditional stories. Internationally, Phase II will introduce an architectural design competition accepting local vernacular designs ranging from individual bungalows to the completely self-sustaining site plan. This site will also welcome small groups of international artists to create solo and collaborative projects while in residency and afford them introduction to tribal life on a part of the island, just east of Fetukai, where the villages are more isolated from the main port city and other tribes than most other places on Tanna.
Upon completion of the selected competition winners and completion of the site’s final structures and support systems, Phase III will engage a full programming agenda – We are working towards establishing a locally owned and operated cooperative that will become managed and maintained by the Naihne people as it serves a dual purpose of welcoming visiting artists (and others) while providing outreach around tribally requested education. This education ranges from language and healthcare to digital arts (for recording both kastom and youth projects) to water purification, waste management, peanut-based biofuels and solar lantern-making classes (for diesel-free, sustainable living) in the one to three subsistence villages enveloping the project site along the middle of Tanna’s northeasterly quadrant.
Why is this important?
Every two weeks a language is lost forever – with it, a unique world view is gone that can never be recovered. Keeping culture alive and thriving is an increasingly complex challenge that requires tribes to confront the lures that draw youth from their villages with little hope of their return. Our hope is that in sharing digital literacy and current sustainability technologies with the already rich traditional ecological knowledge of the villages of eastern Tanna, local tribes may engage new ways of representing their cultural kastom while helping the “modern” world that affronts it adopt their formula for happiness – rather than the other way around.
We hope that participant artists and others we attract will become willing students and ambassadors who are excited to share their expertise with local children and learn from village elders. Though there remain few tv sets on the island, the populace is curious about the outside world. Hosting cultural exchange events with an eye towards dispelling myths about each other and fortifying village life is an earnest goal of the project.
Where can I get more information about Vanuatu and Tanna island?
Vanuatu on Wikipedia
Tanna Island on Wikipedia
The Vanuatu Cultural Center – a governmental guide to cultural policies and programs
The Peace Corps Welcome Handbook for Vanuatu – a fantastic overview for visitors and researchers curious for an overview addressing historic, ecological and cultural awareness for travelers to the region
Who are the foundation’s Phase I partners?
Our fiscal sponsor is Islands First, a New York City-based 501(c)3 dedicated to strengthening the UN missions of small island nations. They accomplish this aim by providing expert legal and policy advisors to generate strategy and coordinate scientific, environmental and policy networks that serve the ecological agendas of island leadership.
We also gratefully acknowledge the guidance of The Pacific Foundation’s founder and staff in the organization’s formative stages.
Vanuatu Pacifica Foundation