Qualifications:
BA Vic. PgD Massey MA S.Pac
Biography:
In between raising two wonderful children, Jacki has worked at Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, the Waikato Museum of Art & History and K’aute Pasifika. With her husband Igelese Ete, Jacki initiated the mammoth production Malaga the Journey, a choreographed choral celebration for the opening of Te Papa in 1998. She then assisted in the reformulation, research and libretto for the Christchurch Festival of Arts in 1999 with Igelese Ete and Teokota’i Paitai, followed by the University of Auckland productions in 2001 and 2002 produced by Walter Fraser. Malaga was staged in Suva in 2006 and again in 2009 for the Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua, produced by Marilyn Baigent and Benna Seveali’i-Siolo, followed by a performance at the TSB Arena, Wellington 2010 in conjunction with the PacWel Trust. Jacki was also the researcher, writer and librettist for the Samoan operetta Ifoga, commissioned by the Christchurch Festival of Arts in 2001, and Creative Director for Sina ‘Oe staged at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington in 2010.
She has curated numerous exhibitions and performances both in NZ and Fiji including: Vasu: Pacific Women of Power (2009), Dolly Mix (W)rapper - Contemporary Art by Women of Samoan Descent (2002), Mara-i-wai (2007), and Sublime Indigo (2001). Jacki has worked as a cultural and community worker, tutoring in homework centres and tertiary institutions and was the Project Manager (Pasifika) for the Strengthening Pathways project aimed at boosting the retention and achievement rates of Pasifika Students at Victoria University. Jacki’s research interests are in the area of Oceanic arts, culture, heritage, museums, militarism, gender and the Samoan diaspora.
