2 Jul 2012

Organiser hopes for arts recognition in Solomons after festival

11:06 am on 2 July 2012

The organiser of the 11th Festival of Pacific Arts underway in the Solomon Islands capital says she hopes the event will prompt the government to recognise the arts.

About 3,000 delegates from more than 20 Pacific Island countries and territories are taking part in the event, which was officially opened this morning and is expected to swell Honiara's population by up to 100,000.

Doreen Kuper, the head of the national organising committee, says she hopes the government will see the economic potential of Solomon Islands' artists.

"People's natural abilities and talents that exist and creativity and so on because that hasn't been tapped into at all. And I'm hoping that it'll give people some form of future and a life really."

Doreen Kuper says there's a lot of excitement about the festival in Honiara and people are looking forward to the exchange of cultures over the next fortnight.