Photo caption: Samoan musician, producer and arts leader Posenai Mavaega (right), pictured with Tumaru Mataio – UCSA President, is based at UC for three months for the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies and Creative NZ 2026 Artist in Residence.
Highly respected Samoan musician, producer and arts leader Posenai Mavaega has been named the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies and Creative NZ 2026 Artist in Residence at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury.
The three-month residency began in May 2026 and marks the 30th anniversary of the long-running Pacific Artist in Residence programme.
Mavaega says the residency is an opportunity to honour the stories, relationships and musical traditions that have shaped his work.
“I am honoured to be the first musician accepted into the residency. I look forward to drawing on the music from our shared stories across the Va (the Pacific concept of the relationships that bind us) and taking the opportunity to create new relationships, new communities, live out my ancestors’ dreams with respect, gratefulness and grace by contributing my work to our peoples with the talents gifted to me.
"O lupe sa vao ese'ese, ae ua fuifui faatasi. We are from different parts of the forest but connected in one cause.”
Mavaega’s career spans more than 40 years, beginning as a band leader before becoming a key figure in Pacific music, theatre, events and production.
In 1995, two years into Pacific Underground’s groundbreaking theatre productions and tours, he founded PU Music Production, known as P.U.M.P.
Through P.U.M.P, he led sound design for theatre productions, shows and concerts alongside Tanya Muagututi’a and Chris Searle, and was lead producer for Pacific Underground’s two albums, Landmark and Island Summer.
Pacific Underground is Aotearoa New Zealand’s longest-running Pacific performing arts collective. Since 1999, Mavaega and Muagututi’a have led the collective, expanding its work into event production while continuing to nurture emerging Pacific talent in the performing arts.
Mavaega’s creative contribution includes Pacific Underground theatre productions such as Sons, Romeo and Tusi, Dawn Raids and Angels, as well as P.U.M.P projects including Soul Defined, Island Summer, Drum Five and Drum and Bass.
His event and production work includes AFFIRM, Kia Mau Festival, Otago Polyfest, the Festival of Pacific Arts in 2004, 2008 and 2012, and FESTPAC 2024 in Hawai‘i. He has also contributed to film projects including Tinā, as a musician, and My Name is Pati, as part of the advisory committee.
Mavaega has appeared as a guest musician in recordings and performances with artists including Che Fu, King Kapisi, Ladi6, Scribe, Mara TK, Dallas Tamaira and Fat Freddy’s Drop. He has also built extensive technical and production expertise through events and concerts including Pacific Underground’s Pacific Arts Festival, Auckland’s Pasifika, Diwali, Lantern and Matariki festivals, and winery tours with artists including Sol3 Mio, Shihad, Stan Walker and Bic Runga.
In 2021, Mavaega and Muagututi’a were made Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Pacific performing arts. Pacific Underground received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Pacific Music Awards in 2016, and Mavaega received the Production Technical Professional FAME Award in 2024.
Locally in Ōtautahi Christchurch, he continues to support young Pacific peoples in the arts through mentoring, including Pacific Underground’s Ako Mentoring Programme.
In 2025, to celebrate more than 30 years of Pacific Underground, Mavaega and Muagututi’a led a collaboration with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. The show, Ōtautahi Pasifika Legacy Project, featured music from Pacific Underground composed for orchestra by Seta Timo, with performances by Tusiata Avia, Tamanau II Performing Arts, Mal Lakatani, Hiliako Iaheto and Posenai’s family of musicians: Lijah Mavaega, Talia-Rae Mavaega, Josephine Mavaega and Muagututi’a.
The residency also has a special family connection. Mavaega’s wife, Muagututi’a, held the same residency in 2010, when she researched her play Scholars, which went on to win a Playmarket NZ Award.
Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies Director, Distinguished Professor Steven Ratuva says the 30th anniversary residency is a significant moment for UC, Creative New Zealand and Pacific communities.
“We are honoured to welcome Posenai to our place,” he says. “Music has such importance within Pacific storytelling and cultural connection, and Posenai is testament to what can be achieved with music and other artforms. We look forward to building connections within our centre and with the local Pacific community.”
Mavaega, Muagututi’a and their whānau and friends were formally welcomed to UC with a traditional Cook Islands turou, shared music, kai and time with Pacific communities at the University.
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