Erromango Arts Festival 24th – 29th August 2009

The Uponyelongi Cultural Committee and the Erromangan Cultural Association on Erromango Island will be hosting Erromango Island’s first ever Erromango Island Arts Festival. The Festival will be a journey into Erromango's custom and culture. Highlights will be a custom dancing and traditional cloth/tapa making, traditional games. Visitors will also have the opportunity to explore the custom village of Uponyelongi (often known as 'Happy Land') and visit the kauri reserve, home to Vanuatu's oldest trees (up to 2000 years old). Erromango is an island for the adventurous. Without roads, visitors will be required to travel to Uponyelongi by boat, with some trekking, or for the very fit, they can trek the whole distance. There is a guesthouse in Dillon’s Bay where you fly in, but no guesthouses in Uponyelongi, however large sleeping simanlous (or nakamal) will be built to accommodate people dormitory-style. Dillon's Bay is the original site of the sandalwood trade by Peter Dillon in the 1860s.

Festival contacts are Russell or Sophie Nemban on mobile +678 5448301 or Anna on +678 7753507.