The logo of the Oral Arts Project is a sand drawing from Tomman island, Malakula. The traditional owners of the design have given us permission to use the design to promote the cultures of Vanuatu.
This project, initiated in late 2003, has the following objectives :
• the collection and transcription of the oral traditions (histories, myths and legends) of Vanuatu in association with the network of fieldworkers of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre ;
• the encouragement of a renaissance of oral traditions and story telling in association with the Titamol Association of story tellers ;
• the publication of oral traditions in literary form.
The Alliance Française of Port Vila and the Titamol Association of story tellers are partners in the implementation of this project and funding support for the first two years of the project was given by the European Union’s Programme of Support to Non State Actors.
Project activities include :
1) The creation of a database of all oral traditions (custom stories) currently recorded (on audio tape or on paper) ;
2) The preservation of existing recordings of custom stories ;
3) The ongoing recording of custom stories ;
4) The transcription of all custom stories not in written form ;
5) The translatation of custom stories into the three national languages (French, English, Bislama);
6) The publication of custom stories in book form ;
7) Contributing to the economic development of the country through the local production, sale and marekting of cultural goods targeting internal, regional and international markets.
Publications of the project to date include :
1) Mashishiki and the flying woman: A tale from Futuna, 2003 (Book 1 – TAFEA Province)
(French, Bislama, English)
2) The story of the eel and other stories from Uripiv island, 2004 (French, vernacular, English)
3) Nabanga: Une anthologie illustrée de la literature orale du Vanuatu, 2004 (French)
4) Nabanga: A illustrated anthology of the oral traditions of Vanuatu, 2005 (English)
5) Bimbingo: A tale from Erakor, 2005 (Book 2 – SHEFA Province) (French, Bislama, English)
6) The rat and the nambilak: A tale from Ambrym, 2005 (Book 3 – MALAMPA Province) (French, Bislama, English)
Other promotional activities :
• Weekly publication of a custom story in the "Daily Post" newspaper ;
• Ongoing support for the Titamol Association of story-tellers. The Association currently has about 10 members and performs regularly at public venues and at schools in the capital Port Vila. The troupe has also travelled to the outer islands and also to New Caledonia to perform.
