VOU Fiji, the country’s premier performing arts company, staged a two-day residency at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on April 24 and 25, bringing traditional Fijian rhythm, song and storytelling to an international audience. The appearances were part of the museum’s MetLiveArts season and activated the newly reopened Arts of Oceania galleries, organisers said.
The residency featured leading Fijian performers Evangeline Kumar and Dikula Vatuwaliwali, joined by New York–based Fijians Zen Waqavonovono and Epeli Rakai. Across two nights the ensemble presented a programme that blended dance, chant and narrative movement, drawing on customary forms and contemporary staging to interpret Fijian stories within the museum’s oceanic collections.
Artistic director Navi Fong described the engagement as a turning point for Fiji’s arts community. “To bring our stories to life within the walls of The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a monumental milestone for the Fijian arts community,” she said, adding that VOU Fiji’s mission “has always been to share the spirit of the Pacific with the world.” Fong said New York audiences had embraced “the mana and energy of Fiji,” calling the reception “truly spectacular.”
The inclusion of New York–based artists alongside performers from Fiji underlined the residency’s diasporic collaboration and exchange. By staging live cultural practice within a major international museum, VOU Fiji used the Met’s global platform to present Fijian performance practices in context with the visual arts of the region, offering visitors a layered experience of Pacific cultures.
Organisers and supporters said the Met engagement was also intended to have practical benefits back home. The international showcase is being positioned as a means to boost Fiji’s tourism appeal by promoting authentic cultural experiences to global audiences, with cultural performance presented as part of the country’s wider visitor offering.
The Met residency marks one of VOU Fiji’s most high-profile international presentations to date and may pave the way for further cross-cultural collaborations. For the company and Fiji’s wider arts sector, the performances represented both recognition on a world stage and a strategic effort to leverage cultural heritage for broader exposure and economic opportunities.