SCHOLARSHIPS LAUNCHED FOR INDIGENOUS TELEVISION CONFERENCE

5 March 2008

New Zealand tertiary students are being offered a rare opportunity to meet with their peers, industry leaders and potential employers including some of the most influential people in indigenous television broadcasting from throughout the world.

Indigenous television leaders and industry experts from Timor-Leste, United States, South Africa, Scotland, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Wales, Taiwan and Aotearoa-New Zealand are now confirmed as featured guest speakers at the first ever World Indigenous Television Broadcasting Conference to be hosted by Māori Television in Auckland from March 26-28.

WITBC ‘08 will feature stories of their successes, observations and learning either as indigenous broadcasters overcoming adversity and oppression or as mainstream networks fostering indigenous broadcasting.

Māori Television is offering five scholarships to tertiary students based in New Zealand. To qualify, applicants must be full-time students in a related field – broadcasting, film or a specific media course, for example, with a particular emphasis in indigenous language, identity or culture – and not currently in fulltime professional employment.

The successful recipients will gain entry to the three-day event at The Edge and two networking functions as well as fully-catered lunch and breaks. Applications for the scholarships close on Friday March 14 2008 at 5.00 PM. To download the application form, go to the conference website www.witbc.org.

Leaders, producers and planners involved in indigenous and public television can also register to attend WITBC ‘08 via the website www.witbc.org.

Vanessa Horan
Kaiwhakaputa (Publicist)
Māori Television
DDI: +64 9 539 7159
MOB: +64 21 928 007
EML: vanessa.horan@maoritelevision.com