By Sariah Magaoa, PMN
Niuean creative project lead Glen Jackson produced 10 radio and TV episodes bringing to life Niuean stories through digital storytelling. Photo: Storytime and Play-Niue
The Niumataola Potaaga Tala Niue project brings Niuean stories to life through 10 radio and TV episodes, using digital storytelling as a powerful tool to preserve language and culture for future generations.
Niue, Sāmoa, and the Solomon Islands are part of a Pacific children's media programme called Storytime and Play (STP), an innovative early childhood development initiative led by Plan International Australia with the support of the New Zealand International Development Corporation Programme.
The initiative creates vibrant local children's media and play hubs that promote inclusive and equitable learning opportunities for children across the Pacific.
Speaking with Island Time host Tofiga Fepulea'i, renowned Niuean artist and creative lead of this project in Niue, Glen Jackson, shares insights into this exciting work.
Known as the Niumataola Potaaga Tala Niue project, which translates to 'new, fresh and beautiful', this initiative compiles a collection of Niue stories into 10 radio and television episodes.
After four successful years, the project leaves a lasting impact on the community.
Jackson recounts his journey, from dismissing the project email as spam to producing 10 radio and TV episodes.
"I received an email, and I assumed it was spam because it was almost too real or too true to be true that someone was reaching out for my services to create kids' content.
"I knew that God was like, check that email again and reply to it. So I did, and fast forward into the years that we were producing this content, and it was a massive outreach from Plan International Australia.
"They were wanting to have some more Solomon Islands and Niue engage in producing kids content and so for phase one was creating audio episodes for radio and then in the 12 months or 15 months we were able to produce 10 minute kids TV episodes to download to the devices to watch.
"[This project was] produced 100 per cent here in Niue, in collaboration with our youth groups and village youth groups and just getting the production done.
"Here we are in 2025, eventually finally getting it over the line," Jackson says.
Jackson highlights the importance of youth empowerment and fostering young content creators who can shape their own narratives.
"It's been amazing working with our young people.
"It was just giving them a little bit of upskill on how to do a production, filming with their phones, understanding audio quality and understanding how to kind of do a mini movie but on a much, much smaller scale and giving them the window of an opportunity that they might fund a career pathway to it.
"They might find interest in it or just an understanding that they're building content that's bigger than themselves, that is for the next generation, not just for our kids now," Jackson says.
Jackson says the initiative receives a warm reception despite challenges like balancing youth responsibilities and securing community support.
"Our youth here in Niue have to wear so many hats … and we understood that capacity was trying not to burden them with another hat or another project that they have to participate because it became a little bit of a struggle and obstacle.
"But when we finally got the buy-in and they saw the bigger picture and to kind of know that it is beyond them, it is beyond us, it is for longevity and sustainability of our language and culture, it became much more easier for them to participate.
"As hard as it was, we got there in the end," he says.
Jackson also highlights the positive feedback from the community elders (matua), who appreciate the project's focus on preserving and sharing traditional Niue stories.
"When we're taking traditions of our matua and the introduction of new technology, and our young people, and it's just finding a bridging space and a safe space that we can have the blessings of our matua, we can have the endorsement, we can have their buy-in, and allowing us to make this content for the next generation. It's been amazing feedback."
While the episodes target children up to five years old, Jackson encourages anyone to use them as a resource for language learning and development.
Jackson expresses his ongoing commitment and passion for empowering young people in the digital space, highlighting their crucial role in preserving and promoting language and culture for future generations.
"One of the greatest compliments that I will take is when you teach young people the skills and when they don't need you, that means it's working."
Check out the Niumataola episodes here.
-This article was first published by PMN.
