FESTIVAL ‘ 90 : Maori Group Raises Money Hard Way : Funding: Waiwhetu clan elders forbid the performance of ancestral dances for commercial purposes.

Art and commerce don’t mix for New Zealand’s Waiwhetu Maori Cultural Group--and that causes special fund-raising problems for the performers.

Waiwhetu tribal elders won’t allow the troupe to perform its dramatic haka war rituals for commercial purposes--leaving the group scrambling to raise funds through raffles and high school auditorium performances instead of more commercial means.

Although the group has managed to come up with approximately $48,500 needed to cover air fare and lodging, members have had to do it the hard way. Mel Kernahan, U.S. coordinator for the group, says that respecting the elders’ wishes has kept her from approaching the airlines for free transportation for the group, and limited bookings to community centers and high school auditoriums instead of nightclubs and luaus.

“Naturally, an airline would expect something in return,” Kernahan said, “and it is (the Waiwhetus) policy not to do any tourism promotion.”

As a cost-cutting move, the group is staying at the Bel Capri Hotel in Westwood rather than at UCLA’s Artists Village. The cost for the 29-member group at UCLA during performance days would have been $11,000; the troupe was able to move into the Bel Capri for about $6,000.

“They’ve raised all the money, although I don’t know if they’ve had to borrow,” Kernahan said. “I just think everybody has been pitching in, doing extra work besides their jobs.”

Wirangi Luke, son of Richard Luke, one of the tribal elders and the group’s manager, described the Waiwhetu group as a non-professional community group that usually relies on volunteer efforts rather than corporations for its funds. Its members perform the ancient tribal rituals outside of careers as teachers, computer technologists and security guards.

“If some (corporation) wanted to sponsor the group, that would be great, but a certain amount of etiquette would have to apply,” Luke said. “It is always left up to the elders to decide. (Their decision) has to do with some of the younger ones who are traveling with the group, making sure that they do the fund raising and acquire the money themselves, so they can understand (the fund-raising process).”

Kernahan said she was told by festival officials that the group joined the festival program too late to have air fare, food and housing costs paid by the festival. Judith Luther, executive director of the festival, said through a spokesman that a list of other groups who were paying their own way was unavailable.

Although the Maoris didn’t protest being asked to pay their own way, “It would have been a different story if (the festival) sponsored some other group from New Zealand and didn’t sponsor us--then we would have raised a bit of a fuss,” Luke said. And, he added: “Mind you, we’re only a small country, New Zealand--you would think they would have asked one of the larger countries to do their own fund raising, rather than a small place like ours.”