“My hands, my feet; my hands, my feet. My hands and feet, to uplift the village.”
Singing in her native language, Phylesha Brown-Acton recited the song written by her uncle about their home and community. Hailing from Niue, a small, self-governing island country in Polynesia, Brown-Acton was invited to be keynote speaker at MANAFest, a yearly event run by UTOPIA Washington celebrating Queer and Trans Pacific Island communities in Washington state.
Appointed a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2019 for her LGBTQIA+ activism in the South Pacific, Brown-Acton is also fakafifine, a culturally specific Niuean third gender for those assigned male at birth but identify with a feminine gender expression.
“Today’s MANAFest is a testament to all our people,” Action said to the crowd on the campus of Green River College. Drawing on the importance of cultural activities featured at the event, Action proclaimed, “Art is a connection for Pacific Island people to our ancestors, culture, and our land. We must take a proactive role in preserving our heritage.”
While families and distinguished guests adorned with lei garlands watched attentively, others casually roamed the various booths and vendors, munching on malasadas (fried dough with fillings) and other goodies.
Several groups took to the MANAFest main stage that afternoon, representing traditions from across the Pacific, like the Manuia Performing Arts Academy (a Samoan cultural dance group), led by Naya Tuiasosopo.
Inside the Student Union Hall, Pasifika Village cultural workshops featured performances by groups like Hearts for Kids with Ala Talo, alongside traditional arts and crafts such as elei printing (a traditional Samoan art of fabric decoration) and designs taught by Brown-Acton.
Toward the end of her keynote speech, Brown-Acton emphasized that when it comes to diaspora communities, often living far away from home, “Our arts and culture are fundamental to our well-being.”
Falefia Jr. Brandon Fuamatu
UTOPIA Washington’s story, much like the Queer and Trans diaspora communities it serves, has been one of creating a sense of home and community in the Seattle area, and for its director of development, Falefia Jr. Brandon Fuamatu, his story of dedication to community service has been no different.
Accepting the SGN’s invitation to a talanoa (sharing story) as he called it, Fuamatu described his journey with the organization. With his professional background working in music in Hawai’i, he moved to Washington in 2021 to become the events and production manager with UTOPIA Washington, starting in the middle of Pride Month.
“Every month is busy for UTOPIA Washington, but Pride Month was a great experience for me to jump in. I think my first day, the entire organization went to go table and support Taking Black Pride, which happened in Seattle.”
From there, Fuamatu’s role has gradually grown. Now as director of development, he is the lead grant writer, oversees all partnerships, handles the language of community programming, and manages intentional relationships with funders.
But another important feature of Fuamatu’s role is event planning. Every year, UTOPIA Washington holds two major ones: the Miss Island Goddess Pageant in the spring and MANAFest in the fall. “Those are the two events that I support Taffy [the executive director] heading to organize all throughout the year. So once we’re done with MANAFest, we jump right into the pageant and back and forth.”
Fuamatu explained how UTOPIA Washington’s mission over the years has evolved to incorporate a broader, intersectionality-based framework. “We are actively replacing systems of oppression with ecosystems of care and safety for all our communities through Black and Brown organizing, prioritizing land above the economy, and reclaiming our cultural narratives,” he stated.
Recognizing the larger role UTOPIA Washington has begun to play, Fuamatu acknowledged that the organization’s scope is “ever expanding, and also includes our allied communities and broader Pacific Islander communities, recognizing that Washington has the third largest growing Pacific Islander community in the country.”
Part of this expansion has been collaboration with allied communities and other LGBTQIA+ organizations. For example, Unkitawa is a nonprofit based in Kent, dedicated to serving Native American communities through art and other cultural activities, with which UTOPIA Washington works closely. UTOPIA Washington also works with representatives of the Muckleshoot Tribe, as Fuamatu noted, to help inform how it should support the rights and customs of Seattle’s First Peoples. As for LGBTQIA+-specific organizations, Fuamatu spoke fondly of the Lavender Rights Project, saying the group “is a very strong partner and collaborator — conspirator, if you would — of ours. We like to partner with them as much as we can.”
Evolution of MANAFest
In 2010, UTOPIA Washington began MANAFest as a simple community fundraiser for its programs, and support communities back home across the Pacific. But over the years, as Fuamatu pointed out, it has evolved and expanded alongside the organization.
Before the name was changed last year, the event was known as the Utopia Annual Lūʻau. Fuamatu explained that “lūʻau is the word that is shared among Pacific Island cultures, which is basically a celebration where there [are] cultural presentations, protocols, and food.”
This annual lūʻau was held at the Muckleshoot Casino as a gala-style fundraiser, with production spearheaded by UTOPIA Washington’s Queer and Trans members, “from the writers, to the actors, to the singers, to the musicians, to the dancers,” Fuamatu put it.
Then in 2024, the organization changed the name to better encompass its purpose as a Pacific Islander community gathering. Fuamatu said that the first MANAFest was quite different from this year: “We had a week of free events for the community that included specific days in which we celebrated Pacific Island foods, history, and cultures. Another day, we celebrated bringing together groups of our communities to put on productions and perform.”
After assessing the change in political climate, Fuamatu said UTOPIA Washington decided to shift MANAFest into being a free and for the public, “to make sure that this event supported all of the Pacific Islander and local businesses that exist here in Washington.”
Fuamatu was proud to report on the success of MANAFest this year, both in terms of the cultures represented as well as community performances and activities. He also spoke of the long-term, intentional relationship building UTOPIA Washington has done with organizations and sponsors like Kaiser Permanente and Alaska Airlines over the years. When asked why they should continue to support the work of Queer- and Trans-led organizations like UTOPIA Washington, now and in the future, Fuamatu stated, “I think they see the strength in the way in which we operate, being able to bring together everyone, how accepting we are of everyone, to be able to provide spaces [where] we can all gather, and it can be positive spaces, it can be fun spaces, it can be a space for all.”
Regarding the current hostile climate toward diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), Fuamatu said resolutely, “It’s nothing new to our history. It’s nothing new to how we live our lives and experiences, and what we have experienced and what we’re continuing to experience from this administration. And I think it also shows these larger organizations that we will operate the way we operate regardless of who the administration is, regardless of what they’re trying to do to silence our communities.”
Back on the MANAFest stage, cohost Manu Samoa Henry Sataraka highlighted the importance of unity among the Pacific Islander communities, saying that despite their differences and home islands being separated by bodies of water, “The ocean doesn’t separate us; it brings us together.”
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