Stan Wolfgramm

The multitalented Stan Wolfgramm originally trained as an actor at New York’s Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Returning to Aotearoa, he founded production company Drum Productions in 1992 to tell Pasifika stories: from fashion showcase Style Pasifika, to pioneering PI youth show Pacific Beat Street, to capturing the opening of the Pacific Forum. Wolfgramm staged the Style Pasifika event for 16 years, and won two awards for covering it on television. He has also run Auckland's annual Pasifika Festival. Of Tongan, Cook Island and German descent, he was made a Member of the NZ Order of Merit in 2015’s New Year’s honours.

My drive came from my desire to find my voice, my identity, my value, my place in a society that at that time did not recognise or celebrate it. I have been telling Pasifika stories in theatre, film, television, live events and festivals for most of my life. Stan Wolfgramm, in a 2019 essay written for the British Council