Q: What first got you interested in the arts?
A: I grew up in California, as a very creative kid. I was a ballet dancer for a long time and played the flute. I then spent my last few years of high school attending the International School of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, which was an amazing opportunity. I had friends from Korea, Cambodia, England, Malaysia locals, and I also got to take a batik class. These were formative experiences helping me to build confidence and express myself. Going forward, learning to throw clay on a pottery wheel is on my bucket list.
Q: Tell us about HCF’s new Museum Without Walls Arts Education Initiative.
A: We’ve long had a partnership with the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (SFCA), specifically around the Artists in the Schools (AITS) program. The program offers grants for public and charter schools to bring in qualified teaching artists to conduct arts residencies. HCF has helped fund AITS since 2008, awarding more than $3 million to support arts education in Hawaiʻi’s schools. It’s a great example of a public-private partnership. We wanted to expand this model and move beyond traditional school settings, into communities that experience barriers or challenges to accessing arts education. The result is our 2024 pilot program, the Museum Without Walls Arts Education Initiative.
Grant funding was awarded to 10 teaching artists from SFCA’s Artistic Teaching Partners Roster to partner with local community organizations. The residencies will engage keiki, kūpuna, and adults living in rural communities to bring arts education into those spaces. The art residencies include dance, music, printmaking, painting, and more.
Q: It can sometimes feel as though the arts are treated as if they were a bonus, a “nice to have” instead of an essential. Can you speak to how arts and culture are a vital aspect of human health and happiness?
A: Yes, we’ve seen across time, at both the national and local levels, a disinvestment in the funding of arts and culture, whether it’s in schools or elsewhere. There needs to be a shift in understanding about how arts and culture are essential to the health and wellbeing of the people and places of Hawai‘i. Part of the work we’re doing is to increase advocacy for this sector, encouraging an investment of resources, as well as storytelling about the impact that arts and culture have on our community.
There is a lot of momentum, too, around new research on how the arts connect to mental wellbeing. We saw this firsthand in Maui after the devastating fires. Maui Arts & Cultural Center supported teaching artists to be at the hotels to provide safe spaces for Lahaina fire survivors. This program was funded by the Department of Health as a key mental health initiative. Additionally, some arts and culture organizations are training their staff to become trauma informed. They can then leverage that expertise within their arts and culture programming. There is a great opportunity for even more learning in this space, across the sector, going forward.
Q: How do you measure success in the Arts and Culture sector? Is it difficult to quantify?
A: I’ve found that organizations are savvy about tracking various outputs. For example, are people coming back for performances? Or what’s the demographic makeup of the audience members? We also see organizations evaluating their programs’ impact, whether it’s skill development or emotional wellbeing. There are different ways that organizations can tell their story. Some of that is, of course, through data, but some is creatively telling the story, through testimonials or other ways to show the impact that organizations are having.
The struggle we see is that, while data or information may be available within specific organizations, we found it difficult to move that up a level, to measure the arts and culture sector’s island-level or state-level impact. So, we’re exploring what could be the shared metrics or ways we talk about the impact of the sector, so it’s not just a one-point-in-time metric but rather data that can really demonstrate the richness and beauty of the sector. We’re not there yet, but it’s something to strive for. As we work to raise awareness about how essential the Arts and Culture sector is to Hawaiʻi, good storytelling becomes an integral strategy.
Q: Looking ahead 10 to 15 years, what are you hoping to see develop in Hawai‘i’s Arts and Culture Sector?
A: I would love to see more resources and support to increase access to opportunities to practice and participate in arts and culture throughout the state. I believe this will be accomplished with the support of robust, strong networks of organizations. There have been some exciting networks convening that are island specific. One of my key focuses lately has been helping to provide support for the ARTS FIRST Partners, a network focused on advancing diverse, equitable, and quality arts education in Hawaiʻi. The opportunity to learn from amazing arts educators from throughout the state inspires me and my work to support the sector.
This conversation took place in June 2024.