Grantee: Ke Kukui Foundation
Location: Vancouver, Wash.
Award: Mobilizing the Community Through the Arts
Discipline: 3 Days of Aloha in the Pacific Northwest
Web Site: http://kekukuifoundation.org/
Ke Kukui Foundation supports the preservation of Hawaiian/Polynesian culture through community events, education, music and the art of hula in communities throughout Washington and Oregon.
Funding for 3 Days of Aloha in the Pacific Northwest supported a summer festival that featured a hula competition, traditional Hawaiian dance and music performances, arts and crafts vendors, and traditional hula and craft workshops. The festival preserves cultural traditions, promotes traditional culture and serves to educate participants in the historic significance of Hawaii on the region.
The festival also features two days of workshops that bring four traditional masters, nau kumu hula, to teach workshops in traditional and contemporary hula. It is a rare opportunity for hula practitioners on the continent to work with renowned Hawaiian masters whose studios are housed on the Islands. In addition, the festival also featured workshops from a master feather (kahili) practitioner and a master ukulele musician. All told, 124 students participated in the training sessions and festival attendance grew to over 10,000 visitors.