Please see my attached letter in support of the Hālau of ‘Ōiwi Art. Thank you.

April 7, 2022

Committee Chair Keani Rawlins-Fernandez
Vice-Chair Tamara Paltin
Committee Members
BUDGET, FINANCE, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

RE: Testimony in Strong Support of Funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art (“HOA”)

Aloha,

My name is Shane Fukuda. I am a life-long resident of Maui. I appreciate this opportunity to testify in STRONG SUPPORT of funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts, as part of Agenda Item 3.a.

Growing up on Maui, I understand the importance of hula to our community. Hula is deeply woven into our cultural fabric. Hālau hula performances allow us to showcase a beautiful aspect of Hawai‘i. More importantly, hula preserves knowledge and traditions that have been passed down for generations. My daughter has practiced hula for several years. Her kumu hula not only teaches her dance, she also imparts positive life lessons.

The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would support and celebrate the arts and practices of our home. An investment in Hula is ultimately an investment in community. Our island once again has the chance to be a leader for our state and global community. Providing a space dedicated to and designed through the lens of Hula creates a visible and reliable space for education, performance, preservation, and excellence of art and culture in our own home. Further, as a cultural center for our community and the world, the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art will foster relationships, inspire connection, and uphold cultural excellence.

This space is not only an investment for the near future but will have lasting impacts on our community identity for generations to come. Mahalo for your service to our island home. Please vote to support full funding of the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art.

Mahalo,
Shane Fukuda
(808) 250-4026

Please see Hawaii Community Foundation's attached testimony in support of Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art.

Thank you for this opportunity to preset my strong support for the funding for the Halau of 'Oiwi Art in the proposed budget. My name is Helen M. Orikasa, and although I was born and raised a number of years in Japan, I have spent most of my life on the island of Maui, a treasured place. Although this is my first involvement being a part of a small hula halau, it has provided me an utmost experience, a life that i would like the children and people of Hawaii to have.
As a former teacher who taught Hawaiian history as part of the fourth grade curriculum, I have been interested in Hawaiiana, and as a school and district administrator, I have seen the importance of preserving the culture of which we are all part, and living and embracing the Hawaiian culture of our land is so very important for all of us. As a kupuna, I have gained personally, as the hula has made it possible for me to keep fit physically and mentally. I did not realize that hula is not just telling of stories through hand movements but that it takes your whole body and mind to relate the words of the song as intentioned by the writer/composer. Our Kumu Hula, Hi'ilei Maxwell Juan, has provided the small group of kupuna with the understanding of Hawaiian words, the kaona, the inner meanings of the songs, which help us to understand and feel the intent of the verses. The small halau has also provided emotional support as we face our daily challenges, and the laughter and camaraderie are so very essential to our emotional and psychological well-being. If we want our society to be healthy physically, emotionally, and socially, what the Halau of 'Oiwi Art can provide for all of the people will be of great importance.

Please consider positively for the full funding for the Halau for 'Oiwi Art, as it is an investment well worth for our community.

Mahalo nui loa,
Helen M. Orikasa

Aloha,

My name is Kimberly Delmore.

Mahalo for the opportunity to testify in strong support of funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts in the proposed FY 2023 budget.

Having grown up on Maui, I was fortunate to utilize County of Maui facilities for my extra-curricular activities, which were primarily swimming (in County pools) and running (in the County track and around County parks). Today, my son is fortunate to do activities such as soccer and baseball in County parks and my daughter swims at County pools. My daughter also is fortunate to be a member of a hula hālau for several years. However, for hula, she doesn't really have the opportunity to use a current County resource for practice. It's difficult and can be expensive for various hālau to find a facility to use. It seems that the hula schools also deserve to have a County facility to use to promote not just any extra curricular activity, but, the practice of hula, that is so special to our host culture.

Although I am not native Hawaiian, I was born and raised in Hawaii and hula is one of those things that is so unique and important to the place we are blessed to call home. Hula deserves to have support from the County of Maui as the County has wonderfully done for other activities. This is a wonderful idea to create the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art. It makes total sense and must be given the support to make it happen.

The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would provide long-overdue support for the culture and practitioners that make our home so special. Hula is integral to the culture of our community. It preserves knowledge and traditions that have been passed down for generations. Hula and hālau hula also represent our islands throughout Hawaiʻi and the world. On Maui, so many of the hālau hula, kumu hula, and practitioners have brought so much joy and pride to our island. The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would support and celebrate the arts and practices of our home.

An investment in Hula is ultimately an investment in community. Our island once again has the chance to be a leader for our state and global community. Providing a space dedicated to and designed through the lens of Hula creates a visible and reliable space for education, performance, preservation, and excellence of art and culture in our own home. Further, as a cultural center for our community and the world, the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art will foster relationships, inspire connection, and uphold cultural excellence.

This space is not only an investment for the near future but will have lasting impacts on our community identity for generations to come. Mahalo for your service to our island home. Please vote to support full funding of the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art.

Mahalo,

Kimberly Delmore

Aloha mai kākou,

My name is Hideharu Yoshikawa and I was born and raised in Fukuoka, Japan.
My family and I moved to Maui in 2003.
And I met my Kumu Hula Cody Pueo Pata in 2008. After that I joined in Hālau Hula Ka Malama Mahilani.
I never do the Hula before I joined in the Hālau. I’m learning from the kumu a lot of things. Not only the dance. Hawaiian language, history, tradition, culture and more.
We are using Hawaiian Canoe Club Hale for papa hula from before to the present. We are very grateful to share the space from HCC. But the space is so tiny for us.
The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would provide support for the Hawaiian culture and Hālaus that make our home so special. Hula is integral to the culture of our community. We have to preserves knowledge and traditions that have been passed down for generations.
The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would support and celebrate the Hawaiian arts and Hula practices of our home.
Providing a specially designed space for hula provides a visible and reliable space for the next generation of children and our ancestors who have left behind wonderful art and culture.
This space is not only an investment for the near future but will have lasting impacts on our community identity for generations to come.
Please vote to support full funding of the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art.

Mahalo nui,

April 7, 2022
Hideharu Yoshikawa

Re: Proposed Fiscal Year Budget 2023 for the County of Maui (BFED-1) in Strong Support of Funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art (“HOA”)

Aloha nui mai kākou,

My name is Uʻilani Tanigawa Lum and I am an attorney and hula practitioner. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify in strong support of full funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts in the proposed FY 2023 budget.

I was born and raised in Makawao, Maui, where the communities that raised me also helped to shape my trajectory and passions as an adult. Last year, after over 25 years of training, I underwent formal ʻūniki ceremonies as a Hoʻopaʻa under the direction of my Kumu Hula, Nāpua Greig and Hālau Nā Lei Kaumaka o Uka. Cultural practices, like hula, provide an important compass for kānaka. For me, hula taught me about our ʻāina, our water systems, our history, our language, and perhaps most importantly, my kuleana to each of those aspects. This kuleana drove me to secure a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Hawaiian Studies, as well as a J.D. specializing in Native Hawaiian Law.

Over the many decades that my Kumu and our Hālau have been a part of our community, hundreds, if not thousands, of haumāna have benefitted from my Kumus’ teaching in Upcountry, Maui. My time in Hālau was formative; serving as a catalyst for my passion for justice as well as my work as an attorney. I eventually recognized that for as much as I loved Hula, it seemed so hard to practice our culture on Maui. And while I have fond memories of getting splinters from the floor in Hāliʻimaile, doing duck walks around school cafeterias, and practicing in Aunty Hulu Lindsey’s garage, we must do more to support Hula in our communities. We must invest in that which makes our home and island so special.

Aside from my role as a hula practitioner, my work as an attorney now largely seeks to perpetuate and actualize important protections around traditional and customary rights – including practices like hula. Aside from being an educational and cultural tool, hula often produces leaders in environmental stewardship, resource management, and more. This is because hula requires an intimate understanding of and relationship with our ʻāina and its resources. Our laws in Hawaiʻi are unique because of its cultural underpinnings – our Aliʻi recognized that in order to survive on an island with finite resources, caring for the land must reciprocal and regenerative. Given climate change, food insecurity, and a global pandemic, these valuable lessons are readily available to us through hula and its exponents. Funding the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art is an important step to directly support our cultural practitioners and experts, artists, and the future of our community. Without such a space – such an opportunity – we risk the loss of generations of knowledge that would be key to a better future for all who call our island, home.

Mahalo for your hard work and advocacy on behalf of our Maui community and ʻāina aloha. Please vote to fully fund the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts, today.

Me ka haʻahaʻa,
Uʻilani Tanigawa Lum, Esq.

Aloha mai kākou,
My name is Daryl Fujiwara and I am in strong support of funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts in the proposed FY 2023 budget. Hula is not for everyone, but it doesn’t discriminate anyone either. All races, ages and sizes are encouraged to learn.

I have been dancing hula from the age of 7 and it has had a huge impact on my personal and professional trajectory. The life skills that came with these experiences imbued with cultural knowledge gave me a strong sense of place and made me the contributor to society that I am. Now 32 years later I am an alaka’i, a leader in my school of hula, we are the next wave of kumu hula candidates, we are leaders in our community.

It is the job of the kumu hula to ensure the passing of their lineal hula knowledge, along with that is the passing of debt - the cost of “dancing” as a small business and running a non-profit, juggling performances for meals and practicing in parks to bless corporations. We are the first people to be called to serve our community to celebrate new beginnings - birth, to honor achievements, to remember loved one’s who have passed, yet we have no real place in our community. What is the value of this service?

It is the job of the dancer to be seen pristine in our beautiful dresses made up with lei and flowers in our hair and smiling, always smiling while presenting. What you don’t see is the kuku we are dancing on, the car with no gas that got us to the performance, the hours of picking, gardening, making ti-leaf skirt and plumeria lei, pressing our costumes, the expensive sweat resistant make-up, the pain in our knees. It is the job of the dancer and kumu to show up and show well. We do not show our hardship and this has been the life work of so many — a perpetuation of servitude for our community, to perpetuate hula? We can’t even afford to live here on Maui much less teach hula? It is sometimes the 3rd job. Who wants to take on this heavy burden? Is there a place for hula in Maui County?

The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would provide a long-overdue place for hula – it would be a constitutionally protected traditional and customary practice. It is not only integral to Kānaka Maoli, but the culture of Maui County. Hula is not for everyone, but it doesn’t discriminate anyone either. All races, ages and sizes are encouraged to learn.

Over many decades, Hālau Hula and Kumu Hula have contributed to our community. They recognize the importance of environmental stewardship, educate ʻohana from keiki to kūpuna, tell and celebrate the stories of our home, sing of its beauty, and bring both joy and pride to our larger community. Cultural practitioners like Kumu Hula are experts and leaders of our community. The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would support and celebrate these arts and practices.

An investment in Hula is ultimately an investment in community. Our island once again has the chance to be a leader for our state and global community. Providing a space dedicated to and designed through the lens of Hula creates a visible and reliable space for education, performance, preservation, and excellence of art and culture in our own home. Further, as a cultural center for our community and the world, the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art will foster pilina, inspire connection, and uphold cultural excellence.

Please vote to support full funding of the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art.

Me ka ha`aha`a,
Daryl Fujiwara
Life long Maui hula dancer

April 6, 2022

Aloha mai kākou,

My name is Jaydon Isobe and I was born and raised on Maui. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify in strong support of funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts in the proposed FY 2023 budget.

As a public school educator, the importance of place based learning is being pushed to the forefront by the Department of Education. However, our school system fails to give cultural support to develop a sense of place for our keiki. Passionate educators need to create their own understanding of Hawaiian culture to bring it into the classroom. But it is so difficult to find resources, classes, and instructors that have been properly trained.

Think about our most culturally celebrated event in elementary school, May Day. A day filled with lei, Hawaiian music, and hula. Most educators don’t have the training or support to teach these hula and rely on using YouTube to replicate a dance. Having the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art gives a space that makes hula accessible. It would amplify the capacity needed to serve our future needs. I can see all the potential that this building, this home will enrich our lives.

Hula brings each individual student together to learn in unison, it's more than a dance, it is a vehicle for deeper learning. Students learn the story, language, build body awareness, self-expression and build a sense of belonging. When students dance together it builds a bond to music, each other, and our home, Hawaii.

As an alaka‘i for Hālau O Ka Hanu Lehua, I am so thankful to have a space to learn from my kumu. I see all the hard work and dedication my kumu puts into financially keeping our Hālau space afloat. But so much of our tuition, fundraising, and energy goes into paying for rent when those resources could be used to deepen our practice.

The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would provide long-overdue support for the culture and practitioners that make our home so special. Hula is integral to the culture of our community. It preserves knowledge and traditions that have been passed down for generations. Hula and hālau hula also represent our islands throughout Hawaiʻi and the world. On Maui, so many of the hālau hula, kumu hula, and practitioners have brought so much joy and pride to our island. The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would support and celebrate the arts and practices of our home.

An investment in Hula is ultimately an investment in community. Our island once again has the chance to be a leader for our state and global community. Providing a space dedicated to and designed through the lens of Hula creates a visible and reliable space for education, performance, preservation, and excellence of art and culture in our own home. Further, as a cultural center for our community and the world, the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art will foster relationships, inspire connection, and uphold cultural excellence.

This space is not only an investment for the near future but will have lasting impacts on our community identity for generations to come. Mahalo for your service to our island home. Please vote to support full funding of the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art.

Mahalo nui,

Jaydon Isobe

Aloha mai kākou,

My name is Zachary Alakaʻi Lum and I am testifying in strong support of full funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts in the proposed FY 2023 budget. Though I am not a kupa of Maui, I am a hula practitioner, a mele practitioner with the award-winning group Keauhou, and the Executive Director of Kāhuli Leo Leʻa. Prior to my work with Kāhuli Leo Leʻa, I was the Choral Director at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, earned degrees in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and Ethnomusicology, and I am currently a Ph.D. student in UH Mānoa’s Political Science Department focusing on mele as a unique mode of ʻŌiwi recognition that composes our lāhui. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify today.

Kāhuli Leo Leʻa is a 501(c)(3) Hawaiʻi non-profit organization aimed at catalyzing aloha ʻāina through the education, composition, and presentation of mele and other cultural practices across Hawaiʻi pae ʻāina and the world. We carry our our mission through the following pathways of mele excellence: 1) waihona mele, or preserving mele as repositories of historical knowledge; 2) haku mele, or promoting the value of mele composition excellence; and 3) hōʻike mele, supporting venues of mele presentation and dissemination. Our work acknowledges that mele can be used as an important tool for education, identity, knowledge transmission, joy, and so much more.

Mele is central to so many of our practices – especially hula. Hula – and mele – are an integral part of the economic sustainability of not only the Hawaiian music industry, but Hawaiʻi’s creative industry overall. Hawaiʻi’s creative sector represents 53,464 jobs and brings $4.2 billion in the gross domestic product. (Hawai‘i’s Creative Industries, Update Report 2020. Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism). Aside from its immense cultural and historical value, support of mele and hula has real economic benefits.

To my knowledge, the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would be the first of its kind throughout the state. A dedicated space would not only provide much needed support to practitioners, but it would also catalyze and empower this community and Hawaiʻi’s creative sector. An investment in Native practices and culture is truly an investment in Hawaiʻi’s community.

Please vote to support full funding of the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art.

Mahalo nui,
Zachary Alakaʻi Lum
zacharyalakailum@gmail.com

April 6, 2022

Re: Proposed Fiscal Year Budget 2023 for the County of Maui (BFED-1)
Testimony in Support of Funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art (“HOA”)

Aloha Committee Chair Rawlins-Fernandez and Committee Members:

My name is Verna Nālani Podlewski and I am a resident of Upcountry Maui.

I am writing to testify in SUPPORT of funding for Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts in the proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget.

I am a hula dancer, a chanter and an artist and much more. I am a lifetime learner of hula and appreciate the opportunities to attend and participate in classes, workshops, exhibits, activities and events centered around hula that are shared by the many Hālau Hula and Kumu Hula.

As a strong believer that “Hula is Life” - a space dedicated to hula can bring life to the place, with its voices and vibrations, a much welcomed revitalization of Wailuku. Most importantly, it is a strong statement to all of Hawaiʻi that the people of Maui County truly do value the heartbeat of hula.

Please vote to support full funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art.

Mahalo nui

April 1, 2022

Re: Testimony in Strong Support of Funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art (“HOA”)

Aloha mai kākou,

My name is Stacey Shibao and I am the pelekikena of the Lahaina Hawaiian Civic Club. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify in strong support of funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts in the proposed FY 2023 budget.

The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would provide long-overdue support for the culture and practitioners that make our home so special. Hula – a constitutionally protected traditional and customary practice – is not only integral to Kānaka Maoli, but the culture of Maui County, as well. It is a nexus for so many of our ʻŌiwi arts and practices to thrive. Over many decades, Hālau Hula and Kumu Hula have contributed to our community. They recognize the importance of environmental stewardship, educate ʻohana from keiki to kūpuna, tell and celebrate the stories of our home, sing of its beauty, and bring both joy and pride to our larger community. Cultural practitioners like Kumu Hula are experts and leaders of our community. The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art would support and celebrate these arts and practices.

An investment in Hula is ultimately an investment in community. Our island once again has the chance to be a leader for our state and global community. Providing a space dedicated to and designed through the lens of Hula creates a visible and reliable space for education, performance, preservation, and excellence of art and culture in our own home. Further, as a cultural center for our community and the world, the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art will foster pilina, inspire connection, and uphold cultural excellence.

The civic club movement was founded in 1918 by Congressional Delegate Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole with the creation of the Hawaiian Civic Club; the Association was formally organized in 1959 and has grown to a confederation of over sixty (60) Hawaiian Civic Clubs located throughout the State of Hawaiʻi and the United States. The Association is the oldest Hawaiian community-based grassroots organization. The Association is governed by a 16-member Board of Directors; advocates for improved welfare of Native Hawaiians in culture, health, economic development, education, social welfare, and nationhood; and perpetuates and preserves language, history, music, dance and other Native Hawaiian cultural traditions.

Please vote to support full funding of the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art. Mahalo nui,

Stacey Shibao

Stacey Shibao
Pelekikena, Lahaina Hawaiian Civic Club

Re: Testimony in Strong Support of Funding for the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art (“HOA”)
April 6, 2022

Aloha mai, e ka ʻAha Kūkā o ke Kalana ʻo Maui,
We are the Membership of Huamakahikina, a coalition of Kumu Hula, open to all Kumu Hula and representing the breadth of Hula Lineages, standing together for the purpose of organizing and advocating on behalf of Kumu Hula and the ʻoihana of Hula itself. Huamakahikina formed and ratified the “Huamakahikina Declaration on the Integrity, Stewardship, and Protection of Hula” on August 21-22, 2021, at the Kupukalālā Kumu Hula Convention, which brought together 200 lineally acknowledged Kumu Hula from across the Paeʻāina o Hawaiʻi, 10 states of the United States of America, and the countries of Japan, New Zealand, French Polynesia, France, and Spain.

The Maui County Council was the first in the state to adopt the Huamakahikina Declaration through resolution CC 21-484, in November, 2021. On page 3 of the Huamakahikina Declaration, the 200 ratifiers acknowledge the historic challenges to Hula, amongst them is:
5. ACCESS & RESOURCING. There are challenges to engaging in the study and practice of Hula for a significant portion of the people of Hawaiʻi, most importantly Kānaka Maoli, due to a scarcity of resources and significant gaps and disparities in how Hula is recognized, treated, provisioned, housed, funded, and otherwise supported by local County and State governments. The result is that Hula is too often financially and/or geographically inaccessible.

On April 5, 2022, the recommendation was adopted for SCR121/SR108 “URGING THE COUNTIES AND THE STATE TO WORK WITH HUAMAKAHIKINA AND KUMU HULA TO ESTABLISH POLICIES PROTECTING HULA”:
"BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, the House of Representatives concurring, that the counties and state government of Hawaii are urged to work closely with Huamakahikina and Kumu Hula to rectify the above problems through the establishment of new policies and increased resources including public funding and facilities to ensure that hula flourishes for generations to come . . ."

As experts in traditional knowledge and leaders of our communities, Kumu Hula uphold and instill the importance of environmental stewardship; we educate ʻohana from keiki to kūpuna; we tell and celebrate the stories of our home, and sing of its beauty; and, the Kumu Hula and Hālau Hula of Maui County bring both joy and pride to its people.

Unique lineally-passed histories, techniques, and knowledge not found in conventional school systems, libraries, or other mainestream resources are only available through practitioners of Hula and ʻŌiwi arts. As a constitutionally protected traditional and customary practice (ARTICLE XII, SECTION 7), Hula is not only integral to Kānaka Maoli, but to the local culture, identity, and economic sustainability of Maui County. And, although Hula and ʻŌiwi arts are tangible and intangible cultural heritages of Kānaka Maoli, they are nondiscriminatory in that these traditions and knowledge are available to all who would dedicate themselves to them.

As has always been the case, the practices of Hula and ʻŌiwi arts are extremely crucial for the maintenance of the unique identity and collective culture of the people of Maui County –most importantly to instill these practices and values within the future generations to come. The Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art will not only serve as a necessary bastion for the practices of Hula and ‘Ōiwi arts, but it will also serve to show just how committed the Maui County Council is to the protection and continuation of the unique identity, cultural wellbeing, and economic sustainability of the people of Maui County. An investment in the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art truly is an investment in the community that will bring lasting benefits into the future.

We, the people of Maui County, mindful of our Hawaiian history, heritage and culture and our uniqueness as a four island county, dedicate our efforts to fulfill the philosophy decreed by the Hawaii State motto, “Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono.” - ¶1, PREAMBLE “CHARTER OF THE COUNTY OF MAUI”

Through consensus and without reservation, and as is consistent with the “HOʻĀLA: CALL TO ACTION” of the Huamakahikina Declaration, the Membership of Huamakahikina humbly requests that the Maui County Council funds the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art to the fullest extent possible.
For your convenience, additional information on the beneficial natures of Hula and ʻŌiwi arts is also attached. Should you have further questions, comments, or concerns for Huamakahikina, we encourage you to reach out to any of the 5 (of 9) members of the Leo Kāhoa Steering Committee of Huamakahikina who live on Maui.

We are grateful for your time and consideration.

Me ka ʻoiaʻiʻo,
The Membership of Huamakahikina

4 April 2022

Re: Support of Funding for Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art in the FY 2023 County Budget

Aloha ,

My name is Kīʻope Raymond. I am a retired Professor of Hawaiian Studies at UH Maui College. I have been involved in Hawaiian language teaching and revitalization efforts for nearly fourty years. Yet, a living Hawaiian language does not simply exist in the vaccum of classrooms. It must be incorporated into daily life; including the arts. This then is, in part, very selfish support for funding for the creation of Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art. For the Hawaiian language to be a living language, a very important contributor to its life has always been and, should continue to be, the hula. When the hula lives, the Hawaiian language lives too.

There is a Hawaiian proverb, I leʻa ka hula i ka hoʻopaʻa. It can be interpreted as: The hula is pleasing because of the chanter and hula drummer. At a deeper level, it explains that while most people who don't understand the language only look at the dancer, the deeper nuances of the story, and therefore the culture and its stories and its history, are in the language being chanted. Obviously then, "keep your eyes on the hands, the lovely hula hands....they tell the story." is a fabrication.

A place, a space, like the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Art will allow the flourishing of hula and language. And, thinking more broadly than my selfish interests, I am, as I hope the reader is, cognizant that Hawaiʻi's number one industry, tourism, is the beneficiary of a flourishing Hawaiian culture. Importantly too, the Hawaiian culture does not exist in only a "kahiko", or ancient, vaccum. It is most alive when also a part of the reality of the twenty-first century. For the Maui County Council be able to encourage and assist the ever-evolving art form of the hula to thrive is to be a forward-thinking governance system.

Finally, I would say that one has to simply look at the Preamble of the Constitution of the State of Hawaiʻi to be reminded that: "We, the people of Hawaii, grateful for Divine Guidance, and mindful of our Hawaiian heritage and uniqueness as an island State, dedicate our efforts to fulfill the philosophy decreed by the Hawaii State motto, "Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono." It is interpreted as "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." With that in mind as a guiding principle, the question of whether or not to support the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts has to be answered with a resounding -- Yes!

I believe supporting the Hālau of ʻŌiwi Arts is the pono thing for Maui County to do.

Mahalo,
Kīʻope Raymond
740 Copp Road, Kula, 96790
808-280-5149