Reflections from Hawaiʻi: GIA’s 2025 Spring Board Meeting Days of Learning
In March 2025, GIA’s board and staff had the profound privilege of gathering in Hawaiʻi for our Spring Board Meeting and a multi-day learning journey. We spent three days immersed in community, history, art, and resistance—listening deeply to Native Hawaiian leaders, artists, and advocates. Each experience opened our eyes wider to the complex legacies of colonization and capitalism—and the powerful role of culture in healing and reclaiming futures.
Day One: Culture, Resistance, and Regeneration
March 12, 2025
Aunty Vicky welcoming the GIA Board and Team at the Pa’i Foundation.
Our first day of learning was grounded by Vicky Holt Takamine, kumu hula, activist, and cultural guardian. She raised critical concerns about the potential return of political regimes that threaten Native Hawaiian homelands and the dismantling of protections like the Hawaiʻi Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). Her message was clear: land is not separate from culture—it is the foundation of it.
We also heard about the strength of community solidarity, especially when it comes to grant applications and collective advocacy for environmental and cultural justice. Vicky reminded us that issues like climate change and militarization don’t exist in isolation—they intersect with Indigenous rights, sovereignty, and spiritual connection to place.
Later, we were introduced to Kuʻuleinani Maunupau, a co-founder of Native Hawaiian Philanthropy, a new organization dedicated to transforming the philanthropic landscape for Native Hawaiian communities. Born out of relationships formed at the 2022 Power in Solidarity Conference hosted by Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), the organization seeks to create long-term, culturally grounded funding solutions—not just short-term grants, but sustained investment in Native Hawaiian futures.
Kuʻuleinani shared sobering data about poverty, education, health, and housing disparities that Native Hawaiians face, including disproportionately high rates of chronic illness, youth suicide, and homelessness. But just as powerfully, she shared how storytelling, art, and culturally rooted healing are being mobilized in response.
Programs like Mauli Ola offer Indigenous-informed mental health training for wildfire survivors, while others integrate music video production, screenwriting, and carving to ensure that Native Hawaiians are the ones telling their own stories. A $12 million federal grant for AI and digital equity was rescinded after a change in political leadership—a harsh reminder of how fragile progress can be. Still, efforts continue to build infrastructure, including a future investment company to help Native stories travel further and rise higher.
We also learned from activist and woodcarver Andre Perez of Hui Kãlai Kii o Kupã aike'e, who bridges ancestral carving with direct action and grassroots organizing. His work is a blueprint for reclaiming knowledge lost through colonization and Christian influence—making carving not just a craft, but a form of resistance. Through kinship methodology and cultural exchange, he and his collaborators are building movements that are as spiritually deep as they are politically sharp.
His mantra? “Your strongest relationships are birthed from struggle.” That spirit guided our entire day.
Day Two: Performing Identity, Language, and Queer Visibility
March 13, 2025
Students and staff from the Department of Theater & Dance after performing traditional dance. .
We spent our second day on the campus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, a Research 1 land-grant university and the most ethnically diverse public university in the U.S. With a student population of over 20,000, UH Mānoa is deeply rooted in place-based, Indigenous, and multicultural education.
Theater professor Tammy Hailiʻōpua Baker welcomed us to Ka Papahana Hana Keaka, the only Indigenous theater program in the United States. Built on four foundational pillars—ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Language), Moʻolelo (Story), Kaʻauhau (Genealogy), and Hana Noʻeau (Performing & Visual Arts)—the program is a vital force in preserving and advancing Native Hawaiian culture through performance. We discussed how the break in Hawaiian sovereignty created a break in intergenerational language transmission—and how the arts are one powerful way to bridge that gap.
The university’s Department of Theatre & Dance also embraces global and contemporary practices. From Pacific Islander traditional dance to queer movement theory and hip hop in the Philippines, the curriculum encourages both innovation and inclusion.
We were especially inspired by Sami ‘Coco Chandelier’ Akuna, a dazzling force in Hawaiʻi’s queer dance community, who uses performance to carve out space for LGBTQ+ students in the academy and beyond. Their work, including the Queer Dance Exploratory and participation in the annual Pride parade, celebrates joy, identity, and chosen family through movement.
Touring the Bishop Museum.
Portrait of Marques Marzan outside of Atherton Hālau.
Later, at the Bishop Museum, we met with Marques Marzan, a weaver and NDN Radical Imagination artist. His reflections on traditional Hawaiian weaving traditions—mats, fans, helmets, fish traps—revealed the deep spiritual and communal significance of craft. In his work, each knot, each fiber, each repetition is a form of prayer, protection, and place-making. Marques spoke of the importance of teaching others what you’ve learned—of honoring ancestors not just by remembering them, but by activating their wisdom.
Work titled, ʻAʻahu (garment) made of coconut rope and bamboo, 2017.
Day Three: Global Legacy and Sacred Design
March 14, 2025
GIA team, board, and board alumni gathering in the courtyard of Shangri La before the museum tour and walkthrough.
Our final day was held at the breathtaking Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design, founded by philanthropist Doris Duke and opened to the public in 2002. Shangri La holds over 4,500 works of Islamic art, including ceramics, textiles, glass, and woodwork from across North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia—each piece a testament to beauty, spirituality, and craftsmanship.
We reflected on the values woven into Islamic art: symmetry, reverence for nature, and the pursuit of divine beauty. One pillar of Islamic faith is environmental protection—a shared ethic with Native Hawaiian worldviews. Shangri La’s ongoing 8x8 series, pairing eight visual and eight performance-based Hawaiian artists annually, is a remarkable example of cross-cultural connection through art.
As we stood in a building inspired by the 16th-century Chehel Sotoun in Iran, we were reminded of the many ways philanthropy can make space—not just for learning, but for transformation.
Walking Forward Together
Each day of our time in Hawaiʻi reinforced a simple truth: culture is not separate from justice—it is a pathway toward it. Whether carving wood or organizing communities, whether preserving language or performing truth onstage, these artists and leaders are shaping worlds where equity, memory, and imagination thrive.
At GIA, we remain committed to listening deeply, showing up with humility, and aligning our work with the movements that are already happening. These days of learning reminded us that it’s not about parachuting in with answers—it’s about standing alongside, resourcing the work, and believing in the brilliance already blooming.
As one of our hosts beautifully said: “We are the shapers of our world.” And we are honored to be part of that work.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ericka Jones-Craven is the Communications and Publications Manager of Grantmakers in the Arts.
