Cultural Groups Get National Help

Two Kaneohe nonprofits — Papahana Kuaola and Hula Preservation Society — have together received almost $100,000 in grants from U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Native American/Native Hawaiian Museum Services program.

Papahana Kuaola, operating on 63 acres of Haiku Valley land in Waipao, focuses its energy on creating an educational curriculum of Hawaiian culture, economic self-sufficiency and environmental conservation.

Its $50,000 grant will help the group pilot an all-day, nine-stop field trip to cultural sites around Ko’olaupoko. Projected participation is 500 students and teachers, who will then share their knowledge with their families and friends, spreading it through the community.

Established in 2000, Hula Preservation Society records and preserves the knowledge of kupuna with connections to traditional hula in the tumultuous 1800s.

The group has talked to more than 80 kupuna and recorded at least 1,200 hours of documentation as of this year.

HPS received $49,751 to present a five-part series on hula and musical traditions of Oahu, Maui, Molokai and Hawaii island. Fifty multimedia pieces and five documentaries will be developed, with the intention of furthering collaboration between islands. Later, all the media produced will be archived on the HPS website for public access.

For more information on the two groups, visit Papahana Kuaola at papa-hanakuaola.com or HPS at hulapreservation.org.