Page 6 - MidWeek - January 18, 2023

6 MIDWEEK JANUARY 18, 2023
In 2019, kūpuna in Lā‘ie told me a story on the or- igin of the shaka. They said they had never told the whole story before, fearing commercialization. But they also feared that it would be lost forever. So they asked me to help tell it widely — particularly to the keiki of Hawai‘i.
onade Alley, a kid-preneur contest during which K-12 students run lemonade stands to support a charity of their choice. And despite being selected to operate a sound stage facility for the state of Hawai‘i, times got tough as funding for arts and culture dried up.
name, changing “Bizgenics” to “ID8” (ide-ate: as in to have ideas).
Comedy Festival, a showcase for local performance artists. While ID8 typically im- pacts more than 30,000 ben- eficiaries and volunteers an- nually, 2023 projections are in the hundreds of thousands due to film and podcast pro-
Then the pandemic hit, shuttering both the film and our signature event: Lem-
four islands participating; Su- moSum, a free financial fore- casting tool and workshop se-
ries; and K-12 project-based curriculum including Lem- onade Alley and the Hawai‘i
Converting Life’s Lemons Into Shakas For All
By Steve Sue, chairperson for ID8 (formerly Bizgenics)
At first, I wasn’t convinced, but I arranged for a day of oral history interviews. The results were galvanizing. I wrote a treatment for a documentary, and Kamehameha Schools immediately funded it.
Rather than get buried by a pile of lemons, we made lemonade by reformulating our mission to reflect a rec- ognized shift in kuleana from “fostering creativity, innova- tion and entrepreneurship,” to “fostering ideation and expression for positive im- pacts.” We also garnished our new creation with a new
We also are continuing our educational programs includ- ing: Project Lemon Tree, a school campus tree-planting program with 50 schools on
Kekela Miller, Joel “Baldy” Apuakehau and Harold Pukahi are interviewed for Shaka, A Story of Aloha. BRANNON YAMAUCHI PHOTO
in need of financial support. Our current fundraiser is for a finishing fund to complete post production on the docu- mentary. Supporters receive shaka stickers and regular updates on our myriad proj- ects. To donate, visit id8.org, or contact us to learn about other ways you can help: 808- 220-6449 or steve@id8.org.
Current flagship ID8 pro- grams include: Project Sha- ka, which includes the doc- umentary Shaka, A Story of Aloha, due for release in late 2023; ID8 Studios, a rental soundstage in Kaka‘ako that serves both creative arts and commercial industry users; and Behind-the-Scenes at ID8 Studios (BTS@ID8), a podcast on the art of produc- ing art.
grams.
All of our programs are
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