Mary Kawena Pukui Performing Arts
Festival Date Announced
February
18, 2007 ;
$3 admission; 10 a.m. to
4 p.m.
Native storytellers from Hawai‘i , Alaska , and Massachusetts will gather on the Great Lawn at Bishop Museum to “talk story” and join in a celebration of native cultures through the ancient art of storytelling and dance. The 7 th annual Mary Kawena Pukui Performing Arts Festival will be held at Bishop Museum on February 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $3 per person. Members and children 3 and under are free.
The festival is funded through a federally sponsored program, Education through Cultural and Historic Organizations (ECHO). The ECHO Act is a major, federally-funded educational and cultural enrichment initiative, established by Congress as part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. ECHO brings to culturally diverse audiences innovative programs collaboratively produced by six regional cultural entities: Alaska Native Heritage Center and North Slope Borough ECHO Project in Alaska ; Bishop Museum in Hawai‘i; New Bedford ECHO Project and Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts , and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in Mississippi .
Among the participating institutions in this year’s Mary Kawena Pukui Performing Arts Festival are the Bishop Museum , the Peabody Essex Museum and New Bedford Whaling Museum of Massachusetts, and the Inupiat Heritage Center and Alaska Heritage Center of Alaska.
The festival’s theme is Harvest and the Moon. According to Bishop Museum Project Director Kealoha Kelekolio, this year’s event will be more sophisticated and elaborate than in past years. “Over the years, the festival has evolved into a new format where our stories and the stories of the other indigenous peoples represented are woven together,” say Kelekolio.
Also invited to participate in this year’s event are well known storytellers from the local and regional community. There will be several stages featuring a variety of storytellers and programs for adults and children, hula hālaus, and music performances. Food and native craft booths will also be among the attractions of the event. Bishop Museum Press will also have a large selection of books about Native Hawaiian topics available for sale during the event.
“Children are always a focus of this important cultural program,” says Kelekolio. “Each year the storytelling group also takes the program into the schools prior to the festival day at Bishop Museum .”
In the past, the storytellers have traveled to Nanakuli, Nanaikapono, Kamehameha Schools, and plan to visit immersion and charter schools, as well as part of the outreach efforts. The storytelling group will also travel to the new National Museum of the American Indian in Washington , D.C. to share the stories of Hawai‘i , Alaska , and New England .
The festival is held each year in honor of Mary Kawena Pukui, a revered Hawaiian scholar and linguist who knew the importance of storytelling to the host Hawaiian culture. Pukui published the first Native Hawaiian language dictionary and worked tirelessly to preserve and perpetuate Hawaiian traditions of hula and storytelling.
“The stories, the mo‘olelo, were the most important means by which the history of many of these cultures survived. We want to make sure the stories continue to be heard and survive into the next generation,” says Kelekolio.
The Mary Kawena Pukui Performing Arts Festival provides an opportunity to perpetuate the storytelling traditions and to introduce new generations of Hawai‘i’s children to this important cultural legacy.
For more information about the Mary Kawena Pukui Performing Arts Festival, or school outreach programs, call (808) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org.
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