$100K Sought For Pacific Arts Festival

Hawaii will host the international cultural festival for the first time in 2020.

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Honolulu City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi wants to set aside $100,000 to help Hawaii plan for the 2020 Festival of Pacific Island Arts.

It will be the first time that Hawaii has ever hosted the festival, which has been held every four years in one of 27 Pacific island countries and territories since 1972.

Women from Halau Na Lei Kaumaka O Uka under the direction of Kumu Hula Napua Greig from Maui, dance and chant at the Mauna Kea visitor’s center. 10 april 2015. photograph by Cory Lum/Civil Beat
Women from Halau Na Lei Kaumaka O Uka dance and chant at the Mauna Kea Visitor’s Center under the direction of Kumu Hula Napua Greig from Maui on April 10, 2015. The Festival of Pacific Island Arts will feature music and dance from 27 Pacific island countries and territories. Cory Lum/Civil Beat

This year’s festival is happening next month in Guam from May 22 to June 4.

Kobayashi, who represents Manoa, included the funding request in her latest proposed amendments to the 2017 fiscal year budget that the Council is in the midst of deliberating.

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