Connecting Story, Place, and Public Art at Pāʻia Youth & Cultural Center

The rebuild of the Pāʻia Youth & Cultural Center (PYCC) is not just a response to environmental change, but an exciting opportunity to root a new facility in the stories, relationships, and lived experiences that help to define Pāʻia. In partnership with the County of Maui Public Art Program, Maui Public Art Corps (MPAC) is guiding a multi-year process to embed community-authored public art directly into the design of the new, climate-resilient campus.

At the heart of this work is the Hui Moʻolelo program, a community-based storytelling initiative that gathers and preserves intergenerational “talk-story” recordings rooted in place. In summer and fall 2025, a dedicated cohort of Pāʻia-connected storytellers came together under the guidance of cultural practitioner Kumu Sissy Lake-Farm to share personal narratives reflecting the area’s history, culture, and evolving relationship to land and ocean. These recordings, which include those by Pūlama Collier and Kiaʻi Collier, and Sheldon and Andrea Kealoha, now serve as the creative foundation for the public art process.

Building from this foundation, MPAC designed and led a public artist selection process, inviting applicants to ground their proposals in these recorded moʻolelo. Nearly 20 artists applied for PYCC-specific projects that included a relief or 3D installation on an external elevator shaft, powder-coated aluminum railings, permanent relief concrete columns and landscape sculptures, yielded three finalists that were awarded stipends to enter an intensive concept development phase. These artists are not working in isolation; rather, they are engaging in a structured process of listening, learning, and exchange designed to ensure their proposals are shaped by those connected to Pāʻia.

This phase has been guided by a deeply collaborative network of cultural practitioners, scientists, educators, and community leaders. Community consultants to date have included lead architect Alika Romanchak, Sissy Lake-Farm & the MPAC team, Sheldon & Andrea Kealoha, Pūlama Collier and Kiaʻi Collier, PYCC staff and board members, Tara Owens and Wes Crile of the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant Program, and Dr. Lei Ishikawa, Native Hawaiian kapa practitioner, educator, and community leader.

Together, this network of contributors ensures that the resulting artworks are not simply inspired by community, but co-authored through it. MPAC’s role is to hold this process with care: facilitating consultation, translating feedback, and supporting artists as their concepts evolve in response to both ancestral knowledge and present-day youth experience.

The proposed artworks, ranging from integrated concrete column designs and narrative railing panels to sculptural, landscape, and functional outdoor elements, are being developed in phased, fundable segments aligned with PYCC’s capital campaign and construction timeline. This structure allows the project to move forward with transparency and flexibility, ensuring each phase can be realized with integrity as funding becomes available.

As of spring 2026, three complete artist proposals have been submitted and are under review, alongside a new round of artist applications through an April 2026 artist call to expand the field of possibilities. Final proposals will be presented to the PYCC Board in May 2026, with selected projects moving into contract and fundraising shortly thereafter. Installation is anticipated in 2027.

Through this process, the new PYCC will become more than a building. It will stand as a living, visual expression of Pāʻia, its histories, its tensions, its humor, and its deep sense of belonging shaped by the many voices who continue to care for and define this place.