HUI MOʻOLELO
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The word hui translates to club, association, joint ownership, team or to congregate. The word moʻolelo means story, myth, legend and history, and is derived from the words "moʻo" and "ʻōlelo", or the succession of speech, as stories of the Hawaiian people were traditionally passed down orally. Click the image for a 5-minute overview of our Hui Mo‘olelo program partnership with the Maui Historical Society and the County of Maui. >>> |
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Through Hui Mo‘olelo (“gathering of stories”), an annual cohort of storytellers is trained through a series of free, community workshops. Upon completion, participants are paired with an intergenerational partner to generate a site-specific story that is audio-recorded. The audio excerpts become the basis for annual requests for proposals by professional artists, in which they interpret a recording as a work of public art in collaboration with community members. Proposals are selected by a community panel, followed by an intensive learning and cultural exchange that is rooted in specific places throughout Maui County.
The Hui Mo’olelo program has been recognized for its outstanding contribution to the local community, stemming from past National Endowment for the Arts grant projects that include Wailuku’s SMALL TOWN * BIG ART initiative and the County of Maui Public Art Master Plan.
The Hui Mo’olelo program has been recognized for its outstanding contribution to the local community, stemming from past National Endowment for the Arts grant projects that include Wailuku’s SMALL TOWN * BIG ART initiative and the County of Maui Public Art Master Plan.
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Nicolita Garces, Archivist & Librarian & Ashley Ancheta Galacgac, Engagement & Operations Manager, Hawaii Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations
• Full Recording HERE • Excerpt HERE • Mural - coming soon! |
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Uncle “Gaby” Gouveia & Pualani Enos, UH Mānoa Matsunaga Institute for Peace
• Full Recording HERE • Excerpt HERE • Mural - coming soon! |
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Hōaka Delos Reyes, expert in the field of stone-on-stone carving (kālai pōhaku) & Anuhea Yagi, Student of Hawaiian Life Ways
• Full Recording HERE • Excerpt HERE • Animation HERE • Mural - coming soon! |
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Preserving Our Stories at the Library of Congress: Through our collaboration with StoryCorps, all interviews are published to the StoryCorps Archive and preserved at the American Folklife Center (AFC) of the Library of Congress, ensuring its availability to future generations of researchers and historians. These recordings are processed and securely stored by StoryCorps before being transferred to the Library of Congress for long-term preservation. While the StoryCorps collection at the Library is currently a closed collection and not accessible to the public on-site, you can access these interviews through archive.storycorps.org/user/mauipublicart and archive.storycorps.org/user/stba. By participating, we are contributing to a growing national archive that reflects the diverse voices and experiences of people across the United States.
Helpful Links & Background
From 2021 to 2023, artist Leilehua Yuen led workshops for our SMALL TOWN * BIG ART program that cultivated a Maui storyteller network and captured stories embedded in a Maui sense of place. This work helped to create a new foundation for public artwork design. Armed with Leilehua's teachings as well as best practices from a wide range of storytelling and oral history experts, the Hui’s intention is to capture an authentic moment of connection through stories that are embedded in a Maui County sense of place. As participants complete the Hui Mo’olelo workshop series, each are paired with an intergenerational partner for an audio-recorded talk-story that captures these connective moments for potential artistic interpretation. Representing a wide range of special places and stories, the recordings are available for your research, enjoyment, memory or inspiration. Please enjoy.
Workshop Recordings
- 2021 Leilehua Cohort Workshop #1 LINK (4/28/21) | Workshop #2 LINK (5/20/21) | Workshop #3 LINK (6/2/21) | Workshop #4 was an in-person event at the Bailey House in Wailuku (7/18/21)
- 2022 Leilehua Cohort Workshop #1 LINK (4/28/22) | Workshop #2 LINK (5/5/22) | Workshop #3 LINK (5/13/22)
- 2023 Leilehua Cohort Workshop #1 LINK (5/27/23) | Workshops #2 & #3 were facilitated offline
- 2024 Hui Mo‘olelo: Lāhainā Cohort Workshop #1 LINK (6/21/24) | Workshop #2 LINK (6/28/24) | Workshop #3 LINK (7/5/24) | Wellness with Aloha LINK (7/12/24)
- 2025 Hui Mo‘olelo: Lei Pua ʻAla Cohort Workshop #1 LINK (1/16/25) | Workshop #2 LINK (1/23/25) | Workshop #3 LINK (1/30/25)