Hui Mo‘olelo: Lahaina 2025
Kukui pio ʻole i ka makani Kauaʻula (The light of knowledge is unextinguished by the strong Kauaʻula wind)
Hui Mo‘olelo: Lāhainā is a community storytelling and public art program of Maui Public Art Corps in partnership with the County of Maui, Lahaina Restoration Foundation, and members of the 2024 Hui Mo‘olelo: Lāhainā cohort. Rooted in connection and cultural care, the initiative pairs community members with intergenerational partners to record meaningful talk-stories that capture the spirit, memories, and identity of Lāhainā. These audio recordings - rich with voice, emotion, and nuance often lost in written accounts, form the foundation for public art experiences across the County, preserving a deep sense of place for future generations.
Now entering its seventh cohort, Hui Mo‘olelo continues to grow beyond a storytelling and public art program into a trusted resource for preserving local knowledge and guiding community-informed decisions as Lāhainā rebuilds. Participants gather regularly to learn programmatic history, story collection skills, and practical tools for recording clear, respectful interviews that honor those who share their memories. The stories collected become part of a living archive that helps shape meaningful public artwork experiences, supports healing, and ensures that Lāhainā's story is told by the people who know it best.
Guided by long-standing cultural practitioners, historians, and community leaders, Hui Mo‘olelo honors the foundational work of Kepā and Onaona Maly, whose archival contributions continue to guide us, as well as past Hui Mo‘olelo facilitators Leilehua Yuen, Kalapana Kollars, Anuhea Yagi and Sissy Lake-Farm. This collaborative effort invites the community to carry stories forward.
Now entering its seventh cohort, Hui Mo‘olelo continues to grow beyond a storytelling and public art program into a trusted resource for preserving local knowledge and guiding community-informed decisions as Lāhainā rebuilds. Participants gather regularly to learn programmatic history, story collection skills, and practical tools for recording clear, respectful interviews that honor those who share their memories. The stories collected become part of a living archive that helps shape meaningful public artwork experiences, supports healing, and ensures that Lāhainā's story is told by the people who know it best.
Guided by long-standing cultural practitioners, historians, and community leaders, Hui Mo‘olelo honors the foundational work of Kepā and Onaona Maly, whose archival contributions continue to guide us, as well as past Hui Mo‘olelo facilitators Leilehua Yuen, Kalapana Kollars, Anuhea Yagi and Sissy Lake-Farm. This collaborative effort invites the community to carry stories forward.
A) About
Welcome to Hui Mo‘olelo: Lāhainā 2025: Mahalo for stepping forward to join this next chapter of Hui Mo‘olelo: Lāhainā, a collective effort rooted in the spirit of connection, trust, and deep respect for the stories that hold this community together. As a member of this cohort, you will help record intergenerational talk-stories that capture authentic moments of connection and ensure that local voices, memories, and values continue to guide Lāhainā's recovery and renewal.
What’s Ahead
Why It Matters
Your recordings will help:
We are grateful for your time, care, and dedication. This is a shared responsibility. We are not here to speak over anyone, but to open the microphone wider. Together, we manifest a living record that honors what has been fought for, lost, remembered, and rebuilt. The people who tell the stories hold the power to guide the narrative, and we hold that kuleana together.
What’s Ahead
- Preparation: You will join three Zoom sessions from now through 3/31/26 led by partners Kaliko Storer (Mayor’s Lahaina Advisory Team) and Kelly White (Maui Public Art Corps). These sessions will provide context, cultural grounding, practical tools, and supportive space to prepare you for this important work.
- Your Role: Each cohort member will collect at least three intergenerational recordings per month (Dec-Mar), aiming for a total of 10-12 by March 30, 2026. You decide who to invite and where to record — our team will support you with equipment, on-site tech, translation, transcription, and anything else you need.
- Ongoing Support: We will gather monthly or bi-weekly to share updates, answer questions, and process the work together.
Why It Matters
Your recordings will help:
- Preserve voices, memories, and language that written records alone cannot hold.
- Provide meaningful community-informed guidance for memorial work and other recovery efforts.
- Ensure families and elders feel seen, heard, and respected.
- Strengthen our collective sense of identity and place for future generations.
We are grateful for your time, care, and dedication. This is a shared responsibility. We are not here to speak over anyone, but to open the microphone wider. Together, we manifest a living record that honors what has been fought for, lost, remembered, and rebuilt. The people who tell the stories hold the power to guide the narrative, and we hold that kuleana together.
We know this invitation may feel daunting. Many of you have carried so much already - heavy memories, hard questions, endless requests to speak, share, or repeat what you have already given. Please know: Hui Mo‘olelo does not ask you to start over or to relive what cannot be undone. Instead, we ask you to help carry forward what has already been shared; to gather, protect, and preserve the stories that help us remember who we are and guide where we go next.
Your role is not to promote an individual perspective, but to serve as a vessel for collective remembrance. Together, we will create a living archive that holds not just the facts of our history, but the warmth in an elder’s laugh, the subtle cadence of speech, the pauses, sighs, and small truths that transcripts alone can never fully capture. These recordings - clear, respectful, and held with care, will remain for generations to hear and feel.
Your role is not to promote an individual perspective, but to serve as a vessel for collective remembrance. Together, we will create a living archive that holds not just the facts of our history, but the warmth in an elder’s laugh, the subtle cadence of speech, the pauses, sighs, and small truths that transcripts alone can never fully capture. These recordings - clear, respectful, and held with care, will remain for generations to hear and feel.
B) 2025 Cohort
- Kaliko Storer, Mayor’s Lahaina Advisory Team
- ʻIhilani Garcia, Hui O Waʻa Kaulua [Moananuiākea Voyage Crew]
- Eric Arquero, Executive Director of Kaibigan ng Lahaina (KnL)
- Lāhainā Strong members Courtney Lazo, Jordan Ruidas, Pāʻele Kiakona (+ Maui County Department of Water Supply)
- Kalapana Kollars, Lahaina Restoration Foundation
- Kaponoʻai Molitau, County Department of ʻŌiwi Resources
- Laurie DeGama, owner of Lahaina business No Ka Oi Deli and president of the Lahainaluna PTSA
- Shannon I'i, Kaiaulu Initiatives
- Namea Hoshino, Na 'Aikane o Maui & Maui Nui Botanical Gardens
- Kekoa Mowat, Director Of Safety And Security, Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa
- Michaellyn “Mikey” Burke, Lahaina Community Land Trust + West Maui Community Liaison for Hawaiian Electric
- Kim Thayer, SR Partners + Maui Planning Commission
Visit our 2024 project page to meet the previous cohort, and enjoy the resulting projects below.
C) Format
Our process was designed with the help of StoryCorps DIY best practices and further guided by long-standing cultural practitioners, historians, and community leaders including oral historians Kepā and Onaona Maly, artist Leilehua Yuen, and past Hui Mo‘olelo facilitators Kalapana Kollars, Anuhea Yagi and Sissy Lake-Farm.
TIPS
SAMPLE QUESTIONS + PROMPTS
- Complete Hui Mo‘olelo: Lāhainā workshop series, through which participants create their own micro-storytelling presentation.
- Coordinate the best date & time to meet an intergenerational partner to talk story at a quiet, comfortable space. Each cohort member will be lent DIY equipment with instructions.
- Select 5-10 of the "Sample Questions & Prompts" below, or create your own prior to your scheduled recording. Feel free to go “off-script” and ask follow-up questions. Our goal is to gather, honor, and amplify the personal stories that hold Lāhainā’s spirit— connecting past, present, and future through deep listening, intergenerational dialogue, and community trust. You can tell jokes, stories, share photos, objects, memories or choose another way to help you get there.
- Once settled into the recording space, note your starting time. In consideration of "bio breaks" and continuity, we have learned that 40-minutes is an ideal length of time to aim for. Now you'll click record. Start by stating your name, age, the date, and the place where you are - and let your match do the same. Then begin with your list of prompts.
- When pau, sign the consent forms & be sure to capture a photo of the two of you together to send to us with your recording.
TIPS
- Let silence work—give time for reflection.
- Ask follow-up questions when something sparks curiosity.
- Keep focus on place + person + cultural context.
- Thank your partner sincerely at the end, and share how their story will be preserved.
- Engaging participants with respect (READ)
- The interview day (READ)
SAMPLE QUESTIONS + PROMPTS
- When you think of Lāhainā in your younger days, what are some of the first sounds, smells, or images that come to mind?
- What did a perfect day in Lāhainā feel like for you? Where would you go, and who would you see?
- Are there places in Lāhainā that hold a special meaning for you or your family? Can you tell me a story about one of them?
- What were some traditions—big or small—that made your time in Lāhainā unique or unforgettable?
- Can you describe how people in the community took care of one another? What did aloha look like in action?
- Who are the people you think of when you think of Lāhainā’s heart and soul? What made them special?
- What made Lāhainā different from any other place in the world?
- What did you learn about life by growing up or living in Lāhainā?
- If future generations never get to experience Lāhainā as you did, what would you want them to understand or feel?
- Are there songs, sayings, or images that you feel capture the essence of Lāhainā?
- What physical spaces or practices do you feel kept the community grounded or connected?
- When you imagine people gathering in Lāhainā again, what do you hope that looks and feels like?
- What values or ways of being should always be present in Lāhainā, no matter what changes over time?
- If a child were to ask you, “What should I know about Lāhainā?”—what would you tell them?
- Were there things about how Lāhainā changed over the years that didn’t sit right with you?
- What kinds of changes made it harder to feel that deep sense of community or belonging?
- Are there parts of the past that you feel we could learn from—not to repeat, but to grow from?
- Was there ever a time you felt Lāhainā’s story was being told by people who didn’t really know it? What was missing?
- When you reflect on what was lost, what do you feel still lives on in spirit?
- If Lāhainā were to whisper something to future generations, what do you think it would say?
D) Project Timeline
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