Hui Mo‘olelo: Lahaina Cohort (2024)
Hui Mo‘olelo: Lahaina is a collaborative program of Maui Public Art Corps, Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House/ Maui Historical Society, the County of Maui and Lahaina Restoration Foundation that cultivates stories celebrating the history, culture and sense of place of Lahaina. Program goals include capturing an authentic moment of connection through intergenerational stories; connecting residents & visitors more deeply with accurate accounts of Lahaina history and culture; and helping to ensure that local narratives and cultural heritage are recorded and passed down to future generations, fostering a sense of identity and belonging.
Following the August 2023 wildfires, several groups and individuals reached out to request the Hui Mo‘olelo workshop and story recording approach as a way to process the experience. More recently, school groups, healthcare facilities and nonprofit partners have requested public art created through Hui Mo‘olelo to be developed for their sites. Through this new partnership with Lahaina Restoration Foundation, our 2024 Hui Mo’olelo workshops are being facilitated by previous cohort participants Kalapana Kollars of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation and Anuhea Yagi, Student of Hawaiian Life Ways. The resulting stories will form the basis of our next call for artist proposals, to be released in August 2024.
Following the August 2023 wildfires, several groups and individuals reached out to request the Hui Mo‘olelo workshop and story recording approach as a way to process the experience. More recently, school groups, healthcare facilities and nonprofit partners have requested public art created through Hui Mo‘olelo to be developed for their sites. Through this new partnership with Lahaina Restoration Foundation, our 2024 Hui Mo’olelo workshops are being facilitated by previous cohort participants Kalapana Kollars of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation and Anuhea Yagi, Student of Hawaiian Life Ways. The resulting stories will form the basis of our next call for artist proposals, to be released in August 2024.
Workshop Participants
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Tambara Garrick, Lahaina Town Action Committee + Chief Marketing Officer for Hawaiʻi Farm Project's Maui Gold Pineapple
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Namea Hoshino, Kalo Varieties Manager at Maui Nui Botanical Gardens
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Lahaina Stories with Past Hui Mo‘olelo Participants
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This June, we welcomed our 4th annual Hui Mo‘olelo cohort - with pilina to Lahaina - to participate in a 3-part storytelling workshop in partnership with the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. Upon completion, each were paired with kūpuna of Lahaina for an audio-recorded talk story session. The resulting stories formed the basis of an August RFP (request for proposals), wherein professional artists selected one or more to inspire a work of public art in a discipline of the artist's choosing (e.g. song, dance, animation, mural, theatrical performance, etc). Upon selection by a community panel, artists enter a period of project development to engage the site's stakeholders in arts activities, infuse the design with community feedback, and tie the work to a unique proverb from Mary Kawena Pukui’s ‘Ōlelo No‘eau: Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings to help ground it in a sense of place.
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Project Timeline
- 3/11/24: FEMA Philanthropic Advisors connect King Kamehameha III Elementary with Maui Public Art re public art programming at temporary replacement campus
- 5/9/24: Maui Public Art meets with County of Maui & Maui Historical Society to identify Lahaina Hui Mo‘olelo cohort and determine partnership with the County's Wellness with Aloha program
- 5/20/24: Principal Ian Haskins requests Kaliko Storer, Earl Kukahiko, and Steve Frans be included
- 6/6/24: Maui Public Art + County of Maui + Lahaina Restoration Foundation meet to determine Hui Mo‘olelo 2024 intentions, outcomes and potential partnership roles.
- 6/21/24: Hui Mo‘olelo Workshop #1 LINK
- 6/28/24: Hui Mo‘olelo Workshop #2 LINK
- 7/5/24: Hui Mo‘olelo Workshop #3 LINK
- 7/12/24: Shannon I'i & Amy Petersen of Maui Behavioral Health Wildfire Response (MBHWR)/ Hawai’i State Department of Health coordinate psychological first aid workshop for cohort members led by Michele Navarro Ishiki, 2 - 3 PM (WATCH)
- 8/1/24: First day of school (source)
- 8/2/24: Hui Mo‘olelo recordings deadline (Kelly meets pairings for their 40-minute audio recording at at Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House/ Maui Historical Society in Wailuku or at Hale Pa'i (located in Lahainaluna High School, 980 Lahainaluna Rd, Lahaina, HI 96761).
- 8/9/24: RFP is distributed (LINK)
- 9/8/24: RFP closes/ proposal deadline
- 9/16/24: Panel review meeting
- 9/23/24: Artist contracts deadline
- 12/20/24: County-funded artworks complete
- 6/9/25: Atherton Family Foundation-funded artworks complete
- 8/4/25: Maui Strong-funded artworks complete
- 12/31/25: National Endowment for the Arts-funded work complete
Format
Our process was designed with the help of StoryCorps DIY, offering best practices, sample questions and guidance.
TIPS
SAMPLE QUESTIONS + PROMPTS
- Complete "The Value of Storytelling" 3-part workshop series, through which participants create their own micro-storytelling presentation that is rooted in a distinctive sense of place, history and culture.
- Coordinate the best date & time to meet an intergenerational partner to talk story at Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House/ Maui Historical Society in Wailuku or at Hale Pa'i (located in Lahainaluna High School, 980 Lahainaluna Rd, Lahaina, HI 96761)
- Each of you may select 4-5 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 capture an authentic moment of connection that is rooted in a Maui County sense of place. You can tell jokes, stories, share photos, objects, memories or choose another way to help you get there.
- Once settled into the recording space, the technician will signal to you that time has started. You'll have 40-minutes to talk story from this point. Start by stating your name, age, the date, and the place where you are - and let your match do the same. Then begin.
- When pau, ask the technician to take a photo of the 2 of you together and send it to us.
- That's it!
TIPS
SAMPLE QUESTIONS + PROMPTS
- Explain the story behind your name.
- Describe your childhood home.
- What is your favorite place or places, and why? Can you draw a picture for me with your memories?
- How did your parents meet? What did they do for a living?
- Growing up, what did your community look like outside of your family? How did you meet them?
- Tell me about your neighborhood. Are there any special places of interest?
- What languages do your parents and grandparents speak?
- What games did you play when you were young? What toys did you have? Where did you play?
- Have your hobbies and interests changed over time?
- Describe your grammar school/high school. Did you have any influential teachers?
- Did you have any goals/dreams for “when you grew up?”
- Tell me about the house you grew up in. Where did you spend most of your time? Did you move to another home while you were growing up? Tell me about the new home.
- What were mealtimes like in your family? What foods did you eat? Who cooked the food? Who cleaned up after meals?
- How did your family get around? Did you have a car? Did you use public transportation?
- What did you listen to growing up?
- Do you remember any epidemics or diseases growing up? Did your family have any home remedies?
- What was your first job? What lessons did you learn? Additional jobs and details – trace career path, changes
- Tell me about any influential mentors.
- Tell me about your college years. What school? How did you decide to go there? What was your major?
- Did you do a semester abroad?
- How have historic events, such as 9/11, hurricanes, the Great Depression, world wars, natural disasters, strikes, and now Covid-19 etc., affected you?
- Did these events impact your community?
- What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?
- Name three things that you and I appear to have in common.
- For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
- If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
- Take four minutes and tell me your life story in as much detail as possible.
- If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
- Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?
- What is your greatest accomplishment?
- What do you value most in a friendship?
- What is your most treasured memory? What is your most terrible memory?
- Alternate sharing something you consider a positive characteristic of your talk story partner. Share a total of five items.
- Make three true “we” statements each. For instance, “We are both in this room feeling ... “
- Share an embarrassing moment in your life.
- When did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?
- What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?
- Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?
- Share a personal problem and ask your partner’s advice on how he or she might handle it. Also, ask your partner to reflect back to you how you seem to be feeling about the problem you have chosen.
- If you could hold on to one memory from your life forever, which would it be?
- (Tell the person you are interviewing what they mean to you).
- How would you like to be remembered?