October 16, 2020
TO:
FR:
RE:

Dennis Ling, DBEDT
Kalani Kaʻanāʻanā, Commissioner
S360
FestPAC Hawaiʻi Website & Social MediaThis memo provides a brief overview of work performed from September 19-October 16, 2020. It details
the project deliverables and next steps.

OVERVIEW
S360 has continuously maintained and updated the FestPAC website and social media pages as Hawaiʻimoves ahead with planning for the 2024 festival. We continue to monitor media and website inquiries andpost on FestPAC’s social media platforms, as approved.

PROJECT DELIVERABLES•••••

Website: Continue to monitor email inquiries and submissions from website email.
Social media posts across all platforms as approved by designated FestPAC Hawaiʻicommissioner.
o Facebook continues to be the dominant platform.
o Facebook now has 2,567 followers.
o Recent posts
o 9/25/20: Profile of shell money maker in Solomon Islands reached 214
o 10/3/20: Article about climate change and Marshall Islands reached 151
o 10/7/20: Share of Maui Distric TV profile of Kula Kaiapuni reached 263
o 10/15/20: Meeting notification post reached 314
Respond or redirect inquiries via social media, as directed.
Monitored social media and media for festival-related posts.
S360 has attended all day-long FestPAC Commission strategic planning meetings held virtually
and will continue to take part, as asked.

ONGOING COMMUNICATION•

Continuing communication with designated FestPAC Hawaiʻi Commission supervisor.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS•••

Festpachawaii.org has seen a decline in users in the last month, as attention has been focused onsocial media.
Instagram: FestPAC Hawaiʻi has 535 followers.
Twitter: FestPAC Hawaiʻi has 104 Followers• 851 FORT STREET MALL, SUITE 500 • HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I 96813 • (808) 524-1100

2|PageNEXT STEPS•••

Ongoing management of website and social media pages.
In raising the profile of FestPAC, S360 is awaiting content from all commissioners except:
Kumu Māpuana de Silva, Kumu Snowbird Bento, Kalani Kaʻanāʻanā. This content will be sharedon social media with a link to the FestPAC Hawaiʻi website.
Continue scheduled posts on social media, as approved.

• 851 FORT STREET MALL, SUITE 500 • HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I 96813 • (808) 524-1100

October 13, 2020
TO:
FROM:
RE:

FestPAC 2024 Commission
Lynn Martin Graton, Folklorist/Fiber Artist
FestPAC 2024 Testimony

My name is Lynn Martin Graton and this note offers just a few thoughts for your consideration
as you begin to map out operational support for FestPAC 2024. As background to my interest inFestPAC, I have been following Hawai`i’s plans to host the festival since 2017 and over the pastfew months have appreciated the opportunity to listen to the planning meetings through Zoom.
Hosting this international event is a monumental undertaking and it promises to be of historic
importance for Hawai`I and the rest of Oceania.
I am retired now, but my career was spent as a folklorist and arts administrator working forstate arts agencies. I served as Folk Arts Coordinator for the Hawai’i State Foundation on
Culture from 1983 to 1998 and during that time was involved with two Festivals of Pacific Arts. I
had the opportunity coordinate the traditional crafts for Hawai’i’s first official delegation to theFestival of Pacific Arts held in 1985 in Tahiti and was an assistant to the late Gladys Brandt when
she chaired that delegation. I attended the 1992 festival in Rarotonga as the HFSCA
photographer. Over the years, I worked on a number of large arts festival programs including
four state-based folklife festivals carried out in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution’sCenter for Folklife & Cultural Heritage. These major festivals allowed me to experience all
aspects of managing a large arts festival from the vantage point of a state employee – including
programing, logistics, infrastructure, and fiscal management.
Because your Commission mentioned that you soon will be discussing SOP’s and otheroperational issues, I’m offering just a few ideas in hopes that they might be of some interest as
you develop options for the road ahead. Of course, you may already have these strategies andplans for these areas well in place, so I apologize if this note duplicates your ongoing efforts.
1) Fiscal agent partnership for facilitating fundraising & fiscal management:
When a festival is operating under the aegis of a government body, it can be extremely helpfulcarry to have a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization partner that can serve as a fiscal agent for
fundraising and fiscal management, including coordinated procurement.
Some of the benefits:• From what has been said at your meetings, additional appropriations from theHawai’i State legislature to support FestPAC 2024 may be modest and insufficient tocover the full costs of producing the event. Therefore, it seems that fundraisingwith private donors will be essential. In my experience, private sector donors(corporations, foundations, businesses, and philanthropic individuals) are much
more likely to support a project - and to be more generous - if their support canqualify as a tax-deductible donation, which is only possible when routed through anonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
• While a nonprofit must exercise due diligence in the expenditure of funds, it has
greater latitude with regard to procurement and contracting - and can process
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payments with greater expediency. For example, a nonprofit can more expend
funds on items essential to large event, but that are difficult or not permitted within
the procurement laws of state government (e.g. food, leis, staff t-shirts, petty cashneeds during the event, etc.). Of course, the State funds appropriated to date andheld at DBEDT can be dispersed from DBEDT under the State’s standard
procurement laws.
A few considerations:o When working with a nonprofit partner, it is important to factor in an
administrative fee that covers the staff/accountant’s time required to process
the many fiscal transactions typical to a large event and the cost of
conducting a standard audit.
o If the appropriate nonprofit partner cannot readily be identified, I’ve worked
on projects where we created a new nonprofit to serve in this capacity.
2) Event headquarters & computer security:
As event planning progresses and operational logistics become more complex andconcentrated, it usually becomes essential to have centralized office space, up to date andsecure computer support, and other coordinated administrative systems.
Some of the benefits:• As an event gets closer, the enormity of the logistical details that need to becoordinated across sectors of a project usually require a centralized officeheadquarters where staff can work, files can be set up, contractors can check in,computer systems can be standardized, and where closed-circuit radio
communication can be anchored during the event. There are probably a number ofpotential partners that can provide this type of support in Hawai’i. For example, theEast West Center provided office space and computer support for Hawai’i’spresentation at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival (1988 & 1989).
• An open-source or subscription cloud-based project management software
platform accessed by team members on their personal computers can be so helpful
during the initial stages of festival planning. As planning proceeds, a large projectusually needs to be managed through a coordinated computer system supported by
IT professionals that can provide: standardized software, cloud-based backup
systems, consistent virus protection, and – most importantly - tiered folder and filesecurity rights (high level access for supervisors and lower level access forcontractors). As the event approaches and while it is underway, inevitably there areminute-by-minute changes regarding performance schedules, participant housing,transportation, food service, ceremonies, etc. that need to be updated, coordinatedand accessed electronically by various levels of staff and contractors. This can bevery difficult to orchestrate on personal computers. Also, given the problems thatcomputers are prone to, it is really helpful to have on-call IT support.
Respectfully submitted,Lynn Martin Graton - PO Box 6158, Kamuela, HI 96743
Email: lynnfolklife@gmail.com Cell: 603-491-0020 LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com
FestPAC 2024 Testimony – 10/13/2020 - LMG - Page 2 of 2