MINUTES OF THE COMMISSION ON THE 13TH FESTIVAL OF
PACIFIC ARTS & CULTURE (FestPAC) MEETINGMONDAY, MARCH 18TH, 2024 AT 03:00 P.M.
HYBRID VIA ZOOM
Commission Members Present were:
Kalani Ka‘anā‘anā
Shanty Asher
Māpuana de Silva
Stacy Ferreira
Jamie Lum-Rep. Richard Onishi-

Hawai’i Tourism Authority (HTA)
City & County of Honolulu
Community Member At-Large
Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA)
Department of Business, Economic Development,and Tourism (DBEDT)
Hawai‘i State House of Representatives

Elise Amemiya
Maka Casson-Fisher-

Office of the Attorney GeneralHawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA)

Aaron J. SalāPua Sterling-Festival Director, Gravitas Pasifika
Program Director, Gravitas Pasifika

Apologies:
Snowbird Bento
Sen. Jarrett Keohokāhole
Makana McClellan-Community
Hawaiʻi State Senate
Governor’s Designee

Staff:

Guests:CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chair Kalani Ka‘anā‘anā (Chair) at 3:04pm, who welcomed
everyone present via ZOOM.
WEHENA
Chair Ka‘anā‘anā called upon Commissioner de Silva to provide the wehena (opening).
Commissioner de Silva began her wehena with a traditional kāhea (chanting call), then revealed
upon turning on her camera she had been wearing a homemade paper bag mask. This gesture
made for a brief respite to the joy of the commission. The intent Commissioner de Silva had withthis greeting, was to show that the Commission cannot know what to anticipate for the Festival,
and that it will be a joyous, memorable event that will impact others’ expectations of thedelegations attending.

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture
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Commissioner de Silva continued, that the commission must be prepared for anything, and to beready to embrace what is shared during the event. She then continued that the Commission
needed to similarly be attentive to all areas they could impact, and not to wait for obstacles toarise.
As the festival approaches and more individuals become involved, commission tasks will likely
overlap as a “beautiful Pacific moena,” (woven lauhala), stated by Commissioner de Silva. She
then reminded all members to be aware of each other’s responsibilities, to always be ready to“pivot,” and to always be looking for things that could be made better before they neededchange.
ATTENDANCE
Chair conducted the roll-call attendance. Chair Ka‘anā‘anā and Commissioners Asher, de Silva,Ferreira, Lum, and Onishi were present. Commissioners Bento, Keohokālole and McClellan
were excused. Festival Director Salā and Deputy AG Amemiya were also present via Zoom.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY ON AGENDA ITEMSNo public testimony was received prior to this meeting. Chair Kaʻanāʻanā invited publicmembers attending the ZOOM call to testify on any agenda items. Chair continued on to the nextagenda item.
REPORT ON PERMITTED INTERACTIONS, PURSUANT TO ACT 103, SESSIONLAWS OF HAWAIʻI 2021
No permitted interactions had taken place since the previous FestPAC commission meeting.
Upon hearing no further updates from the committee, Chair Ka‘anā‘anā proceeded to the nextagenda item.
APPROVAL OF THE FEBRUARY 26th, 2024 MEETING MINUTES
The minutes were previously distributed and reviewed by Commissioners. Chair Ka‘anā‘anārequested a motion to adopt the February 26, 2024 minutes. Commissioner Lum motioned theapproval of minutes and it was seconded by Commissioner Onishi. With no further discussion oramendments, Chair conducted a roll-call vote. Chair Ka‘anā‘anā and Commissioners Asher, deSilva, Ferreira, Lum, and Onishi voted in favor of approving the unamended minutes of theFebruary 26th 2024 meeting. Motion carried.
PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION REGARDING THE FESTIVAL
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Festival Director (FD) Salā and the Gravitas Pasifika (GP) team presented on the current
fundraising activities, programming and content, logistics and operations, marketing, andpromoting community engagement.
FD Salā acknowledged Commissioner Ferreira and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for theircontribution of $1.5 million dollars to FestPAC. A press conference took place to share about thecollaboration.
FD Salā shared that GP is also working with Jack Wong of Kamehameha Schools and his office,Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture
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Randy Fong and the Hoʻokahua division to talk about Kamehameha Schools’ participation
regarding funding and in-program content for the festival.
FD Salā and the GP team are finalizing decisions with Hawaiian Airlines in their participationand support of the festival. In April they will host three private fundraising engagements. TheHawaiʻi Community Foundation will additionally host engagements for a curated group ofphilanthropists and private funders garnered by fund developer, Patty Look, and the HawaiʻiCommunity Foundation itself. FD Salā stated these engagements will bring together and convene
the Hawaiʻi Executive Roundtable.
FD Salā invited the Administrative Committee to discuss further opportunities within theConvention Center’s contract with DBEDT this week. He continued, during the festival there
will be potential for affiliate engagements. FD asked that the Programming & Venues Committee
meet to discuss potential affiliates, then ask of the Admin. Committee to officially obtain andcollaborate said affiliates to the Convention Center. FD Salā thanked the chairs of eachcommittee for their continued assistance. FD Salā stated he would continue to collaborate withthe Programming Committee to work with Chair Bento on scheduling programming and content.
Updated invitations to countries are currently being drafted for submission as several countries
have new governments and have requested new invitations with proper invitees and addresses.
FD Salā then stated his team has asked of The Council for Pacific Arts and Culture to submit
updated requests by March 7th. Invites to be sent out by the end of the week of March 18th 2024.
These invites will be appended to the Commission letterhead, and signed by the Commission
Chair.
Program Director (PD) Sterling shared that at the Heads of Delegation meetings, focused areasof interest were covered including: heritage arts, performing arts and visual arts, and updates tothe programs. “One pagers” or write ups on each of the programs have been provided to thedelegations via Gravitas Pasifika’s online portal for planning purposes. As additional details
continue to solidify, those resources will be updated accordingly. From said resources,delegations will have the information to plan and prepare accordingly.
In terms of Nā Hana Pākuʻi, or conferencing and symposia content. Randy Fong and theKamehameha Schools Hoʻokahua department has been asked as the creative team leader in thisarea, given their extensive relationships and work throughout the Pacific. The festival’s programcontent, subject matter, and all discussions, should surround and pertain to indigenous styles ofengagement, the role of practitioners and artisans in perpetuation of cultural knowledge, Pacificpolitics, and more.
PD Sterling stated that Gravitas Pasifika is in the process of finalizing a program framework for
the Commission via the Programming & Venues Committee. This will then be passed along tothe Festival Director to discuss with the Traditional Leaders Convening.
FD Salā continued on the engagement with Kamehameha Schools; Randy Fong has designed aseries of discussions on different aspects facing the Pacific region. The goal of these speaking
engagements is to bring artists, practitioners, and delegates to attend the Festival, speak to theseMinutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture
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areas of interest and concern, and anything else they would like to express. For many delegatesas possible to be empowered to share with us what they want to discuss. The intent is not to beprescriptive to these observations, but rather to provide a structure and foundation for these
upcoming discussions, then designing the mechanisms to address, and provide the venues needed
for such discussion.
Continued discussion with the Programming & Venues Committee spoke to the commonality ofpotentially not utilizing chairs within these meeting spaces. As one of the goals for FestPAC is tomaintain a “Pacific” hosting, each space should be considered a Pacific space, in which casemoena (woven lauhala mats) will be laid out on the floor. The intent for this is for practitioners
to share and discuss amongst each other in a Pacific way, removing the image of the “westernconference” style and creating a more inclusive environment.
FD Salā then shared testimony regarding his time at the Traditional Leaders Summit in Fiji,including the Vunivalu and Council of Chiefs of Fiji, His Royal Highness Tui Ātua Tupua
Tamasese Efi, the former head of State of Samoa, King Tūheitia Paki of Aotearoa (NewZealand), and his daughter, Ngawaihonoitepo Paki . What these discussions provided was afoundation for what kind of activities will take place during the Festival in June.
He then made a reminder to fellow Commissioners that Traditional Leaders have always traveled
as part of delegations. This will be the first time that there will be programming approved by theFestPAC Commission to engage traditional leaders, specifically. Currently, a new partnershipwith ʻIolani Palace, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, in collaboration with Gravitas Pasifika is
being established to provide the resources to bring said Traditional Leaders together, and todiscuss issues confronted by Pacific Islanders in a contemporary context, successfully. He thenexpressed he would like to vet these processes through the committee before presenting them tothe full Commission.
Regarding logistics and operations, an estimate of 2,312 delegates are expected to attend. Several
countries are now going through the process of visa acquisition, and this may affect the numberof delegates that ultimately make it to Hawaiʻi.
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā and the Gravitas team during their time in Fiji had discussions withAmbassador Marie Damour of their US Embassy about their facilitation of visa acquisition. FD
Salā and his team expects to facilitate as many visa applications as possible for these delegates toattend and participate in the festival events.
Two town halls, and two Q&A sessions with the Council for Pacific Arts and Culture (CPAC)
have taken place to finalize details as several delegations have started to provide their total
number of travelers, and personal identification for their delegations
A hotel partner meeting has been scheduled for March 20th, 2024 to brief hotel partners on thefestival, and specifically delegates being housed by said partner hotels.
FD Salā announced that FestPAC’s digital platform will deploy this month. He shared theplatform will include all delegation registration, and will include all information needed of

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture
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Page 5 of 6delegates to track them over the course of the festival. This platform will include a volunteer
registration form, and media registration. With gratitude to June Matsumoto of Pacific Islands
Institute (PII), the logistics to deploy housing and transportation will also populate this month.
In terms of marketing and promotion, an OHA Press Conference was held on March 6th 2024,
acknowledging Commissioner Ferreira, student attendees, performers, and the Office ofHawaiian Affairs. A representation of all 3 sub regions in the Pacific performed for OHA thatday, followed a couple of days later by Tourism Day at the Capitol on March 8th 2024. FD Salāacknowledged the Hawai’i Tourism Authority (HTA) and the Hawai’i Lodging and Tourism
Association’s (HTLA) commitment to ensure the success of this event. He then made anobservation that performances were shared from several pacific cultures, however theyinterestingly did not perform hula on this day. FD Salā shared he intends for Hula to always beincluded.
Programs and events have started being published on the FestPAC website. The festival team,commissioner information, including program leads, and festival providers will all be listed.
Sponsors of the Festival will be listed.
Several network meetings with Hawaiʻi News Now, KHON News, and KITV News have takenplace as these collaborations could possibly allow programming in anticipation of FestPAC.
These kinds of media engagements over the course of the festival at the Convention Center andelsewhere are in full discussion.
Regarding community engagement, Tolua Samifua, community liaison, has joined the FestPAC
Working Group. Her responsibilities are to unite all community town halls, and she will beworking with the Governor’s office on this to engage Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander(NHPI) community. As the role that community will play in FestPAC is critical, community
engagement is founded through town halls to talk about volunteering delegation, building
community support, then assuring the code of conduct with committee acting as delegation
liaisons.
FD Salā then called upon the Administrative Committee and Commissioner Lum to meet within
the week regarding potential affiliate partners with the convention center. He intends to see
through that funds will begin to be deployed, and they will be in a large manner, and asked of theAdministrative Committee be part of this task, then to present those financial reports back to theCommission at every meeting. FD Salā then invited Chair Ka‘anā‘anā to speak on the next
agenda items.
Chair Ka‘anā‘anā added, that FD Salā requested support from the Admin Committee in terms ofthe dispersing of funds as Gravitas Pasifika had not received funding until about a couple ofweeks ago. As funds have been released, this may now escalate. Chair then stated that HTA’sVice President of Finance, Isaac Choy, has asked understand the Festival’s financial controls.

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Monday, March 18, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.
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PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION REGARDING ADMINISTRATIVECOMMITTEE UPDATEThe Committee did not meet prior to today’s Commissioner meeting. Chair Kaʻanāʻanā deferred
this agenda item.
PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION REGARDING VENUES AND
PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE UPDATEThe Committee did not meet prior to today’s Commissioner meeting. Chair Kaʻanāʻanā deferred
this agenda item.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY ON AGENDA ITEMS
Chair Ka‘anā‘anā invited public testimony. Hearing and seeing none, Chair moved on toannouncements
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chair announced that the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 25th at 3:00pm viaZoom, with wehena (opening) by Commissioner Bento.

Hearing no further announcements, the Chair asked for unanimous consent to adjourn themeeting, at 3:30PM
Respectfully Submitted,

Mar 25, 2024
Kalani Ka‘anā‘anā
ChairDate