CORRECTED

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & TOURISM (DBEDT)MINUTES OF THE COMMISSION ON THE 13TH FESTIVAL OF PACIFIC ARTS &CULTURE (FESTPAC) MEETINGHELD ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 2018, AT 10:25 A.M.
AT THE HAWAIʻI CONVENTION CENTER, 1801 KALĀKAUA AVENUE
BOARDROOM A

Commission Members Present were:
J. Kalani English, Chair
Māpuana de Silva
Kalani Kaʻanāʻanā
Misty Kela‘i
Dennis Ling
Monte McComber-Senate President’s Designee
Community MemberHawaiʻi Tourism Authority Designee
City & County of Honolulu Designee
DBEDT Designee
Governor’s Designee

Jacob Aki
Michi Moore
Kapuahelani Sterling
Vicky Takamine
Ed Bourgeois
Michael Pili Pang-

Office of Senator English
Senate Communications
Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority
PA‘I Foundation
PA‘I Foundation
PA‘I Foundation

James Huang(TECO) Alan Texeira-

Taiwan Economic & Cultural Office
Honolulu City Council

Guests:Staff:Margaret Ahn
Jamie Lum
Selma Malcolm (Recording) -Deputy Attorney General
DBEDT
DBEDT

Apologies for Absence:
Snowbird Bento
Mehana Hind
Lynn DeCoite-Community Member
Office of Hawaiian Affairs Designee
House Speaker’s Designee

CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order by the Chair on Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at 10:25 a.m., whowelcomed everyone present. Special welcome was extended to Mr. James Huang from TECOand Mr. Alan Texeira from the Honolulu City Council.

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture Meeting
Held Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in Honolulu
Page 2 of 6

APPROVAL OF MARCH 7, 2018 MEETING MINUTES:
Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, were approved with minorcorrections on a motion by Mr. Kaʻanāʻanā and seconded by Mr. McComber.
The motion was passed unanimously.
OLD BUSINESS:
A. Legislative Report re: Outcome of 2018 FESTPAC Legislation. SB 2693 CD 1:
Ms. Vicky Takamine reported the following:Bill SB2693 CD1 Relating to the Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture was passed bythe Legislature with a $950,000 appropriation. She thanked Senator English andhis staff for spearheading the bill through the Legislature.
The Grant-in-Aid (GIA) application submitted for $237,200 for the planning andconstruction of the Festival Village was not approved for funding.
Mr. Kaʻanāʻanā then stated that in terms of funding, he was made aware that in aprevious budget, the Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) contributed over $60,000
towards FESTPAC and assisted with funding the delegation to Guam, and otherin-kind fund/donations. HTA is looking at other ways to support the Festival
moving forward.
The Chair noted that the Legislature has allocated $1.45 million to FESTPAC sofar. He would like to see an appropriation included in DBEDT’s Executive
Budget request for FY20.
Ms. Kela‘i noted that the City’s Department of Enterprise Services is a revenuegenerating department and services are available for a minimal fee.
A meeting with Ms. Takamine to discuss in-kind and other assistance from theCity is pending.
Mr. Ling congratulated Chair English for his assistance in getting SB2693 billpassed through the Legislature for $950,000. He reminded the Commission thatannually there is usually a 10% restriction on the state budget. He pointed outthat there should be some funds reserved for administrative expenses for theCommission (e.g., travel).

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture Meeting
Held Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in Honolulu
Page 3 of 6Chair English introduced Mr. James Huang, Deputy Director of the Taiwan Economic &Cultural Office in Hawaii, and Mr. Alan Texeira with the Honolulu City Council to eachmake a brief presentation. Both indicated their strong interest to participate/support the2020 FESTPAC. Mr. Huang also made a request on behalf of the indigenous people ofTaiwan for an invitation to participate in FESTPAC. The Chair, on behalf of theCommission, thanked both Mr. Huang and Mr. Texeira for their brief presentation andinvited them to participate in future meetings.
B. Chair’s Report on the 28th Meeting of the Council of Pacific Arts and Culture (CPAC28)& 4th Meeting of the Pacific Ministries and Culture May 15-17, 2018, Nadi, Fiji
The Chair thanked and congratulated the Hawaii delegates for their presentations at themeetings in Fiji.
He stated that the Commission sent a delegation to the Council of Pacific Arts andCulture and the 4th Meeting of the Pacific Ministries for Culture meeting in Nadi, Fijifrom May 15-17, 2018. The delegation included three (3) members from theCommission – Senator J. Kalani English, (FESTPAC Commission Chair), KalaniKaʻanāʻanā (Commission Member), Māpuana de Silva (CPAC Chair), Jamie Lum(DBEDT), Vicky Takamine, Festival Director; Michael Pili Pang, Director ofAdministration; Randie & Jamie Fong, VIP Host Committee and Voyaging Committee;
Tommilyn Benavente, VIP Host Committee; and Momi Kamahele,Education/Symposiums Coordinator. The delegates assisted with the coordination of themeetings.
There were two (2) different meetings – the Council of Pacific Arts and Culture and thePacific Ministries for Culture. The presentations were made at both meetings and were
well received by members of the Pacific Island Nations and member organizations. Thepresenters were Ms. Takamine, Mr. Pili Pang, Mr. Fong and Chair English. Chair
English shared his slide presentation with the Commission members. His presentation
covered Government Framework/Commission and Planning Committee, Government
Appropriations, Funding Strategy, Visas and Customs, and Biosecurity.
The Commissioners and the Festival Director also gave an update on planning for
FESTPAC, including the tentative schedule of proposed activities and events, discussions
with Hawaiian Airlines regarding group rates and charter flights, ground transportationand housing. The Commissioners entertained questions from the meeting participants.
Questions focused mainly on visas and biosecurity issues. Regarding visas, Chair English
said the Commission will work with the State Department to try to facilitate the processof obtaining visas, including utilizing a State Department program where they send staff
to specific locations to hold interviews. Regarding some of the questions about

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture Meeting
Held Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in HonoluluPage 4 of 6

biosecurity, Ms. de Silva suggested that the delegations work with their respective
communities in Hawai‘i to see if some of the items these delegations want to bring in canbe sourced here.
Festival Coordinator’s Report:
Ms. Takamine reported the following:
Packages with information relating to visas, customs, biosecurity, etc., weredistributed to the 15 countries represented. Informational packets will also besent to the rest of the delegations that were not present.
Several countries expressed their intent to come to Hawaii, but they wereconcerned about travel visas, biosecurity procedures, airline arrangements, etc.
Several of them would also like to bring their products for sale, but they will
require an import/export license. After a brief discussion, DBEDT was asked toprepare/send a letter to Mr. Damien Elefante, Deputy Director of Taxation, withspecific questions about import/export and state taxes and invite him to the next
Commission meeting.
Nainoa Thompson has agreed to serve as Honorary Chair of the Festival ofPacific Arts and Culture in 2020.
Randie and Jamie Fong of Kamehameha Schools, agreed to serve as Coordinators
for the Hawaiʻi Pacific Wa‘a, in addition to chairing the VIP Host Committee.
The Commission members who attended the meetings in Fiji shared their perspective on
those meetings, and the outcomes were all positive.
Ms. de Silva reminded the Commission that all correspondence to the participating
nations must be sent to SPC in advance for translation (in French and Spanish), theirrecords and dissemination.
At this point, Ms. Takamine introduced Mr. Ed Bourgeois, Managing Director of PA‘I
Foundation who presented the Financial Report to the Commission. He also reported thata separate account for FESTPAC funds has been established.
The Commission also reviewed the Planning Committee chart and pointed out minor
inconsistencies and typos to be corrected.

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture Meeting
Held Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in Honolulu
Page 5 of 6Mr. Kaʻanāʻanā asked about a Communications/Public Relations Plan. Ms. Takamine
said that PA‘I Foundation is developing an RFP for that and will be issuing it shortly.
NEW BUSINESS:
A. Establishment of Project Milestones and Timelines:
The Commission discussed the venues, housing and dates for FESTPAC.
A motion was made by Mr. Kaʻanāʻanā and seconded by Ms. Kela‘i that the Commission
adopt the official FESTPAC dates as June 10 – 20, 2020.
The motion was passed unanimously.
Ms. Takamine had several discussions with the University of Hawai‘i/East West Center
regarding housing but has not yet received any commitment/confirmation.
Chair English and Mr. Kaʻanāʻanā volunteered to meet with the UH Regents to discuss
housing. Ms. Takamine was asked to prepare a contingency plan to be available for themeeting with the Regents.
The Commission requested that the Festival Director prepare plans, including
contingency plans and milestones, for Housing and Venues to be reviewed at the next
meeting.
B. Establishment of Protocols for Dissemination of Information:
Letters to Heads of States will be signed by the Governor of Hawaii.
Chair English said he will revise Ms. Takamine’s draft invitation letter for theGovernor’s signature.
Correspondence to the participating nations must be sent to SPC for translation,
their logo and dissemination. Discussion ensued.
To have the Governor’s original signature on correspondence to the Heads ofStates, the Chair suggested that we request a logo from SPC, prepare a draft withboth the State and SPC logos, have the draft cleared with Kuiniselani, send thedocument to SPC for translation and signature, then have SPC return it to us toprepare with the addresses for the Governor’s signature and dissemination.
Ms. Takamine suggested that a Taiwan delegation be invited to be a part of the 2020
FESTPAC.

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture Meeting
Held Wednesday, May 23, 2018, at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center in Honolulu
Page 6 of 6

A motion was made by Mr. Ling and seconded by Mr. McComber to invite Taiwan toparticipate in the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture.
The motion was passed unanimously.
The Chair welcomed and thanked Taiwan for their participation.
NEXT MEETING & PROPOSED SCHEDULE FOR FUTURE MEETINGS:The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 20, 2018, at 10:00 a.m., venue – TBD.
The Commission decided to meet monthly. Below is the schedule for 2018 and 2019:2018:

1. Wednesday
July 18
2. WednesdayAugust 15
3. Wednesday
September 12
4. Wednesday
October 10
5. November & December TBA (may meet just one time)
2019:
Wednesday

January 9

ADJOURNMENT:The meeting adjourned at 12:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,

6/19/2018

Senator J. Kalani English
ChairDate