MINUTES OF THE COMMISSION ON THE 13TH FESTIVAL OF
PACIFIC ARTS & CULTURE (FestPAC) MEETINGMONDAY, MAY 8, 2023 AT 3:00 PM
VIA VIRTUAL APPLICATION ZOOM: VIDEO / AUDIO CONFERENCECALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chair Kalani Kaʻanāʻanā at 3:02 p.m., who welcomed
everyone present via ZOOM.
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā conducted roll-call. Commissioners Benham, Bento, Hussey, Lum, and Puʻushared that they were present and alone, Commissioner Onishi was present and with his baby
granddaughter. Commissioners de Silva and Keohokālole were excused.
The Chair called upon Commissioner Puʻu to provide the wehena (opening).
Commissioner Puʻu offered a favorite mele that she learned from her kumu when she was in theteacher program. Her kumu (Larry Kimura and Kalena Silva) who wrote this mele were
important in the contribution of Hawaiian Language revitalization. Chair Kaʻanāʻanā thanked
Commissioner Puʻu for her wehena.
Chair recognized that there were no public attendees at the in-person venue or at the Hawaiʻi
Tourism Authority office.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY ON AGENDA ITEMSNo testimony was received in advance of the day’s meeting. The chair invited members of the
public to testify on the agenda items. Hearing none, he continued with agenda items.
REPORT ON PERMITTED INTERACTIONS, PURSUANT TO ACT 103, SESSIONLAWS OF HAWAIʻI 2021
The Chair reported that the admin meeting did meet but their meeting would be covered under
agenda item seven. Hearing no additional meetings, he continued with the next agenda item.
APPROVAL OF APRIL 25, 2023, MEETING MINUTES
The minutes were distributed and reviewed by Commissioners. Commissioner Onishi made a
motion to approve the minutes unamended and it was seconded by Commissioner Benham.
There was no discussion. A roll call vote was requested with the following Commissioners
approving the motion to approve the minutes: Chair Kaʻanāʻanā, Commissioner Benham,
Commissioner Bento, Commissioner Hussey, Commissioner Onishi, Commissioner Puʻu andCommissioner Lum. Commissioners de Silva and Keohokālole are excused. With the memberspresent the minutes of April 25, 2023, were adopted unamended.

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture
Monday, May 8, 2023 at 2:00 pm via ZOOMPage 2 of 4

PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION REGARDING THE FESTIVAL
DIRECTOR REPORT OF FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā asked that we take the agenda items out of order as we are awaiting a
representative with the Pacific Community to join the meeting later for their updates and giving
Festival Director Salā the floor for his Festival Director report.
Festival Director Salā was invited with a small delegation to Washington, D.C. last week and had
numerous meetings to help support the FestPAC meeting logistics and coordination. Festival
Director Salā gave thanks Erika Moritsugu, Krystal Kaʻai, and Georgette Furukawa for theirgenerosity and the invitation to join the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native
Hawaiians, and Pacific Islander (WHIAANHPI) Forum which happened on May 3. He wasinvited to sit on a panel for creative excellence and gave a 7-minute presentation talk about
Hawaiʻi’s hosting of FestPAC as the other VIPs received 2 minutes to share. Festival Director
Salā met with Jenny Morrell and also met with Dale Haan and members of Senator Schatzʻs
team. They focused on four topics: immigration, security, biosecurity and fumigation, andfundraising.
On the topic of immigration, the proper visa for FestPAC will be a B1/B2 Visa
(Business/Tourism visa). The challenge with this visa expects an interview at an embassy whichmeans individuals would have to expect biometrics and individual interviews at an embassy.
Individuals would have to make their way to Auckland, Sydney, Port Moresby, or Suva.
At this point, it is a 131-day wait in Auckland and Sydney for a visa but no wait at Port Morseby
and Suva. Festival Director Salā is going to circle back with SPC to see the best way to share thisinformation with the rest of the Pacific community who is interested in joining us in Hawaiʻi for
FestPAC.
Immigration poses a large challenge for FestPAC, but Festival Director is working on ways toease the process for all.
In discussion with security, the secret service usually provides security for heads of state.
Ultimately, the secret service will partner with the state department and with the office of foreign
missions which is headquartered in San Francisco to discuss the logistics for security. Festival
Director Salā will keep us updated.
Festival Director Salā has been working diligently with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife team onbiosecurity and fumigation issues. Currently, all materials need to go to Long Beach forfumigation before coming to Oʻahu. Festival Director Salā is working with Jenny Morrell to see
if they can do a temporary pop-up as the only real way to fumigate materials as some materials
have to come from other countries. He continues to work hand in hand with Christine, Benton,
and Jenny on this issue.
For fundraising, we have missed the earmark for the next fiscal year. Mahalo to Senator Schatzthat fundraising will come about as a lot of time and effort engaging the federal government todiscuss these issues.

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture
Monday, May 8, 2023 at 2:00 pm via ZOOMPage 3 of 4

Talking about the strategic programs pillar for the 13th FestPAC, which concludes his report.
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā chimed in sharing that Jimmie Collins, Hawaii Office of Homeland Security
uses the details of these plans as Ms. Collins assigns security level for this kind of event which
has various levers that get activated once the event is identified. Chair Kalani and his team will
send over contact information for the San Francisco security office.
With no additional questions for the festival director, Chair Kaʻanāʻanā asked for elaboration on
agenda item #5, He asked as there are many different topics like Pacific Philosophy Conference
during FestPAC, what are our responsibilities to these ancillary meetings.
Miles and the team, Ms. Mitchell presented as a heads up. Festival Director Salā elaborated thatthe 13th Festival of Pacific and Culture will have additional meetings as they use the festival as away to meet, the CPAC is pulling in these anomalies meetings to join under an umbrella for
FestPAC.
Ms. Mitchell will be presenting on the various other meetings and informing us on what we as
the host nation to ready ourselves for at FestPAC.
PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION REGARDING ADMINISTRATIVECOMMITTEE UPDATE
Commissioner Benham shared the minutes of the administrative committee update with all thecommissioners to review what they discussed. In the administrative committee update, they
discussed the Gravitas contract and will defer to Commissioner Lum or FD Sala to work on thecontract.
With time limitations, they tabled Honorary Chair discussions due to time constraints and will
circle back to discuss the next meeting, these updates wrapped up the administrative update.
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā asked to place a deadline to execute the contract, which Chair advised the datefor execution to be by May 15, 2023.
PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION REGARDING VENUES AND
PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE UPDATE
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā deferred this agenda item as the committee did not meet.
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā called a recess at 3:32 p.m. to convene at 3:45 p.m.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY ON AGENDA ITEMSThe chair invited members of the public to testify on the agenda items. Hearing none, hecontinued with agenda items.

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture
Monday, May 8, 2023 at 2:00 pm via ZOOMPage 4 of 4

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā shared Ms. Mitchell was on her way to the airport, so he made the call to defer
agenda item #5 to the next meeting. Chair Kaʻanāʻanā shared there are no additional
announcements.
NEXT MEETING
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā confirmed that the next meeting will be held on May 22, 2023, at 3 PM hybrid(in-person and on Zoom).
ADJOURNMENT
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā adjourned the meeting at 3:44 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,

Kalani Kaʻanāʻanā
Chair

Date

MINUTES OF THE COMMISSION ON THE 13TH FESTIVAL OF
PACIFIC ARTS & CULTURE (FestPAC) MEETINGTUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2023 AT 3:00 PM
VIA VIRTUAL APPLICATION ZOOM: VIDEO / AUDIO CONFERENCE
Commission Members Present were:
Maenette Ah Nee-Benham
Snowbird Bento
Māpuana de Silva
Kalani Kaʻanāʻanā, Chair
Jamie Lum-

Richard Onishi-

Governor’s Designee
Community Member At-Large
Community Member At-Large
Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority Designee
Department of Business, Economic Development
and Tourism (DBEDT)House Speaker’s Designee

Elise Amemiya
Micah ʻĀkau
Maka Casson-Fisher
Irina De La Torre-

Deputy Attorney General
HTA
HTA
HTA

Apologies:
Jarrett Keohokālole
Sylvia Hussey
Kehaulani Puʻu-

Senate President’s Designee
Office of Hawaiian Affairs Designee (OHA)
City and County of Honolulu Designee

Staff:CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Chair Kalani Kaʻanāʻanā at 3:02 p.m., who welcomed
everyone present via ZOOM.
The Chair called upon Commissioner Lum to provide the wehena (opening).
Commissioner Lum began by sharing a message she heard at a recent celebration of life that she
attended for Fred Cachola. The message was “Do more for more” a phrase Fred often told his
staff. His daughter further described that he was “a trailblazing educator and cultural advocate
servant leader.” He was an educator in Waianae until 1971 when he started working at
Kamehameha Schools as a new Director for the Extension Education program. This brand-new
program set Kamehameha Schools on a new path to educating students and others with morekeiki in the communities. Most of the programs they started are still around today such as the
Explorations program and various at-risk youth programs in the DOE. They eventually branchedout to adult education and provided scholarships. Commissioner Lum continued to share that theMinutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 2:00 pm via ZOOMPage 2 of 4

idea to “do more for more” can be carried out in their work here as commissioners and as weplan for this festival. She concluded the wehena with the closing thought about our collective
kuleana to “do more for more” on behalf of our pacific islander brothers and sisters.
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā thanked Commissioner Lum for her wehena and the remainder of our kuleana
to the community and the work that we do. He also mentioned how it was a beautiful tribute toFred and his ‘ohana who supported him all these years.
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā conducted roll-call. Commissioners Benham, Bento, de Silva, Lum, andOnishi responded that they were present and alone at their respective locations. Commissioners
Keohokālole, Hussey, and Puʻu were excused. Chair recognized that there were no publicattendees at the in-person venue or at the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority office.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY ON AGENDA ITEMSNo testimony was received in advance of the day’s meeting. The chair invited members of the
public to testify on the agenda items. Hearing none, he continued with agenda items.
REPORT ON PERMITTED INTERACTIONS, PURSUANT TO ACT 103, SESSIONLAWS OF HAWAIʻI 2021
The Chair reported that none of the committees met and asked if there were any other permitted
interactions. Hearing none, he continued with agenda items.
APPROVAL OF MARCH 31, 2023 MEETING MINUTES
The minutes were distributed and reviewed by Commissioners. Commissioner Lum made a
motion to approve the minutes unamended and it was seconded by Commissioner Onishi. There
was no discussion. A roll call vote was requested with the following Commissioners approving
the motion to approve the minutes: Chair Kaʻanāʻanā, Commissioner Benham, Commissioner
Bento, Commissioner de Silva, Commissioner Onishi, and Commissioner Lum. Commissioners
Hussey, Keohokālole and Puʻu were excused. With the members present the minutes of March
31, 2023 were adopted unamended.
PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION REGARDING THE FESTIVAL
DIRECTOR REPORT OF FESTIVAL DIRECTOR
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā shared that Festival Director Salā would share some quick updates but would
have to leave for another meeting shortly after. Festival Director Salā thanked everyone who
helped with the CPAC meeting in March and a “hearty” mahalo to Benton Pang, Christine
Martin, and their team from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others involved in the workaround biosecurity and fumigation. They have been incredible in assisting since the CPAC
meeting and making great progress on planning for their kuleana for FestPAC Festival Director
also thanked the SPC team who has been fully engaged and working with the U.S. Fish andWildlife team. Sala mentioned his meeting today is with Jenny Morrell who sits in the USA
membership seat for the SPC. Morale is the Pacific Regional Unit Chief for the office ofAustralia, New Zealand, and Pacific Island Affairs. She is also with the Bureau of East Asianand Pacific Affairs of the USA Department of State. Ms. Morrell was in Hawaii for meetings not
related to FestPAC but requested to have it added to her itinerary and will be having several

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 2:00 pm via ZOOMPage 3 of 4

meetings with Festival Director Sala to discuss where we are at with planning and how her officecan support it.
In March, Festival Director Sala met with Erika Moritsugu from the White House and her
number two Georgette Furakawa, both have also been engaged in seeing our success in
producing and executing the festival. Festival Director Sala mentioned he was invited to
Washington DC the first week in May to present for seven minutes at the AA and HPI summit on
May 3, 2023. He will also be curating a Melanesian and Micronesian performance andmentioned he would be reaching out to Commissioner deSilva in the coming days to discussplans. This event will have upwards of a thousand attendees including VVIPs and very highlevel leaders. Festival Director Sala concluded by sharing that the next CPAC meeting will beheld at the end of June followed quickly by the Ministers of Culture Meeting on June 28 in New
Caledonia. This will be our final opportunity to report to CPAC and the Culture Ministers about
Festival programming, biosecurity, immigration and etc. Festival Director Sala is working withall parties to create an incredibly detailed presentation for these meetings. After that, CPAC willplan for their own delegations to come to the festival how they plan for the festival delegations.
UPDATE ON RFP FOR FESTIVAL PROVIDER. THE COMMISSION ANTICIPATESGOING INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION PURSUANT TO HRS §92-5(A)(4) TO CONSULTWITH THE COMMISSION’S ATTORNEY ON QUESTIONS AND ISSUESPERTAINING TO THE COMMISSION’S POWERS, DUTIES, PRIVILEGES,IMMUNITIES, AND LIABILITIES.
Commissioner Lum shared that the RFP evaluations committee met and made its
recommendation to the Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT)
Director. The recommendation was approved, and an awardee was selected. The award wasposted awarding Gravitas Pasifika. They are currently in the contracting phase and will beworking together on a contract to be executed. Chair Kaʻanāʻanā asked Commissioner Lum “ifthey cleared the protest period?” Commissioner Lum confirmed that the protest period has beencleared with no protests submitted. Chair Kaʻanāʻanā clarified that Gravitas Pasifika is Aaron
Sala and congratulated him.
UPDATE DISCUSSION ON HONORARY CHAIR POSITION FOR FESTIVAL OF
PACIFIC ARTS & CULTURE
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā noted that there were no edits submitted from the Commissioners on the
Honorary Chair Description. He suggested if there are no edits or revision to that we adopt andapprove the draft as circulated at the next meeting.
Commissioner Onishi shared that he reviewed the circulated draft and had no concerns or issues.
Commissioner Benham agreed with Commissioner Onishi, but she had a question regarding theprocess and if that should be discussed now or in the Admin Committee. Chair Kaʻanāʻanāsuggested that it be discussed in the Admin Committee and then brought to the full Commission.
Chair noted that Commissioner Bento, Benham, deSilva and Onishi all approved the Honorary
Chair description draft as circulated.

Minutes of the Commission on the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture
Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at 2:00 pm via ZOOMPage 4 of 4

PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION REGARDING ADMINISTRATIVECOMMITTEE UPDATE
Commissioner Benham shared that they didn’t meet and that they will start meeting now that
there is a Festival Provider.
PRESENTATION, DISCUSSION AND/OR ACTION REGARDING VENUES AND
PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE UPDATE
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā deferred this agenda item as the committee did not meet.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY ON AGENDA ITEMS
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā invited the public to again offer comments. A member of the public, Trung
Lam, is with a local group called Thrive HI which is a Community Building Center for the
remote and tech workforce here in Hawaiʻi. Lam went on to mention that he and his team havebeen developing an idea to potentially have an expo highlighting Indigenous Heritage andCulture in Video Games and Interactive media. Lam mentioned that he thought this would be agreat opportunity to collaborate during the festival and wanted to know if that was a possibility.
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā responded that he could follow up offline and discuss potential collaboration
ideas. Chair Kaʻanāʻanā asked once again if there was any other public wanting to provide
testimony, hearing none, he continued with the next agenda item.
Commissioner Benham noted that she was not able to ask this question during the Venues
Committee portion and wanted to ask Commissioner Lum “now that we are going through theprocess of getting a Festival Provider, will we be able to move ahead and actually sign MOA’sand all the other types on contracts as soon as that’s in place, so we can get our venues and hotels
set and all that other stuff set? ” Commissioner Lum confirmed that it was correct.
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā asked if there were any other members of the public wanting to offer
testimony. Hearing none he moved on to the next agenda item.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā shared there were no announcements.
NEXT MEETING
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā confirmed that the next meeting will be held on May 8, 2023 at 3 PM.
ADJOURNMENT
Chair Kaʻanāʻanā adjourned the meeting at 3:23 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,

Kalani Kaʻanāʻanā
Chair

Date

Festival Director Report
Aaron J. Salā

Festival Provider
Contract• Due diligenceImmigration

Biosecurity
Current challenges

Potential mitigation
Meeting of regulatory agency leads,
FestPAC Commission Reps, andCongressional Delegation Reps

FestPAC Programming

Statement from U.S.
Secretary of State Blinken
From the U.S.-Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Dialogue inPapua New Guinea:“13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture 2024: The UnitedStates is pleased to support the Governor of Hawaiʻi and
the Pacific Community (SPC) in hosting the 13th Festival ofPacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC) June 6-16, 2024, in
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. We look forward to providing a warm
welcome filled with the Aloha Spirit to FestPAC
delegations of royal families and Ministers to Indigenous
practitioners and student performers next year.”https://www.state.gov/u-s-pacific-islands-forum-leaders-dialogue-in-papua-new-guinea/

Mahalo13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture

Festival Program – Strategic programming

FestPAC Program

Artistic Program (Host nation
led in partnership with SPC
and CPAC)

Strategic Program (SPC andCPAC led in partnership with
Host Nation)‘Aha Moananuiakea –Symposiums, Conferences andMeetings

Na Hana Paku’i

LeadersSymposium

ConferencesandMeetings

Leaders/
ProtocolNa Hana
Paku’i

Culture, Oceans andClimate Change

Ministers of Culture
Meeting

Heads of Nations/
Traditional Leaders

FestPAC Arts Expo andMarketCulture and theenvironment

CPAC

Ministers

Oceanic Music
Exchange

CPAC

Pacific Cultural
Industries

SPC

Artist workshops andgatherings

Stakeholders/Partners: UNESCO, EU,
ACP, etc

Youth Ambassador
Program

Culture and Education
Culture, health andfood security

Culture and social
inclusion

Indigenous Philosophy
Conference
PIMA and Museum
Directors

Culture and Trade

Oceans, Climate andVoyaging Forum

Culture andRegenerative Tourism

Stakeholder led
meetings