THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            58
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

 URGING THE STATE FOUNDATION ON CULTURE AND ARTS AND THE OFFICE
    OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS TO WORK EXPEDITIOUSLY WITH HALAU
    HALOA, THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF HAWAIIAN PERFORMING ARTS,
    TO COMPLETE THE PLANNING FOR THE EIGHTH PACIFIC FESTIVAL
    OF ARTS.


 1        WHEREAS, the Pacific Festival of Arts occurs every four
 2   years to encourage the indigenous people of the Pacific nations
 3   to showcase their arts; and
 4   
 5        WHEREAS, the next Pacific Festival of Arts is to be held
 6   in the year 2000 in Noumea, New Caledonia; and
 7   
 8        WHEREAS, a request to begin planning and preparing for the
 9   eighth Pacific Festival of the Arts was initiated by kumu hula
10   Mililani Allen, late of Wai`anae, after the end of the seventh
11   Pacific Festival of Arts of 1996; and
12   
13        WHEREAS, the late kumu hula Mililani Allen and kumu hula
14   Cy Bridges, as former 1996 official Hawai`i observers to the
15   festival, along with Mr. Logoitino Apelu of the Polynesian
16   Cultural Center, and kumu hula Hokulani Holt-Padilla,
17   spearheaded voluntary planning efforts for the State Foundation
18   on Culture and the Arts on behalf of the native Hawaiian
19   community; and
20   
21        WHEREAS, a group of native Hawaiian practitioners and
22   exponents of the arts -- such as Auntie Nona Beamer, Aunty Pua
23   Kanahele, the late kumu hula Mililani Allen, and others -- met
24   to formalize plans for the eighth Pacific Festival of Arts; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, this group of practitioners incorporated in 1998
27   as Halau Haloa, The National Academy of Hawaiian Performing
28   Arts, for the purpose of promoting the indigenous initiative to
29   exercise autonomous control over the native Hawaiian cultural
30   environment and imperatives; and
31   
32        WHEREAS, Halau Haloa has made every effort in good faith
33   to promote the wisdom of planning and preparation, in order to
34   send the best delegation representing the indigenous native

 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            58
                                                        
                                                        


 1   Hawaiian arts to the eighth Pacific Festival of Arts; and
 2   
 3        WHEREAS, decisions regarding the delegation should come
 4   from the native Hawaiian community of experts, concerning the
 5   indigenous traditions passed down from generation to generation
 6   from important ancestors of the Hawaiian people, such as Laka,
 7   Hi`iaka, and Hopoe; and
 8   
 9        WHEREAS, all forms of the hula (dance), oli (chant),
10   kaka`olelo (oratory), ho`opapa (riddling), ha`i `olelo (speech
11   making), `olelo no`eau (wise sayings), and others are all part
12   of a rich oral heritage of the indigenous peoples of the
13   Hawaiian Islands; and
14   
15        WHEREAS, all forms of traditional arts such as lauhala
16   weaving, shell, seed, flower, fern, and feather lei making,
17   featherwork, sculpture, kapa making, quilting, and others are
18   all part of a rich artistic heritage of the indigenous peoples
19   of the Hawaiian Islands; and
20   
21        WHEREAS, the current caretakers and experts of these arts
22   are the indigenous peoples -- the native Hawaiians -- and
23   members of Halau Haloa, the National Academy of Hawaiian
24   Performing Arts; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, Halau Haloa has the spiritual mandate of its
27   ancestors and elders to promote and showcase its native arts;
28   and
29   
30        WHEREAS, Halau Haloa has the moral imperative to preserve,
31   transmit, extend, and share its cultural heritage with the
32   citizens of Hawai`i, as well as to the world, through its
33   indigenous arts; and
34   
35        WHEREAS Halau Haloa also has a deep and abiding
36   compassion, commitment, and love for its arts, and to this
37   endeavor -- the eighth Pacific Festival of Arts; and
38   
39        WHEREAS, the Governor has asked Halau Haloa to work with
40   the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts concerning the
41   official delegation to the eighth Pacific Festival of Arts; and
42   

 
 
 
 
 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            58
                                                        
                                                        


 1        WHEREAS, Halau Haloa has met with the State Foundation on
 2   Culture and the Arts, as well as the Office of Hawaiian
 3   Affairs, both government agencies of the State of Hawaii, to
 4   apprise these agencies of the planning and preparation; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, despite these meetings, Halau Haloa has struggled
 7   for the past three years to carry out the planning for the
 8   eighth Pacific Festival of Arts, without assistance from the
 9   State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and the Office of
10   Hawaiian Affairs due to financial and personnel shortages in
11   both agencies; and
12   
13        WHEREAS, there remain less than eighteen months before the
14   eighth Pacific Festival of Arts is staged in Noumea, New
15   Caledonia in the year 2000; now, therefore,
16   
17        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
18   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 1999, the House of
19   Representatives concurring, that the State Foundation on
20   Culture and Arts and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs are urged
21   to work expeditiously with Halau Haloa, The National Academy of
22   Hawaiian Performing Arts, to complete the planning for the
23   eighth Pacific Festival of Arts in order to provide the best
24   representation possible of Hawaii's indigenous cultural
25   traditions at the festival; and
26   
27        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
28   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Halau Haloa, The
29   National Academy of Hawaiian Performing Arts, the Director of
30   the State Foundation on Culture and Arts, and the Chairperson
31   of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
32 
33                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________