Hula Preservation Society - Hawaii

News

Exploring Mukurtu: Digital Stewardship of Hawaiian & Pacific Islander Heritage

HPS held a virtual presentation in June 2026 to introduce the Mukurtu Content Management System & its key features & possibilities. Using HPS’s implementation of Mukurtu (Digital ʻUmeke), the presentation explored approaches to managing, stewarding, and sharing cultural heritage materials online and highlighted applications for Hawaiian and Pacific collections. Mukurtu began as a collaboration with an Australian Aboriginal community and continues to develop today through engagement with Indigenous communities. The platform supports cultural protocols, community-centered access, and Indigenous knowledge stewardship.

2025 At A Glance Newsletter

Check out what we did in our 25th year at Hula Preservation Society! If you’d like to help support HPS, please consider making a monetary donation HERE

Hālau Kū Mana Students Exhibit Artistic Forms of Hula Kiʻi

Honolulu Star Advertiser
June 6, 2025
By Jamm Aquino

A hula ki‘i exhibit opened Friday at Capitol Modern in Honolulu. Hula ki‘i, or Hawaiian puppetry in the form of carved hula figures, is a little-known genre of hula that marries hula (dance), mo‘olelo (story), no‘ono‘o ulu wale (imagination/creative expression) and hana no‘eau (visual arts). The hula ki‘i on display were created by students from Halau Ku Mana New Century Public Charter School in Makiki, under the direction of Kumu Auli‘i Mitchell — an expert in hula ki‘i.

Maile Loo, middle, executive director of the Hula Preservation Society, talks with hula ki’i kumu Auli’i Mitchell during the opening of the hula ki’i art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com
Hula kii exhibit
Tenth-grader Kekupuohaoha Loo-Ching, middle, shows her hula ki’i to Karen Ewald, executive director of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, left, during the opening of the hula ki’i art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Hula ki’i, or Hawaiian puppetry in the form of carved hula figures, is a little-known genre of hula that marries hula (dance), mo’olelo (story), no’ono’o ulu wale (imagination/creative expression), and hana no’eau (visual arts). The hula ki’i on display were created by students from Hālau Kū Mana Public Charter School in Makiki, under the direction of Kumu Auli’i Mitchell—an expert in hula ki’i. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com
People look at different hula ki’i during the opening of the hula ki’i art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com

Kumu Auliʻi Mitchell, right, greets tenth-grader Kekupuohaoha Loo-Ching during the opening of the hula kiʻi art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com
Lori Pereira, right, principal of Ku Mana New Century Public Charter School, talks with hula ki’i kumu Auli’i Mitchell during the opening of the hula ki’i art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com
Karen Ewald, executive director of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, left, talks with guests looking at different hula ki’i during the opening of the hula ki’i art exhibit at the Capitol Modern, Friday, June 6, 2025, in Honolulu. Photo by Jamm Aquino/jaquino@staradvertiser.com

HPS Receives NEH Grant

HPS is thrilled to be the recipients of a Preservation Assistance Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). NEH announced awards on August 28, 2024 that support humanities projects across the country amounting to $37.5 million in grants for 240 humanities projects. The Endowment received 139 eligible applications for the Preservation Assistance Grant (PAG) with HPS as 1 of 57 recipients. HPS’s grant project Ka Pā Ho‛okani! Caring for Hawaiian Music Resources is an effort to organize, preserve, and house 45 rpm and 78 rpm audio records of Hawaiian music from the 1930s-1960s.