Artist in Community

Maui Arts & Cultural Center's Artist in Community program redefines the relationship of artist to audience, and embodies the MACC’s enduring belief in the ability of the arts to build community. Through a multitude of free events throughout the year, The MACC brings performing artists into local schools, senior centers and social service agencies, reaching out to people throughout Maui County in the places where they live, go to school, or gather to socialize — including  Hāna, Lāna‘i and Moloka‘i. Through shared personal experiences with performers from around the world, Maui Nui residents experience the transformative power of the arts. In return, our visiting artists feel the strength of aloha from our community. These engagement activities provide shared benefits: the ‘aha’ moments that occur not only enrich the community, but are also insightful for the participating artists ... and there lies the potential for great exchange, sharing and growth.  Click on the year at right to see some of our activities in that time period

THE NUMBERS: 3,868 people were served throughout Maui County, with 39 events in the MACC's Artist in Community program 2018-19 ... taking place in community centers, social agencies, and schools.​​​​​​​

SOME HIGHLIGHTS:

Singer, songwriter, and educator Kainani Kahaunaele exemplifies a deep sense of kuleana (responsibility) to the numerous mele she has written and the Hawaiian language. Kainani visited the immersion students at King Kekaulike High school and spoke about the stories that inspired different mele and how it is important to have a good foundation of language and culture to compose Hawaiian music. At UHMC she was able to share similar stories with the students from the Institute of Hawaiian Music. In Paukukalo. Kainani had a great time singing mele for a group of enthusiastic youth: some were Hawaiian language speakers, while others were English-speaking students. She was most impressed with the willingness of the keiki to dance hula to her music: a true manifestation of the power of mele, when the keiki seize the opportunity to hula and encourage their friends to hula too. A full and powerful day immersed in `ōlelo Hawai'i.

CLICK HERE for the video. 

​​​​​​​Singer/songwriter Henry Kapono

​​​​​​​at Kula Hospital for a mini concert with kupuna

Henry Kapono & Robi Kahakalau

​​​​​​​ at Lihilai School

Rob Faust took his collection of characters ( composed of just masks and body language) to Kamehameha School for a workshop with theater arts students.

Dancers from Alvin Ailey's renowned dance campany taught a master class here in the MACC's Omori studios ... and conducted a Q&A with audience members after their performance ... and appeared for an aftershow meet & greet with a couple dozen young Mauians associated with the Queen Liliuokalani Trust.

Members of the band have twice over the past few years held a horn clinic with five horn players from the Los Angeles-based band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy with King Kekaulike High School Jazz Band student musicians.  Glen Marhevka (trumpet), Andy Rowley, saxophone), Karl Hunter (clarinet & saxophone), Alex Henderson (trombone), and Tony Bonsera (trumpet) visited the Upcountry high school to share pointers on musicianship, horn-playing, and being part of a performing team. The musicians sampled some of the various types of jazz music, listened to a few pieces by the King K students and gave the students a few tips ... and then everybody jumped in and jammed on a tune together!   Many of the kids came to the performance in the Castle Theater the next night, and hooted & hollered for their new best friends and fellow horn players!   WATCH THE VIDEO!

King Kekaulike High School band instructor Casey Nagata had this to say: "The horn clinic was an amazing experience for my students and we're extremely grateful to Art and the MACC for giving us this opportunity. Being able to go to Tuesday's concert for free really made the students feel special and helped solidify and give context to what they had learned on Monday. At this age and with all the other electives, sports, video games, and activities competing for their free time, it's really important for young musicians to see and hear real live professional musicians to keep them inspired and excited about music. On top of that, it's great to have pros who want to outreach to the schools. Once my band could tell that BBVD was genuinely interested in them, they lost their nervousness and started having fun."

Maui Arts & Cultural Center in partnership with the Lana‘i Culture & Heritage Center hosted a free community performance by Moses Goods (Maui-born actor, writer and storyteller) at Lana'i school: a presentation of traditional Hawaiian storytelling, and performing arts. Earlier in the day, Moses had met with a group of Lana'i students, joined by 25 students from Pa‘ia Youth Center on Maui. He first told his own story: how he got involved in theater while in high school, which sparked an interest that has become his passion and profession. Students asked questions about theater/acting, and how Native Hawaiian traditions were researched. Moses shared that if native Hawaiians do not engage in telling their stories, others will; it is important to learn your traditions and to tell your own stories of your community. He then took the students on a journey through time, from Kaunolu and Kane‘apua, Lana‘i to Kahiki (the ancestral home land of the gods and people of Hawai‘i), by telling the Lana‘i-based story of Kane‘apua, then told the story of Kamapua‘a’s journey to Kahiki, and his battles with Ku‘ilioloa and Lonoka‘eho, and finally, the story of Hamumu, the Hawaiian whale rider. (see more photos HERE Lanai CHC) Moses Goods also enacted a similar program on Moloka'i with an educational presentation and a free community performance.

The 'Rough Riders': musicians Henry Kapono, Brother Noland and John Cruz ...  WATCH  THE ROUGH RIDERS VIDEO:  "A Day of Aloha"

In a full day of visits prior to his concert in Castle Theater that same night, we brought Jake Shimabukuro to these places: - Roselani Place, an assisted-living community, where he serenaded the seniors during their lunch.  - Aloha House (provides outpatient and residential treatment to individuals with addictions and comprehensive, family-centered behavioral health interventions). - Participants onsite with P.O.I. Program: Positive Outreach Intervention (assists juveniles who are learning about the consequences of negative choices) and the KALO Program (culturally-based curriculum to assist families with communication and parenting skills, building self-esteem, and making healthy choices)  Both programs facilitated by the Maui Police Department.  WATCH A VIDEO OF THE DAY

Shank's Mare   Our Artists in the Community program  featured an astounding number of residency activities with fifth generation Japanese puppet master Koryu Nishikawa V and Hawai'i-born puppet artist Tom Lee. Their production, Shank's Mare (in Castle Theater) is only the top of the glacier of activities:  over 1,800 children and adults in Maui County benefitted through three free community performances in Hana, Moloka'i and Lana'i and presentations by the cast in schools in those locations, as well as a special show for schoolchildren in Castle Theater at the MACC. Nishikawa and Lee also presented lecture-demonstrations in libraries statewide - including Kahului, Moloka'i and Lana'i - sponsored by the Performing Arts Presenters of Hawai'i, of which MACC is a member. Pictured above: puppetry at Kahului Library (left), and Tom Lee and Koryu Nishikawa in Molokai Library (right).
 

​​​​​​​The late Al Jarreau with students from Baldwin High School Performing Arts Program

A thousand Maui school children packed the house for a school show of the Hawaiian language story "Paka'a Lanakila" ( Paka'a the Winner), narrated by B.K. Cabigon accompanied by the Wind Quintet of Chamber Music Hawai'i, in an original composition by Jon Magnussen. This performance was a collaboration of cultures: a quintet of wind instruments gave a musical translation of an ancient Hawaiian tale from Kaua'i, while a narrator told the story in Hawaiian, and an English translation was projected so that all the audience might enjoy the 'olelo. A staff member remembers: "There really is nothing like hearing the Castle Theater full of all those excited young voices as they get ready for the lights to dim and the show to go on!"