A University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College delegation visited The Evergreen State College in Washington state to explore a model of an indigenous arts program at Evergreen’s Indigenous Arts Campus and Native Programs curriculum.
“We’re here at Evergreen on a mission,” said Taupōuri Tangarō, professor of Hawaiʻi life styles at Hawaiʻi CC. “Evergreen has always inspired us and we’re here to celebrate this inspiration as we prepare to deliver our Hawaiian indigenous arts program for the advancement of indigenous well-being.”
Hawaiʻi CC will host a 2019 indigenous arts summer symposium as the first step in gauging community interest and support in the proposed program.
“The proposed program will pilot a focus on indigenous arts in anticipation that it will grow into a two-year community college program with pathways to a four-year degree,” says Gail Makuakāne-Lundin, director of the UH System Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao and interim executive assistant to the UH Hilo chancellor. Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao is a UH work committee with representatives from each campus, that is tasked with helping to make UH a leader in indigenous education.
“The University of Hawaiʻi welcomes ways to study indigenous cultures as contributors to society instead of simple observations of their art,” added Makuakāne-Lundin.
Go to UH Hilo Stories for the full article.
—By Susan Enright
