For more than two weeks this summer, the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa welcomed 13 museum and heritage professionals from across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands to share knowledge, sharpen skills and reflect on shared challenges. CSEAS hosted the inaugural Face2Face Workshop of the Asia-Pacific Museum Exchange (APME)–at UH Mānoa, July 15–30.
Each day focused on a theme, from disaster planning and object-based storytelling to digital preservation and curating exhibitions. Sessions were led by local experts and held at institutions such as Bishop Museum, Honolulu Museum of Art, Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Hawaiʻi State Archives and Waikīkī Aquarium. The group also visited UH Mānoa resources such as the Hawaiian Pacific Collection, the Center for Oral History and the Campus Arboretum.
Hands-on activities were central. Participants crafted exhibit narratives from their own museum collections and also practiced digital storytelling. Talk story sessions with Hawaiʻi-based professionals, including those with Native Hawaiian heritage, sparked deep conversations on cultural resources, community engagement and digital access.
“This workshop brought together incredible regional expertise and local knowledge,” said Teri Skillman, associate director of CSEAS. “We were honored to host these professionals in Hawaiʻi and to witness the depth of mutual learning and collaboration that emerged. Our goal is to build a network across islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific that supports specialists in cultural and heritage institutions.”
Participants came from Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Palau, Solomon Islands, American Samoa, Saipan and Vanuatu. Their expertise ranged from collections care and exhibition design to cultural education, digital archives, and preservation of Indigenous knowledge.
Platform for collaboration, professional growth, peer support
The 16-day workshop was the first major in-person event since the program launched this spring with a virtual webinar series by the National Park Service’s Museum Management Program. Together, they form a growing platform for collaboration, professional growth and peer support.
APME is a program of the U.S. Department of State’s Heritage Exchange Initiative–a series of cultural heritage focused programs to strengthen ties between the United States and Pacific Island and Southeast Asian nations and build professional networks across the ocean we share. With support from the Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the U.S. National Park Service’s Museum Management Program and CSEAS developed and implemented APME via the Hawaiʻi-Pacific Islands Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU; Task Agreement P24AC00688).
