Bishop Museum Awarded OHA ʻAhahui Grant for POW! WOW!: Arts Night at Bishop Museum

Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) to support POW! WOW!: Arts Night at Bishop Museum.

Bishop Museum recently opened its newest exhibition, POW! WOW! The First Decade: From Hawaiʻi to the World, presented by Hawaiian Airlines in its Castle Memorial Building. The exhibition celebrates 10 years of POW! WOW! and provides a contemporary art experience that bridges culture, creative expression, and indigenous perspectives showcasing some of the most notable street artists and sculptors from Hawaiʻi and around the world.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Bishop Museum will hold an Arts Night for keiki and ʻohana to explore different art forms and engage in art activities with exhibit co-curators Jasper Wong and Kamea Hadar, as well as local artists.

The event will feature:

• Open access to the POW! WOW! exhibition in the Castle Memorial Building, as well as Hawaiian Hall
• POW! WOW! exhibition creators on-site to discuss their art
• Art activities facilitated by Art Explorium
• Pop-up activies throughout the Museum's 15-acre campus, including sidewalk chalk art, and mural-painting with exhibition artists

POW! WOW!: Arts Night at Bishop Museum will be held in late August, after regular museum hours to welcome ʻohana and their keiki to the Museum after work and school.

While similar Bishop Museum events have involved a reduced admission fee, POW! WOW!: Arts Night at Bishop Museum will be free to the public.

"Bishop Museum's kuleana is the preservation and perpetuation of the culture, history, and natural environment of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. An important part of this is the sharing of art – not only connecting the art of our islands' histories with today's contemporary artists, but also inspiring the next generation of artists and creators," said Brandon Bunag, Bishop Museum's acting vice president of public programming and director of education.

"POW! WOW!: Arts Night at Bishop Museum enables local ʻohana and keiki to not only view and experience art of many types and forms at Bishop Museum, but also take part in it, explore their imagination, and express their creativity. We are very grateful for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and its ʻAhahui Grant for their support of this event, and of art in Hawaiʻi. We are also thankful for POW! WOW! founder Jasper Wong and his team for helping to facilitate this event, and being accessible to meet and work with the young artists who will be attending."

While Arts Night's target audience is families with children, all lifelong learners and art enthusiasts are welcome to attend. Bishop Museum is especially inviting Native Hawaiian ʻohana, keiki, and other community members to take part in Arts Night, and will be leveraging its communications channels, relationships, and partnerships to extend the invitation, with particular focus on outreach to schools with high percentages of Native Hawaiian students.

The date and time of POW! WOW!: Arts Night at Bishop Museum will be confirmed in the coming weeks, with updates provided via its social media channels (@BishopMuseum) and via the POW! WOW! exhibition webpage, BishopMuseum.org/PowWow.

About POW! WOW!:

The name POW! WOW! was inspired by the color-filled pages of comic books. "POW!" being the impact that art has on a person. And "WOW!" being the reaction that art has on a viewer. Together they form POW! WOW!, (pow wow), which is a Native American term that describes a gathering that celebrates culture, music, and art. It spoke to the core of POW! WOW!'s mission to beautify, educate, and bring people together through art.

Over the past decade, POW! WOW! has grown into a global network of artists and has organized mural festivals across the globe. As of today, it holds festivals in over 17 cities and brings over a 100 international and local artists together to create murals and beautify communities.

About OHA's ʻAhahui Grant:

OHA's ʻAhahui Grants program provides funding to support eligible organizations hosting community events that benefit the Native Hawaiian community and align with OHA's Strategic Plan. For more information about the ʻAhahui Grant and the Grants Program, please Oha.org/Grants.

About the Office of Hawaiian Affairs:

Established by the state Constitutional Convention in 1978, OHA is a semi-autonomous state agency mandated to better the conditions of Native Hawaiians. Guided by a board of nine publicly elected trustees, OHA fulfills its mandate through advocacy, research, community engagement, land management and the funding of community programs. Learn more at Oha.org.