Change is coming to the Hawai‘i State Art Museum.
Karen Ewald was hired last month as the executive director of the Hawai‘i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, the agency that oversees the museum. The 41-year-old comes from the museum world, with nearly a decade of experience at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Ewald is now responsible for the foundation's $10.3 million operating budget and a network of art programs across the state. She will also need to navigate the Legislature as she competes for funds with other state departments — and in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires.
"I do not take this position lightly at all, and it can be very daunting," she said.
Ewald came to HiSAM in 2014 as the director of the museum and the Art in Public Places Program, in which she was in charge of acquiring art and distributing it to locations statewide. She succeeds former Executive Director Allison Wong, who resigned in January after the Board of Commissioners placed her on administrative leave last year.
Ewald is under a five-year contract, making $140,000 a year.
Ewald has already started shaking things up by rebranding HiSAM to Capitol Modern, which garnered mixed public reactions.
But her new position comes as the agency plans to revamp its strategic plan, outlining the museum's vision for the next five years.
Ewald said her priorities are to increase public awareness about the foundation's various programs, seek more grants outside of legislative funding, provide arts education for local students under the Arts First Partners program, and secure a vendor for the museum's cafe.
She also hopes to create more adequate ADA ramps and a space for vehicles to park while dropping off visitors.
Although Ewald is familiar with the museum operations, she must ask the Legislature for funds that would initially go toward supporting local artists and public artworks.
"The biggest challenge that I'll face and will continue to face is getting the legislation and the community to really understand what we do for them and what more we can do with their help and input," she said.
Earlier this year, state lawmakers introduced a bill due to concerns about whether all museum's extensive collections are out to the public. The legislation, which the governor vetoed, would have allowed publicly-owned art to be showcased in private spaces.
The museum has more than 7,000 artworks that have rotated across the state. Ewald said most art pieces are available to the public, but 11% need conservation.
"To address the question of if we have works of art that we store away because we don't know what to do with it or we acquire, and just don't know how to rotate it, that's not actually true," she said. "We rotate that art constantly, and we have a pretty small team within the state foundation that does that, but they work really hard."
The museum's agency was created in the 1960s to promote and support arts and culture across the state.
The museum was created in 2002 and shares a building with the Department of Accounting and General Services, which the agency is attached to.
Hawaiʻi was the first state to adopt the percent-for-art law in 1967. The law requires 1% of the construction costs from state buildings to go to the art agency. They will use the funds to acquire more art and showcase it publicly.
Ewald said that the money the foundation receives from the 1% fluctuates yearly. According to the agency's budget, roughly $5.5 million is allocated to the special fund each year.
"We want the money to get out there," she said. "We want to buy works of art from local artists, commission artists, and education interpretation."
While the state art agency is responsible for managing $10.3 million, $7.5 million goes to the Bishop Museum and $2 million goes to ʻIolani Palace, leaving the foundation with more than $800,000.
Ewald said she is still working on her budget request to the Legislature. She plans to ask for money to fund the arts through a healing program in response to the Maui wildfires.
It was a borrowed idea from Puerto Rico after the 2022 hurricane devastated the islands. It lets victims create art as a way of therapy.
"I'm assuming that the legislative session is going to be focused on support for the Maui Nui folks," she said. "We know that the arts and culture community were impacted, and it's a ripple effect. We want to be able to respond if we can."
Ewald said she always had a passion for art, although she emphasized that she wasn't good at it.
Ewald described her leadership style as inclusive.
"My door is always open," she said. "I want to be there to talk about anything that people want to bring up to me, even if it's difficult. It's OK. I'm not afraid of confronting issues."
Ewald said the strategic plan will be ready for public input next year.
