Each year, the MacArthur Foundation awards fellowships to a handful of people at the top of their fields from science to the arts. It's an honor that falls like pennies from heaven.
This year's recipients included Patrick Makuakāne, a kumu hula and cultural preservationist based in San Francisco. He was born and raised in Honolulu.
The foundation honored him for "blending traditional hula with contemporary music and movements and uplifting Hawaiian culture and history." The fellowships come with an $800,000 grant paid over five years.
"This will enable me to engage in opportunities and collaborations with fellow Native Hawaiian artists whose work that I really admire and that inspire me," Makuakāne told The Conversation. "It's a win-win for both of us and there are really some wonderful people that I can't wait to share their artistry with the world."
The other 2023 fellows include environmental engineers, lawyers and mathematicians. Fellows are picked solely through nominations. There are no applications.
"And then there's hula. And you know what? Hula does the same thing. It's just as important as all those other disciplines and that makes me really, really proud — proud of hula, proud of my culture," Makuakāne said.
"I stand on the shoulders of so many people and I cannot even express the gratitude that I have to the countless people who have helped to get me to this point where I am today, and really to San Francisco, who provided me a place where I felt unshackled, but yet always grounded by Hawaiʻi," he added.
In 2022, Makuakāne and his hālau, Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu, collaborated with Hawaiian māhū artists to create the hula production, "Māhū." (Past interview on The Conversation with Makuakāne)
This interview aired on The Conversation on Oct. 6, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
