Shelly Lowe, the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is on Oʻahu to attend the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture as Hawaiʻi hosts for the first time.
Lowe, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, heads the federal grantmaking agency that supports culture, heritage, education and civic work across the United States.
Some liken her to a fairy godmother who gets to fund some of the most interesting cultural programs that aim to enrich our lives. Grants go to cultural institutions like museums, libraries, digital projects and universities.
Lowe stopped by The Conversation on Tuesday to discuss projects the federal agency hopes to fund across the Pacific.
"On Saturday, we are going to be hosting an event where our councils through the Pacific Islands are going to sign a memorandum of understanding to create the Pacific Island Cultural Initiative and to create a network where they will be able to share information, they will be able to share resources among the islands, knowledge, some of that knowledge that we just talked about. They're going to do work that will amplify Pacific voices, not just in the work that they're doing, but also nationally for all of us," she told HPR.
She said the initiative would also look specifically at cultural protection, climate resilience, building capacity and professional development.
"We're going to be supporting this. We've supported this with about $1.3 million to help them really do this work. Some of that does include funding to help with the recovery of the Maui fires and some of the recovery from Typhoon Mawar in Guåhan," Lowe added.
"We're really kind of trying to shine a big bright spotlight on the work that the Pacific Islands are doing, the knowledge that they hold, and bring them together so that they can just strengthen all of that work."
FestPAC officially kicks off Thursday and runs for the next 10 days. The largest gathering of Pacific Islanders is anticipated to draw 100,000-plus people and over 2,100 delegates from 25 Pacific nations and territories.
"One of the things that we're going to be doing is hosting a panel with some funders. And it'll be, you know, government entities, but it'll also be foundations that will be doing, you know, some interesting work, I hope, coming to listen, to talk about what are the issues, where are the areas that we can be funding and supporting the work that's happening in the Pacific Islands, and how can we really join together and say, this is important work, and we need to fund it and create new opportunities," Lowe told HPR.
This interview aired on The Conversation on June 5, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
