Themed Pupukahi i Holomua “Working Together to Move Forward," WMA descended on Honolulu September 23-26, 2011 with unprecedented cosponsorships with HMA, Association of Tribal Archives Libraries, and Museums (ATALM), and Pacific Islands Museums Association (PIMA). Over 600 registered attendees came from as far as Louisiana, and Alaska, Fiji and Australia made for incredible learning and networking opportunities.
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| A traditional Hawaiian 'awa (kava) ceremony to officially open and welcome all the sponsoring organizations and their membership. |
Pre-conference day offered an array of professional development workshops, a day tour of Pearl Harbor, and ended with an evening reception at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. During the first conference day at the Hawai‘i Convention Center, Manulani Aluli Meyer, Associate Professor of Education at University of Hawai‘i, Hilo, and currently in New Zealand working for Te Wananga o Aotearoa, gave a thoughtful and powerful keynote titled, Our Collective Remembering: Five (K)new Ideas for World Transformation. The day continued with fourteen concurrent sessions topped with five different receptions to choose from at Shangri La, The Contemporary Museum, The Liljestrand House, Queen Emma Summer Palace, ‘Iolani Palace, Mission Houses Museum, and UH’s Ka Waihona o ka Na‘auao Kamakauokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies.
The following day started with Ralph Regenvanu, MP Minister of Justice and Community, Vanuatu, speaking about the innovative cultural and economic initiatives in his country and region. After 26 concurrent panel sessions and affinity lunches, participants enjoyed an evening at Bishop Museum. Following days of sharing ideas and meeting new friends, the conference came to a bittersweet close. Overall many people were happy to experience a part of Hawai‘i and were impressed with how rich the panel sessions were since many focused on the indigenous cultures of Native Hawaiians, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, and First Nations. The next WMA Annual Meeting will take place in Palm Springs, California, from October 21 to 24, 2012.  |
| Speake Ralph Regenvanu |
HMA Board Directors would like to thank the many members who worked over the last two years on the HMA Host and Program Committees, and to member institutions for hosting the many day and evening events. HMA was the recipient of several grants to help bring WMA to Honolulu, we thank them:
$5,000- Cooke Foundation, Ltd.
$5,000- Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts, the City and County of Honolulu
$4,000- Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities
$1,000- Shangri La, the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art
For their in-kind support over the past two years, the Hawai‘i Convention Center and staff.
