Halau gets grant for Palau fest

Advertiser Staff

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has awarded a $37,000 grant to support the Festival of Pacific Arts, July 22-31 in Koror, Palau.

The grant was awarded to Halau Haloa, the nonprofit organization that assembled the Hawai'i delegation to the event, which is the ninth festival held since 1972. It will help cover travel costs for the more than 60 artists traveling to Palau to present various aspects of Hawaiian culture.

The halau will showcase a selection of the arts they will take to the festival in a free presentation, noon to 2 p.m. July 3 at Windward Mall.

The festival, held every four years in a different Pacific island nation, includes more than 2,000 participants from 27 countries who share dance, music and applied and visual arts.

Halau Haloa, the National Academy of Performing and Visual Artists, was founded in 1998 to organize the delegation to the eighth festival in 2000, held in New Caledonia.

The artists this year include Likeke Bell; the men of Ka Pa Hula O Ka Lani; the women of Halau Mohala 'Ilima; Halau Hanakeaka, a Hawaiian language theater troupe; and Ka 'Ohana 'O Ni'ihau.