Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 11, 1 November 2013 — A place to live -- and create art -- in Kakaʻako [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A place to live -- and create art -- in Kakaʻako

By Lynn Cook Kumu Hula Vicky Holt īakamine is the executive director of PA'I Foundation and the visionary who is moving to create a thriving arts community, in the heart of Kaka'ako, that she calls livable, workable and walkahle. She is the force behind Ola Ka 'Ilima Artspace Lofts, taking it from the plaee of concept and dreamto a reality in Hawai'i. The 1025 Waimanu St. property is secured, leased to Artspace through the Hawai'i Community Development Authority. Plans are drawn, permitting in plaee, with a plan to break ground in 2014. The 80-unit residential component of the building creates affordable live/work space that allows current and aspiring artists and their families to have a "home base" where they ean be more productive, more collaborative and eam more from their artistic work. The mix of artist/residents will be multiethnic, multigenerational and multidisciplinary. The residential units are designed with high ceilings, large windows, durable surfaces, large doors and hallways where materials, equipment and sculpture ean easily move in and out. PA'I is working with Hawai'i Housing Finance and Development Corp. to complete the low-ineome tax credit applieahon. Seattle-based Cathryn Vandenbrink, vice president of properties for the 32 nationwide Artspace locations, describes the project as targeting people making between 50 percent and 60 percent of area median ineome, meaning that a family of four making $50,000 a year or less would qualify. She says that eaeh tenant will be

involved in creative arts with a qualified in-house committee charged with screening and selection. Beyond the resident artists, Vandenbrink says, "It is not just about who gets to be in the space, but more about the art community it will create with exhibition and performance space." She describes the newly formed community as a plaee of permanence. "Our belief is that paying for living space and then for studio space takes away from creativity. Often the studio space is in old buildings, about to be torn down. Artspace eliminates that eoneem." Traveling to various Artspace cities, she visits Hawai'i every six weeks and says, "We are not just involved with Hawai'i, we are completely engaged and committed to making this a success." With eaeh visit Vandenbrink becomes more familiar with the Hawai'i arts scene, "a good thing," she says, "because I amlearning about the multiethnie makeup of the arts community and the quality of the artists of Hawai'i, distanced from the mainland art scene by thousands of miles of oeean." īakamine says Kaka'ako is the ideal plaee for Artspace, describing it as the arts corridor of O'ahu. "It begins with the art energy flowing from

Spaulding House in Makiki Heights, through the Honolulu Museum of Art and its art school at Linekona. Then you have the Blaisdell complex of performance and exhibition space, the Hawai'i State Art Museum and the shops, galleries and studios in the Ward shopping district and the Kaka'ako area. Just imaa-

ine all that energy flowing toward Kaka'ako and the home of the PA'I Arts & Culture Center." īakamine discovered the Minnesota-based Artspace national organization and invited it to visit Hawai'i. A Ford Foundation grant assisted

with the site visit. īakamine laughs as she tells and re-tells the story of her visit to the Seattle Artspace, "One look and I turned and said: 'I want one of these, how do I get one? Can you eome to Hawai'i and build me one?' " Of the 10,000 square feet of the Hawai'i project's community space, Artspace and PA'I Foundation are planning to use 4,000 square feet as the home for a Native Hawaiian cultural center, known as the PA'I Arts & Culture Center, and 2,000 square feet for arts-related businesses. An additional 10,000 square feet of green space will include a courtyard, playground and work space. Adding a new voice to the program, PA'I Foundation hired Ed Bourgeois as managing director/ development officer. Most recently serving as director of puhlie programs at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, he is the former director of the Anchorage Opera. He says, "My job is to learn the community and to make sure PA'I Foundation is ready to take the leap. "We are fundraising and 'friendraising,' forming partnerships and buy-ins and making sure every permit is in plaee." He says onee they looked at Artspace in other states they could see they were beehives of activity, noting that PA'I has to be ready. "Vicky will continue to lead her hula hālau, produce the MAMo, Maoli Arts Month events, concerts and hula outreach to other states and countries while we weave a network to support and grow Artspace." Partnering with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, on Saturday, Nov. 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., īakamine will introduce Artspace to the Kaka'ako neighborhood. Calling it "sudden impact," she has gathered businesses, merchants, community members and organizations for a daylong event for the entire family. Heahh, music, kōnane tournament challenges, art in action, fashions and food, and hula will fill the Kaka'ako Makai Gateway Park between Cooke and 'Ohe streets. ■ Lynn Cook is a loeal freelance joumalist sharing the arts and cultnre ofHawai'i with a glohal auāienee.

PA'I Kaka'ako Arts & Music Fest Learn more about the planneel Ola Ka 'llima Artspace Lofts project at this free, family friendly event sponsored in part by 0HA. When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9 Where: Kaka'ako Makai Gateway Park, near the Hawai'i Children's Discovery Center lnfo: paifoundation.org or 792-0890

EC0N0MIC SELFSUFFIGIENGY

Renderings of the planned Ola Ka 'llima Artspace Lofts, left, and the courtyard, above. - Courtesy: Urban Works ine.