Halawai is run by an all volunteer board. Here's a bit more about us. And don't hesitate to get in touch!
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Kapena AlapaiKapena Alapai is the Project and Development Coordinator for Arts in a Changing America. Originally from Puʻuanahulu Hawaiʻi, he graduated from Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani Hawaiian Language College at University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and holds a Master’s degree in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute. He is a graphic artist, arts administrator, and cultural practitioner whose passions have always been centered around Art and Hawaiian Studies. With a background in arts and culture education, he is always looking for ways to connect these two fields. He works with passion, dedication, and an open mind to new possibilities that a strong collaboration can bring.
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Patti DankoPatti Danko was born and raised in Catasauqua, PA before moving to NYC on a graduate NYU fellowship.
She’s called NYC her second home and retired from the Department of Education as a Teacher of Special Education and Speech Pathologist, a career civil servant with a life long passion to helping others. She dances hula and enjoy fellowship with the Gracious Ladies of New York City, her hula sisters. Her love of Hawai’i, its people, culture, and traditions continues by developing connections throughout the islands. As a long time Hālāwai board member, most important to her include the Father Damien Way Street dedication where she worked alongside Kalaupapa residents, Flanders House and the Sisters of Saint Francis OSF, the arrival of the Hokule’a in 2016, taking the Moloka’i Saints to the Hawaiian Delegation at the Capital in DC in 2021, and the upcoming Brother Dutton celebration in Stowe VT in April and the Hālāwai Fall ‘23 Film Festival. “Meeting new people, maintaining these treasured friendships, learning, sharing and helping…these are my joys, in the Spirit of ALOHA! “ [email protected] |
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Kimo GeraldJames Adams Nakapaʻahu Gerald, always called Kimo--born and raised in Hilo, Hilo High graduate. Attended several colleges, eventually a degree from New York University in English/Humanities. Cub reporter Hilo Tribune Herald--hotel clerk--bookstore owner-- Company Manager on and off-Broadway and on the road---retired after 29 years as House Manager at Carnegie Hall. Original board member, Hawaiʻi Cultural Foundation & Hālāwai. Obsessions: Hawaiian language & culture, travel, cooking, gardening, French, Japanese, and writing about himself in the third person.
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Timothy Keali'i HoTimothy Keali'i Ho is the former Director of Choirs and Performing Arts Department Chair at the Kamehameha Schools - Kapālama, and he is currently the Director of Choirs and Music Department Chair at the Horace Mann School in New York City. Mentored by Randie Kamuela Fong while attending Kamehameha Schools and earning a Masters of Music in Enthnomusicology from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Tim's choral music curriculum at the Horace Mann School largely centers around Hawaiian musical traditions and concepts.
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Kris Kato (Pi`ikekainani)Kris Kato, Pi`i, has been a Hālāwai board member since Spring 2020. Kris moved from Hawai`i to New York over a decade ago. He is a Hawaiian chant practitioner who has achieved the title, Kahu Oli Lae O`o, having completed the `uniki rites of the Edith Kanaka`ole Foundation under the direction of Dr. Pualani Kanaka`ole Kanahele. He has shared chants for Hālāwai, Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, Indigenous People's Day with Te Ao Mana, Hui O Kaulana Mahina NYC, and Ka Lā Hoihoi Ea New York City. Kris works in film education and business storytelling. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Carol LauCarol Noelani is a Native Hawaiian, born and raised on O'ahu. She attended Kamehameha School in Kalihi as well as Punahou School and the University of Hawai'i, Manoa. She completed graduate school in NY, as a family nurse practitioner, and had a clinical practice for many years. She is currently the Administrative Director of Montefiore Comprehensive Family Care Center in the Bronx, the largest health center within the Montefiore network, and the main east campus training site for young physicians in various primary and specialty care services. She is a haumana of Kumu Vicky Holt-Takamine and co-organizer of the NY extension of halau, Pua Ali'i 'Ilima o Nuioka. Having participated on the board of Hawai'i Cultural Foundation in it's final years, and then Halawai, she is committed to serving our communities.
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Evalani PandaraoanEvalani Pandaroan, originally from Waipahu, crisscrossed North America before connecting with Hālāwai. She played an integral part in logistics and marketing for the New York City arrival of Hōkūle`a during the 2016 Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage. Diaspora activism for Evalani was first awakened a decade prior while serving as President for the Minority Law Students Association. Evalani counts chairing the Asian American Impact Fund Giving Circle among her philanthropic successes. Her past experiences living in Chicago, San Francisco, Portland and Memphis, offered her a window into serving the needs of different communities. Today she lends her big city attitude to the Freshman Success Academy at Campbell High School. Evalani remains a connected Hālāwai board member even after moving home to Hawai`i in June 2020.
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John-Mario SevillaJohn-Mario Sevilla, former director of 92Y Harkness Dance Center, Dance Education Laboratory and New York City Ballet Education, hails from Kaʻehu, Maui. John-Mario’s work has appeared in New York City at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, LaMaMa, NYU Steinhardt, Movement Research at Judson Church, 92Y Harkness Dance Center, Dance Theatre Workshop, Columbia University, ABC No Rio, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, The Asia Society, Bronx Academy of Art and Dance, as well as at universities throughout the country. John-Mario is a student of the hula with Kumu Hōkūlani Holt and Kumu June Ka‘ililani Tanoue.
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Roberta Māpuana UnoBorn in Honolulu and raised in Los Angeles, Roberta Māpuana Uno is a theater director and Director of Arts in a Changing America. From 2002-2013 U.S. Arts and Culture portfolio for the Ford Foundation as the Senior Program Officer, Arts and Culture. She was the Founder and Artistic Director of the New WORLD Theater 1979-2002, and Professor, Directing and Dramaturgy, in the UMass Amherst Department of Theater. Her theater works include directing and co-creating I Land, written and performed by Keo Woolford and most recently directed Try/Step/Trip by Dahlak Brathwaite. A haumana of Kumu Hula Vicky Holt Takamine, she co- leads hālau Pua Aliʻi ʻIlima o Nūioka and is a haumana ʻŌlelo Hawai'i of Kumu Naʻilima Gaison. She also served 2018 and 2019 as the Artistic Director, ʻŌlino Arts, for the Liliʻuokalani Trust, developing summer performing arts pilots for Native Hawaiian youth on Oʻahu and Maui.
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Andy WangAndy Wang is a Managing Partner at Runnymede Capital Management and host of Inspired Money, named by Forbes as a Top 10 Personal Finance Podcast. His Hawaiian name, Kūlana, was given to him by songwriter, hula teacher and Hawaiian cultural authority, Auntie Nona Beamer. Andy has performed Hawaiian music, solo or with other musicians, at a variety of events and venues in the New York tri-state area and Hawaii. His music has been featured by Hawaiian Airlines and national television networks.
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Lotus Wailana WongLotus Wailana Wong has been on the Hālāwai board since 2007. She has served on numerous steering committees for Hālāwai events and currently administers the social media for the organization. In addition, she facilitates the Hālāwai Hula Council, a group of New York hula groups and practitioners originally formed to perform the welcome protocol for the arrival of the Hōkūleʻa in 2016. Her upbringing in New York, legal background and ties to Hawaiʻi complement the board membership.
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Stacey Onipa'a Young
Stacey "`Onipa`a" Young is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area with roots in Hilo, Hawai`i. She has danced for Kumu Hula Vicky Holt-Takamine, the late Kumu Hula Tatiana Kaneholani, and The Spirit of Polynesia's James Kimo Barid. Stacey is proud to represent a family legacy of public service, business administration, and operational management. Professionally, Stacey is a Product Leader in the AdTech industry, where she has worked to set industry guidelines, and holds technology patents in the US and EU. She is a New York resident since 2014 and joined the Hālāwai board in Spring 2020.
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