Bank of Hawaii Foundation Pledges $75,000 to Bishop Museum
The Bank of Hawaii Charitable Foundation has pledged a capital grant in the amount of $75,000 towards Bishop Museum ’s Hawaiian Hall Restoration Project. The Foundation will present the award check on June 26 at 11:30 a.m. in Hawaiian Hall to Mike Chinaka , Interim President of Bishop Museum; Dr. Yosihiko Sinoto, K. P. Emory Chair of Anthropology; and Patience Namaka Bacon, Senior Cultural Advisor. Presenting the grant will be Al Landon, Bank of Hawaii Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Donna Tanoue, Vice Chairman and Charitable Foundation President.
(Media-Newswire.com) - The Bank of Hawaii Charitable Foundation has pledged a capital grant in the amount of $75,000 towards Bishop Museum ’s Hawaiian Hall Restoration Project. The Foundation will present the award check on June 26 at 11:30 a.m. in Hawaiian Hall to Mike Chinaka , Interim President of Bishop Museum; Dr. Yosihiko Sinoto, K. P. Emory Chair of Anthropology; and Patience Namaka Bacon, Senior Cultural Advisor. Presenting the grant will be Al Landon, Bank of Hawaii Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Donna Tanoue, Vice Chairman and Charitable Foundation President. The award presentation will be followed by a guided preview tour of the progress to date on the Hawaiian Hall renovation project.
“The grant will be used to help fund the $21 million massive restoration of Bishop Museum’s main galleries in Hawaiian Hall, including new, world-class exhibits showcasing the Bishop Museum’s priceless collection of Hawaiian treasures,“ says Amy Miller Marvin , Vice President for Institutional Advancement.
The Bank of Hawaii Charitable Foundation is committed to supporting non-profit organizations involved in improving the quality of life, health, and well-being of the people and the neighborhoods throughout the communities it serves in Hawai‘i, American Samoa, and the West Pacific.
“Bank of Hawaii is proud to support the Hawaiian Hall Restoration Project. Bishop Museum has a special role in preserving and sharing the stories of Hawai‘i and the Pacific,” says Landon.
The Hawaiian Hall Restoration Project began in June 2006 and is expected to take more than 2 years to complete. The $21 million renovation is the first ma jo r renovation of the iconic building in more than 100 years. Ralph Appelbaum Associates, a world-renowned museum planning and design firm whose credits include the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Heard Museum , and the American Museum of Natural History, are spearheading the reinstallation team. Cultural advisors and Museum staff are ensuring that Native Hawaiian voices and perspectives will be heard throughout the Hall so that visitors will gain deeper insights into the Hawaiian culture as they move through the new interactive displays.
The Hawaiian Hall re-installation project will emphasize the Hawaiian oral traditions, both spoken and written forms. The design interpretations will be informed by the concept of kaona, or layers of meaning, from first to the third floors, offering deeper meanings as visitors move up through the building. The first phase of the renovation project is expected to be completed in January 2009.
Bishop Museum has the largest collection of Hawai’i and Pacific area artifacts in the world; however, many of the most precious items are unable to be displayed due to Hawaiian Hall’s unacceptable conditions—including natural light and open-air ventilation—that result from its original 1889 design. The first priority of the renovation will be to restore Hawaiian Hall and bring it up to modern conservation and accessibility standards, so that the Museum’s many Hawaiian treasures can be displayed.
The renovation and restoration project aims to modernize Hawaiian Hall’s interpretation, bringing multiple voices and a Native Hawaiian perspective to the Museum’s treasures. Hawaiian Hall will convey the essential values, beliefs, complexity, and achievements of Hawaiian culture, and look at Hawaiian history through Hawaiian eyes.
The interpretation of the Hawaiian Hall exhibits will reflect a special sensitivity to Native Hawaiian culture and values and will demonstrate a world-class approach to the presentation of cultural materials in contemporary museums. A flexible display system will enable the Museum to exhibit more of its fragile and beautiful artifacts in a setting that emphasizes their beauty, power and mana ( spirit ) from the place in which they were created.
First Floor ~ Kai Âkea
Visitors will enter the realm of Kai Âkea, and the world of pre-contact Hawai’i on the first floor of Hawaiian Hall. Here visitors learn about the legends of old, and see how religion permeated the daily lives of ancient Hawaiians.
Second Floor ~ Wao Kanaka
The second floor will introduce visitors to the realm of Wao Kanaka and the importance of the land and nature to Native Hawaiians. Daily life and cultural traditions are explored and enhanced through contemporary voices and practices.
Third Floor ~ Wao Lani
Visitors find a changing and dynamic Hawai’i on the third floor, the realm of Wao Lani. On this level, visitors discover the enduring resilience of Native Hawaiians, the ali’i ( royalty ) and their traditions. They will look past the romance of the islands to the inspiring stories of those who have held steadfast, and to the complexity of modern Hawaiian life.
Picture Gallery
The Picture Gallery will be restored as a window into the nineteenth century. Pieces from the Museum’s extraordinary collection of oil paintings and rare books from the museum library will be displayed on a rotating basis.
Artifacts will be displayed in ways that pay tribute to and respect their inherent power. The development of exhibits and mounting techniques will reflect traditional uses of artifacts. Some large, free-standing artifacts, like the heiau, hale and ki’i, will remain in positions of importance and be displayed with minimal railing barriers to maintain a feeling of openness, yet discourage touching. Other large objects, like the canoes and sperm whale, will remain in hanging positions.
For more information about Bishop Museum ’s Hawaiian Hall Restoration Project, call ( 808 ) 847-3511 or visit www.bishopmuseum.org. For more information about Bank of Hawaii Foundation, visit https://www.boh.com.
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