Wailuku Storytelling Project
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, SMALL TOWN * BIG ART (ST*BA) was able to pivot the scope of our work to transform community engagement opportunities in a world shaped by the coronavirus through the incorporation of virtual technology, online participation, and a focus on the stories that hold each work of public art firmly rooted in its sense of place within Wailuku.
Hands-on artist workshops and talk-story sessions that once generated shared imagery and physical exchange have given way to micro documentaries capturing the conversations that build the cumulative artwork: Eric Okdeh's Ma kāhi o ka hana he ola malaila (where work is, there is life) and Avi Molinas' Legacy Series project films offer examples of the many different perspectives that each work of public art has encapsulated, (view each film at smalltownbig.org/films). Through this alternative approach of collecting community impressions, ideas and context, we leaned deeper into the watchful process of capturing each story: in building history.
Following two years of planning and research, ST*BA artist Leilehua Yuen of Hilo, HI, presented her first in a series of virtual storytelling workshops on April 28, 2021. Joined by haumana from Maui Academy of Performing Arts, Kamehameha Schools Maui, Mauna Kahālāwai, Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House Museum/ Maui Historical Society, Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission and Lahaina Restoration Foundation, the group explored the purposes of storytelling, the value of the search for knowledge, and encoding that knowledge in moʻolelo. As the concepts held within this artist residency began to take root, a multitude of relationships and ideas began to unfold.
Today, we are making BIG progress toward our goal to create a story bank from which artists of all disciplines can pull inspiration to create works of public art that celebrate our history, culture and sense of place -- with the longer-term vision of creating an oral histories archive by and for the larger community.
Currently, this work entails the following components:
Hands-on artist workshops and talk-story sessions that once generated shared imagery and physical exchange have given way to micro documentaries capturing the conversations that build the cumulative artwork: Eric Okdeh's Ma kāhi o ka hana he ola malaila (where work is, there is life) and Avi Molinas' Legacy Series project films offer examples of the many different perspectives that each work of public art has encapsulated, (view each film at smalltownbig.org/films). Through this alternative approach of collecting community impressions, ideas and context, we leaned deeper into the watchful process of capturing each story: in building history.
Following two years of planning and research, ST*BA artist Leilehua Yuen of Hilo, HI, presented her first in a series of virtual storytelling workshops on April 28, 2021. Joined by haumana from Maui Academy of Performing Arts, Kamehameha Schools Maui, Mauna Kahālāwai, Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House Museum/ Maui Historical Society, Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission and Lahaina Restoration Foundation, the group explored the purposes of storytelling, the value of the search for knowledge, and encoding that knowledge in moʻolelo. As the concepts held within this artist residency began to take root, a multitude of relationships and ideas began to unfold.
Today, we are making BIG progress toward our goal to create a story bank from which artists of all disciplines can pull inspiration to create works of public art that celebrate our history, culture and sense of place -- with the longer-term vision of creating an oral histories archive by and for the larger community.
Currently, this work entails the following components:
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In March 2021, we met with StoryCorps to assemble a training of its DIY collection of multimedia resources in order to embed their state-of-the-art practices into our own community. StoryCorps is a national oral history program whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs. Modeled—in spirit and in scope—after the efforts of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of the 1930s, through which oral history interviews across the United States were recorded, StoryCorps has developed a mobile app that allows users to upload pre-recorded interviews to its official archive; the largest born-digital collection of human voices housed at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. View our StoryCorps Archive page HERE.
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ST*BA artist Leilehua Yuen met with Wailuku haumāna virtually from her Hilo home on four occasions between April and July 2021 to instill her knowledge of storytelling and prepare participants to apply, teach and advance the art form towards the creation of an oral histories repository. In these interactive workshops, Leilehua presents a storytelling performance followed by an exploration of the concepts instilled in her research materials: the purposes of storytelling, the value of the search for knowledge, and encoding that knowledge in moʻolelo. She then asks each haumāna to do the same, with the goal of sharing these stories live for the Wailuku community. In April 2022, Leilehua began a second round with our expanding storytelling hui -- each of whom will be paired with kūpuna for an audio-recorded "Talk Story" upon completion of this workshop series. Learn more at smalltownbig.org/leilehua.
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In May 2021, we developed a new partnership with Akakū Maui Community Media, an independent, non-profit corporation established in 1992 to promote the creation of media by, for and about our community, who offered professional-grade recording studio space, equipment and technicians to ST*BA storytelling workshop participants during one-on-one, intergenerational "Talk Story" interviews (e.g. ʻōpio and kūpuna). 7 pairings of participants engaged in a 40-minute cross-interview session which Akakū condensed into three-minute story segments. Full recordings were uploaded to the StoryCorps Archive, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, the ST*BA website and the Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House Museum/ Maui Historical Society archive. During the Fall 2021 ST*BA call-to-artists process, prospective artists were asked to base public art applications off of a story of their choosing from this collection.
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In August 2021, ST*BA welcomed new partner Ball State University, Center for Emerging Media Design and Development (EMDD) of Muncie, Indiana to the team for a nine-month collaborative project in transmedia journalism. As the Masters Thesis Project of 8 international EMDD graduate students, the team deployed highly iterative techniques in empathy research, transmedia storytelling, and user experience research under the direct supervision of Photojournalist and Documentary Photographer Kevin Moloney, Ph.D. This project has become the capstone of their course of study, as they explored the ST*BA "problem-space" of building the Wailuku story, creating a story bank, making that bank publicly accessible, and inspiring/ motivating usage, practice and application. Learn more about their resulting Small Town, Big Stories project, which was released in April 2022, at smalltownbig.org/smalltownbigstories.
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In October 2021, Wailuku-based Poetry Slammaster Heather Knowles Negaard led a free workshop to offer insight into the stories of Wailuku's younger generation. The artist introduced a small group of interested teens to spoken word performances (slam poetry), helped each begin to develop their own poetic/performance voices and encouraged them to showcase their experiences through the unique lens of growing up on Maui. Students from all areas of Maui were welcome to participate, and ST*BA partners Sabado Studios - workspace of celebrated Wailuku artist Phil Sabado - offered the use of its space at a deep discount. Nine students (and some proud parents!) participated, representing H.P. Baldwin High School, Kamehameha, Kīhei Charter School, Seabury Hall and King Kekaulike High School.
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We then opened a new dialogue with the Moʻolelo Group to explore the potential production of a live, socially-distanced event at the site of the Lanakila Creations Wailuku Mural, created in 2012 during First Friday with community participation, where each story from the above methods can be performed before audiences - or - where the initial concept of ʻōpio and kūpuna cross-interviews take place live for the first time. Stay tuned for developments as the world re-opens for gatherings and celebration! |
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In October 2021, we released a call for artist proposals through which applicants submitted ideas to bring one or more of our intergenerational "Talk Story" recordings to life through a work of visual, performing or experiential public art. The opportunity drew the attention of exceptional entrants, the following of whom were selected to co-create artwork with the ST*BA team and community consultants:
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In April 2022, we were approached by the makers of the HearHere mobile app to explore collaboration opportunities for our common goal of creating place-based stories. The project was co-founded by Kevin Costner, prompted by his passion to preserve and share stories of indigenous peoples and communities. As we continue to explore storytelling with Kumu Leilehua Yuen, pair her haumana with kūpuna to generate audio recordings that preserve the people, places and events that distinguish our Maui communities, and support collaborative public artwork created with community members and professional artists, we will determine the potential for sharing the resulting conversations with our new friends at HearHere. |