Celebrate Micronesia Festival 2023: Resilience

Saturday, May 20, 2023
9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Campuswide

Discounted Museum Admission for kamaʻāina and military with ID – $5 per person
Members: Free with pre-registration and member card
Pre-registration is strongly recommended.
Parking on campus: $5 per vehicle

Bishop Museum, in partnership with Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Center, celebrates the resilience of our Micronesian cultures and Pacific communities. The annual Celebrate Micronesia Festival showcases traditional and contemporary art, dance, fashion, stories, poetry, food, and music of the people and cultures of the Republic of Palau, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, Guåhan (Guam), Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Kiribati and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Program Timeline

9 a.m. Opening & Welcoming Remarks
9:30 – 11:00 am | Performances + Storytelling

• Sakau Pounding Ceremony and Pacific Voices
• Chuuk Language and Culture School
• BYUH I-Kiribati Club
• Waipahu High School: Rising from our Roots
• Mic4Peace

11:00 am | Featured Panel: The Madau Project
11:40 – 1:00 pm | Performances + Poetry

• Palauan Chanting
• Chamorro and Pohnpeian Poetry
• Chuuk Language and Culture School
• Waipahu High School: Rising from our Roots
• Remathau Communities
• The Safe Haven Marshallese Dancers

1:00 pm | Contemporary Palauan Fashion Show
1:30 – 2:40 pm | Performances + Storytelling

• Chuuk and Guahan Poetry
• McKinley High School Microneisan Club
• Chuuk Language and Culture School
• I-Kiribati on Oahu Association
• Kosrae Women’s Association

2:40 pm | Sakau Pounding Ceremony and Women of Vision: LienKairoir Fashion Show
3:00 pm | Closing Remarks

Community Partners: American Red Cross Pacific Island Region, Bess Press, Inc., Hawai’i Language Roadmap Initiative, HI Broadband & Digital Equity Office, Ho’oulu ‘Āina (HĀ), PAPI (Pathways for Advancement of Pacific Islanders), Project Vision, Sienna, Twiddle Productions Inc., Locals Limited (Soused Productions), Department of Education: EHYC Education of Homeless Youth and Children, HawaiiKidsCAN, Honolulu Community Action Program, Kānehūnāmoku Voyaging Academy, Kapi’olani Community College, Pacific Drought Knowledge Exchange, Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), Seams Wonderful – Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services, TIDES (AANAPISI) at UH Mānoa, and Waipahu High School “Rising from Our Roots”

This will be a hybrid event, featuring virtual online discussions, streaming of in-person programming at Bishop Museum. For more information visit the Facebook Event Page. Mahalo nui for support from the Barbara B. Smith Endowment for East-West Center Micronesia-Focused Programs and Dr. Mary Therese Perez Hattori & family.

Event cover Image credit:
Courtesy of Pacific Islands Development Program, East West Center