WHO WE ARE
Hawai‘i Island Art Alliance (HIAA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that brings people together through art. We sponsor curated and juried exhibitions, run community events, support local artists and cultural practitioners, and create pathways for youth and community to connect and create.
Since 2015, HIAA has supported the historic Wailoa Art Center and efforts to increase access to the arts and creative opportunities.
We see Wailoa as the piko of a growing arts corridor, where creativity, culture, and economy reinforce each other. Because Wailoa Art Center borders a park and river, we envision bringing art into public spaces, where more people can see and access it.
2026 & BEYOND
Art is a powerful catalyst. The arts strengthen communities in ways that go beyond the walls of a gallery. The arts create jobs, increase pride in place, revitalizes community, gives youth somewhere to belong, sparks conversations and movements, and helps people heal.
In 2026, we’re starting in Hilo, activating spaces and places because we believe art can be an engine for economic vitality, rural resilience, and human connection.
We’re intent upon strengthening pathways into the creative economy by:
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Creating paid opportunities for artists and cultural practitioners
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Building skills through hands-on workshops and mentorship
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Offering youth a place to connect, belong, learn, create, and lead
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Providing a safe, creative environment where people can express themselves and build meaningful, in-person relationships
OUR TEAM
Leadership rooted here. HIAA is led by people who live here, work here, are raising families here, and care deeply about Hawai‘i Island’s future. Our leadership team and board bring together expertise in the arts, community organizing, education, public service, law, business, culture, and philanthropy – all in service to making the arts more visible and accessible.
HUBS & HUIS
Wailoa Art Center is the piko of HIAA’s work, but it’s not where the vision ends.
We’re building toward a future where every corner of Hawai‘i Island has a place to create, connect, and celebrate.
A hub. A hui. A home for the arts.
ART HUBS FOR HAWAIʻI ISLAND
An art hub is more than a building. It’s an activated space – a place where artists have room to work, where community members feel welcome to linger, where keiki see themselves as creators, and where culture is lived, practiced, and passed on.
HIAA envisions a growing network of art hubs across Hawai‘i Island, each one rooted in its own community, its own landscape, and its own mo‘olelo. Wailoa Art Center in Hilo is the first. Each art hub that follows will be shaped by the people who call that place home.
An art hub can live in a historic building given a new purpose. It can be a community center, a former train station, a storefront, or a park. The structure doesn’t matter; it’s the activation – the programming and the consistent, intentional presence of art in public life.
A hui is a group. A gathering of people united by shared purpose, place, and passion.
Alongside art hubs, HIAA is committed to supporting huis – organized communities of artists, cultural practitioners, educators, and arts advocates who are doing the work in their own neighborhoods and towns across Hawai‘i Island.
Huis show up, organize, share resources, and lift each other up. It might be a group of painters in Volcano. Lauhala weavers in Puna. Printmakers in Kona. Youth artivists in Hilo. Whatever form it takes, a hui is a living community of creative practice, and HIAA believes the community deserves support.
We see our role as a resource, a connector, and and advocate for huis across the island, helping them access funding, visibility, venues, and networks that might be otherwise out of reach.
Interest in being part of what we’re building?