How the National Endowment for the Humanities seeks to support Pacific Islands

(June 5, 2024)

Hawaii Public Radio

Shelly Lowe, the chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is on Oʻahu to attend the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture as Hawaiʻi hosts for the first time.

Lowe stopped by The Conversation on Tuesday to discuss projects the federal agency hopes to fund across the Pacific.

"On Saturday, we are going to be hosting an event where our councils through the Pacific Islands are going to sign a memorandum of understanding to create the Pacific Island Cultural Initiative and to create a network where they will be able to share information, they will be able to share resources among the islands, knowledge, some of that knowledge that we just talked about. They're going to do work that will amplify Pacific voices, not just in the work that they're doing, but also nationally for all of us," she told HPR.