Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 3, 1 March 1988 — Coordinator Named for Canoe Folk Arts Event [ARTICLE]

Coordinator Named for Canoe Folk Arts Event

Daniel Kahikina Akaka Jr., son of U.S. Congressman and Mrs. Daniel K. Akaka, has been appointed coordinator for the Pacific Canoe Folk Arts Conference being hosted by the Hawaii Maritime Center in August in conjunction with the opening of the new maritime museum currently under construction at Pier 7. The conference is being sponsored in part by the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts and the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. lts purpose is to document the fast-disappearing traditional skills associated with Pacific Island eanoe building and use. Participants from throughout the Pacific Basin will be brought to Honolulu to share their knowledge and skills. Young Akaka, a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and the Hawaiian Studies program at the University of Hawaii, will be responsible for planningand.coordinating 11 workshops and seminars on eanoe design, sails, paddles, buiiding materials, construction and tools, eanoe houses and shed, ornamentation, non-instrument navigation, voyaging canoes, traditions and ceremonies and performing arts. Akaka, who has extensive experience in Pacific lslands history, was most recently historian at Mauna Lani Bay Hotel on Hawaii. He was responsible for historic site tours and maintenance of the hotel's historic landscaping and salt-water pond programs. Akaka is also a musician and entertainer, performing on promotional tours conducted by both Hawaiian and Aloha Airlines.