Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony to receive $50K grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

The Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony has been approved for a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), announced NEA in a public release on Wednesday. The grant will support the Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony’s annual Pacific Music Institute summer program, strategic planning initiatives for board members, faculty, and staff, and a neighbor island performance tour for young musicians.

The “Grants for Arts Projects” was approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), as one of 1,135 Grants for Arts Projects, worth a total of $37 million, to be awarded nationwide in round two of fiscal year 2024.

“Projects like Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony’s Pacific Music Institute and neighbor island concert tours exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, Ph. D. “So many aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”

Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony (HYS) is among the largest youth symphony programs in the country, serving about 700 students annually from more than 100 schools across the state. The nonprofit also hosts out-of-school music programs and distributes more than $35,000 each year through its financial aid program for registration fees, instrument rentals, private lessons and air and surface travel for neighbor island students.

“We are truly honored to receive this grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in the company of such distinguished fellow awardees, and for the opportunity to advance our efforts in providing young people access to high quality music education regardless of financial status,” said Randy Wong, HYS president and CEO. “At Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony, we envision a Hawaiʻi where music is a right, and the support of the NEA will further our mission to foster creative and enriching music experiences for all our students.”

The grant award also coincides with a call for applicants to the 2024 Pacific Music Institute. For over 30 years, HYS has orchestrated the intensive in which youth throughout Hawaiʻi and beyond can come together to make music and new friends while advancing their skills with celebrated faculty drawn from some of the finest music institutions. Comprehensive music curriculum and collaborative opportunities are available across a Strings Program, Winds, Brass, and Percussion Program, Jazz Intensive, ʻUkulele Workshop, and more. Registration for the 2024 Pacific Music Institute, to be held this July, is open through May 31, 2024.

To learn more about HYS’s dynamic programs, partnerships, concerts, and community outreach, visit www.HiYouthSymphony.org.

Other NEA grantees of Hawaiʻi

Seven Hawaiʻi organizations raked in a cumulative $1,110,500 in grants from the NEA in round two of FY24, according to a list of grantees released this week. The organizations to receive grants in Hawaiʻi are as follows:

• East Hawaiʻi Cultural Council
  • $25,000 Hilo, HI
    • Grants for Arts Projects – Local Arts Agencies
    • Purpose: To support a series of exhibitions honoring the work of contemporary Indigenous and
    • Native Hawaiian artists and cultural practitioners.
• Vibrant Hawaiʻi
  • $50,000 Hilo, HI
    • Our Town – Design
    • Purpose: To support an artist fellowship program on Hawaiʻi Island.
• Hawaiʻi International Film Festival (aka HIFF)
  • $30,000 Honolulu, HI
    • Grants for Arts Projects – Media Arts
    • Purpose: To support the Hawai’i International Film Festival and associated public programming.
• Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre (aka HOT)
  • $18,000 Honolulu, HI
    • Grants for Arts Projects – Opera
    • Purpose: To support a new production of “Stuck Elevator,” a comic-rap-scrap-metal-opera by composer Byron Au Yong and librettist Aaron Jafferis.
• Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts
  • $912,500 Honolulu, HI
    • Partnerships (State & Regional) – State & Regional
    • Purpose: To support arts programs, services, and activities associated with carrying out the agency’s National Endowment for the Arts-approved strategic plan.
• Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony Association
  • $50,000 Honolulu, HI
    • Grants for Arts Projects – Music
    • Purpose: To support the Pacific Music Institute; an island performance tour for youth and strategic planning for board, faculty, and staff.
• Young Of Heart Workshop (aka Pu‘uhonua Society)
  • $25,000 Honolulu, HI
    • Grants for Arts Projects – Folk & Traditional Arts
    • Purpose: To support a community weaving program at the Pu’uhonua Society.