Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge encourages mayors to partner with artists, elevating the value of including the creative sector when developing solutions to significant urban issues. The program supports temporary public art projects that celebrate creativity, enhance urban identity, encourage public-private collaborations, and strengthen local economies. Over 600 cities have applied to the three challenges, where mayors of U.S. cities with 30,000 residents or more submit proposals for projects that demonstrate close partnership between artists, arts organizations, and city government, with selected cities receiving up to $1 million each. After receiving applications from 154 cities across 40 states, eight winners were selected for the third Public Art Challenge to execute their projects over the next two years: Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Honolulu, Hawaii; Houston, Texas; Orlando, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Phoenix, Arizona; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts (MOCA) was founded in 1971 after the passage of the Percent for Art law in 1967, which established the Art in City Buildings Program. MOCA is an agency of the City and County of Honolulu. Their work is overseen by the Executive Director and members of the Commission on Culture and the Arts, all of whom are appointed by the Mayor. The mission of MOCA is to promote the value of arts and culture throughout communities in the City and County of Honolulu. Guided by the belief and affirmation of cultural self-determination, MOCA works as a partner and catalyst for increasing opportunities, awareness, and involvement in cultural activities for the benefit of all. In this capacity, MOCA administers the Art in City Buildings Program, the Sister City Program, and community-centered culture and arts programming throughout the City and County.

Aupuni Space is an independent, artist-run gallery and venue located in the Kakaʻako neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Their mission is to provide space for community-based exhibitions and programming that feature Kanaka ‘Ōiwi and Hawaiʻi-based artists, as well as their international collaborators. Aupuni Space is one of the only venues in Honolulu that provides a global contemporary art lens on Hawaiʻi as well as a physical gathering space for locally engaged, experimental, and critical voices. Aupuni Space is a program of Puʻuhonua Society, in partnership with the TRADES Artist in Residence program, and operates under a not-for-profit model, which empowers them to produce relevant and compelling programming that authentically reflects Hawaiʻi nei.

Puʻuhonua Society is a Native Hawaiian women-led non-profit organization based in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Active at the intersections of contemporary art, traditional cultural practices, environmental stewardship, and transformational education, Puʻuhonua Society creates opportunities for Native Hawaiian and Hawaiʻi-based creatives to express themselves and engage with diverse audiences. Through six interwoven initiatives, we support those who serve as translators/mediators/amplifiers of social justice issues within communities. Our primary efforts include: Aupuni Space, an artist-run gallery, venue, and studios; Hoʻākea Source, a Regional Regranting Program Partner of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Hoʻomau Nā Maka o ka ʻĀina, a cataloging and public programming partnership aimed at preserving and making accessible Nā Maka o ka ‘Āina’s vital moving-image archive of over 6,000 tapes; KEANAHALA, an inclusive and collaborative weaving program that perpetuates the Native Hawaiian practice of ulana lauhala, pandanus weaving; KĪPUKA, a makers’ space and educational environment offering a series of classes and workshops focused on the transmission of ancestral knowledge and material practices; and NiUNOW!, a cultural agroforestry movement affirming the importance of niu and uluniu, coconut, and coconut groves to the health and well-being of Hawaiʻi and its peoples.

Inspired by the unique histories of Hawai‘i as a gathering place for diverse peoples, cultures, and ideas, Hawai‘i Contemporary connects communities from across our islands and the regions united by the Pacific Ocean through contemporary art. As a collaborative partner, we organize the Hawai‘i Triennial every three years, the state’s largest thematic exhibition of contemporary art from Hawai‘i, the Pacific, and beyond. The multi-site exhibition has commissioned and presented work by more than 130 artists and art collectives from our Islands and around the world. Complemented by year-round public programming, Hawai‘i Triennial affirms the organization’s mission to positively contribute to a vibrant arts ecosystem in Hawai‘i and inspire meaningful exchanges around the visual arts.

The Oʻahu Visitors Bureau (OVB) is an island chapter of the Hawaiʻi Visitors & Convention Bureau (HVCB). HVCB is contracted by the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA) for leisure destination marketing in the United States, and global MICE sales and marketing. HTA further contracts HVCB’s Island Chapters for Island Chapter Global Support Services, Destination Management Action Plan (DMAP), and the Community Enrichment Program (CEP). OVB supports and collaborates with the destination marketing strategies and activities of our domestic and international partners in the United States, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) and supports HTA’s other brand efforts. OVB collaborates with island partners – in government, hospitality, community, and other industries – for leisure and business sales & marketing, and to implement Oʻahu’s DMAP and CEP.

Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha family. The Museum was established to house the extensive collection of Hawaiian objects and royal family heirlooms of the Princess, and has expanded to include millions of objects, documents, and photographs about Hawai‘i and other Pacific island cultures. Today, Bishop Museum is the largest museum in the state and the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific, recognized throughout the world for its cultural collections, research projects, consulting services, and public educational programs. It also has one of the largest natural history specimen collections in the world. Serving and representing the interests of Native Hawaiians is a primary purpose of the Museum.