Information for Grant Seekers
Our 2026 grant cycle will open on November 28, 2025, coinciding with Lā Kūʻokoʻa, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi’s National Independence Day, and will close on Sunday, January 18, 2026, at 9 p.m.
Distribution of Funds:
Hoʻākea Source will award grants ranging from $2,000 to $10,000, to selected projects by visual artists, cultural practitioners, collaboratives, and collectives living and working across the Hawaiian Islands. In the case of collaboratives and collectives, some contributors may live outside of Hawaiʻi, but the lead applicant must live and work in Hawaiʻi. Total award monies distributed in the 2025-2026 grant cycle will be $122,000, thanks to the additional support of the Laila Twigg-Smith Art Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation and the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation.
Review Criteria:
All proposals will be considered based on the following criteria. Proposed research, activities, practices and projects should speak directly to one or more of the following three strategic priorities:
- Moemoeā (Dreams): Proposals that begin from a place beyond waking life; proposals that highlight the fantastic potential of the unrealized or yet-to-be; proposals that imagine alternative ways of being and knowing…
- Puʻuhonua (Refuges): Proposals that revolve around individuals, groups, communities, spaces, times, and/or places of sanctuary; proposals that counteract the violence of daily life under ongoing U.S. occupation…
- Ea (Freedoms): Proposals that embody life, breath, sovereignty, self-determination, and/or independence; proposals that address obstacles to and/or clear pathways for Indigenous growth, health, and wellbeing. Proposals that rise…
Visual arts applications will be reviewed on overall concept and feasibility, with an emphasis on experimentation and risk taking; unconventional viewpoints are encouraged.
A successful Visual Arts application will:
- Speak directly to what the proposal is, who it involves, and which of the three strategic priorities it most closely aligns with and why
- Situate an artistic practice within a larger visual arts genealogy of Hawaiʻi
- Demonstrate a capacity to realize the project on time and within budget
- Explain how the public would engage with the project with an emphasis on non-conventional exhibition spaces
- Describe the potential impact on a local community and the larger arts and culture landscape of Hawaiʻi
Selection Panel:
A selection committee of three members; with the majority being Hawai‘i based artists and curators well respected across local communities, as well as an invited curator or artist from outside of Hawaiʻi, will review eligible applications over two days with oversight and assistance by the Program Director and Puʻuhonua Society Executive Director.
About the Laila Twigg-Smith Art Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation:
Laila Twigg-Smith was a well-known art collector, patron of artists and museums, artist and visionary. The Laila Twigg-Smith Art Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation continues this legacy in her name. It aims to nurture and promote Hawaiʻi as a global center for the exchange of contemporary arts and artists. The fund supports projects and initiatives that afford artists opportunities to immerse themselves in new environments, to absorb different influences, and to realize fresh visions free of the issues of day-to-day survival.
For more information, please visit https://www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/strengthening/laila-twigg-smith-art-fund
Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation
The Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation supports individuals who explore and ask through fieldwork in natural sciences, create and captivate as they promote mastery in craft, teach and try as they support students in public education, and conserve and connect as they encourage care for our food systems and natural world. Learn more about the Foundation’s partners and work at www.Maxwell-Hanrahan.org.