2026 Grant Awardees

Hoʻākea Source, in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts’ Regional Regranting Program, and with additional support from the Laila Twigg-Smith Art Fund of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation and the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation, announces its third hui of awardees. A total of $122,000 will be distributed in grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000.

Fourteen visual art grantees will have one year to realize projects centered on ea (freedoms), puʻuhonua (refuges), and moemoeā (dreams). Three unrestricted grants have been awarded to individuals with a material practice rooted in Hawaiian culture.

This funding represents a meaningful and sustained shift in Hawaiʻi’s arts ecosystem—one that honors and acknowledges the work of the many generations who have come before while encouraging innovation. Projects celebrate the diverse practices of artists and cultural practitioners across Hawaiʻi, spanning disciplines and generations. Works include photography; workshops exploring the intersections of disability and the environment, Palauan kite making, and sound theory; cultural practices rooted in ceremony, wood carving, traditional ʻieʻie twined basketry, hula kiʻi, and featherwork; a dance-ritual fashion performance; community-based initiatives grounded in cinema culture; printmaking as a tool for activism; thematic mixed-media installations; and a 3D animation project reimagining Native Hawaiian moʻolelo.

A trio of review panelists convened to discuss and select this year’s awardees from a pool of 82 applicants representing Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Maui, and Hawaiʻi Island.

He ʻŌpaka Ka Lani
Jesse Kekoa Kahoʻonei
Ka Moolelo o Ka Makani Kaili Aloha
Manana Paschoal
For A Long Time
Emerson Goo
Traditional Kites of Belau (Palau)
Anthony Watson
AN UNDERGROUND ISLAND
Kera Rasavanh
Honolulu Soundscapes
Alec Singer
Haʻiwāhine
Hāwane Rios
Pilina Aloha: Hula Kiʻi, Kauaʻi, and Beloved Queen Emma
Mauliola Cook
Shapeshifter of Kohala
Boots Lupenui

Kaahupahau
Malia Osorio and D. Kauwila Mahi
Actualina Takes Root In Place
Actualina
There Are No Billboards in Hawaiʻi
Vincent Bercasio
Alu Ka Pule
Angelique Kalani Axelrode
Dardarat
Lydia Querian
Mizu Wai/Story Weaving East Maui Waterways
Corinne Okada Takara
Hale ʻUla
Enoka Phillips
Ola Ka ʻIeʻie
Kumulāʻau Sing & May Haunani Balino-Sing