It’s already July! Here is a quick update of what our programs have accomplished so far this year.
Halau Hekili haumana at the 2024 annual funraiser
is focused on developing an ecosystem of Native Hawaiian and Kamaʻāina creators driven by a passion to develop a fully sustainable, regenerative and socially responsible Hawaiʻi economy for the benefit of all on our shores.
"I truly loved my time with the Mālama Design Studio. Together we were able to map out a comprehensive strategy, create a great onboarding experience with new artists, pull together a refined execution plan for our digital media presence and succeed with the booking, filming and release of our core digital venue Ohana Sessions."
is an 11-week course that equips Hawaiʻi residents, especially Native Hawaiians, for careers in digital marketing, graphic design, and storytelling to deepen the local talent pool.
“One of my most valuable takeaways from participating in this Digital Creators course is the importance of building a personal brand on the mana of moʻolelo and knowing what my kuleana is as a storyteller… We as “Indigenous Creators” are responsible for crafting the narrative that will ultimately be displayed in our personal brand or a brand we hope to represent professionally.”
is a 12-week program focused on empowering local innovators and community members with a design curriculum rooted in Native Hawaiian values and place-based knowledge.
is back and better than ever! The Purple Prize is a design challenge that aims to generate waiwai (collective wellbeing) for people and place through tech enabled solutions built by those rooted in Hawaiʻi with experience in place-based design.
This year, we focused on supporting proposals from our Ka Maka ʻĪnana Alumni network of over 150 individuals. Our program Demo Day will be October 26th. Our 6 community-driven projects are:
With additional funding, Purple Prize would offer more prize money to cohort graduates to assist with their early-stage growth and provide 1 year of co-working space and funding for 12 more months after they finish the program.
Join us from September 12 to 14 as we launch our inaugural Eahou Fest, to both celebrate our wahi pana, Mōʻiliʻili and host essential conversations around developing a circular, regenerative, and self-sufficient Hawai’i economy. Eahou Fest will feature multiple venues across Mōʻiliʻili with programs on tech, music, art, film, education, and economics. We are looking for sponsors to help us build out the festival and its panels, keynotes, workshops, training labs, pop-up mākeke, food trucks, concerts and more–a neighborhood block party with a purpose!
Learn more at purplemaia.org/eahoufest
is a collaboration between Kailua High School, Windward Community College, and Purple Maiʻa where high school students start earning credit towards an associates degree starting their freshman year of high school to achieve improved academic success, confidence, problem-solving, and community connection.
With additional funding,
We could provide students:
The right connections could provide students:
Hereʻs how you can support Waiw.ai Studios:
"Mahalo for giving these kinds of opportunities and experiences to [my son]. He enjoys everything he does with you and it’s definitely preparing him as a future leader for our community. Deep gratitude!"
is a youth program to inspire, empower, and equip students with the tools and mindsets to amplify traditional knowledge and practices through the use of contemporary technologies and innovation
With additional funding, with more resources we could continue to scale this program to more schools and communities, supporting both teachers and students.
While traditionally PD stands for “Professional Development” at Purple Maiʻa we lean into the existing professionalism of teachers and focus on “Pilina Development” where we discuss emerging ideas and perspectives at the intersections of Culture, Community, Education and Technology.
This past school year we were asked to collaborate with over a dozen kula and educational organizations impacting over 500 kumu. We implemented our first Kumu Cohort called Paʻa Moʻolelo which introduced 15 educational professionals to the art of digital storytelling using emerging technology.
“What I found interesting is the use of technology through a different lens. The activity, the discussions too made us teachers as well as kanaka maoli realize what is our main goal and how can we expand on it by incorporating these concepts into our everyday planning or even in class instructions with our students.”
is our accelerator program for women-founded businesses grounded in Hawai’i.
Meet our FoundHer Cohort 3!
kicked off in March with 7 companies from Hawaiʻi Island, Lānaʻi, Maui, and Oʻahu. The cohort will run through August, and each member has already made impressive progress:
We are also thrilled to watch our graduates continue to grow their businesses.
FoundHer continues to build opportunities for women business-owners such as our Hulilau Mākeke (with dozens of local, women-owned vendors), and we launched our quarterly Pouhana Mixers in response to many of the 600 FoundHer applicants who said their largest need (after funding) was community. These mixers include a short presentation on a business fundamental topic and then plenty of time for the women to get to know each other.
FoundHer Cohort 2
