Kona Historical Society gets $15K to help with operations

Kona Historical Society gets $15K to help with operations
Funding was provided as part of the federal CARES Act of 2020

The Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities have taken action to generously aid local nonprofits, including the Kona Historical Society, during the current pandemic. Kona Historical Society is overjoyed to receive a $15,000 grant award to support its operating costs.

This funding has been provided to the Kona Historical Society from the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020. The grant ends on September 30.

“Grant funds will be used to support the most critical aspect of our operations, now under threat from the impact of coronavirus: the museum professionals employed by Kona Historical Society ensure the memories, traditions and values that Kona Historical Society has inherited from our kupuna will be preserved for future generations,” said Kona Historical Society Executive Director Dance Aoki. “Kona Historical Society staff care for our collections and historic buildings, including a kuriba (coffee mill), hoshidana (coffee drying platform), and farmhouse where a permanent exhibit illustrates the lived experiences of a 1930's Kona family; staff maintain zoological and botanical collections which include Kona nightingale donkeys, heritage coffee trees and a native forest exhibit that shares the historical importance of native ecosystems to Kona's agriculture and material culture, particularly important to cultural practitioners. Creativity among KHS staff ensures Kona's places, communities and stories will ever remain visible by adapting to platforms beyond a geographical location into an online platform.”

The Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities CARES Act grants are focused on aiding nonprofits that engage the public through humanities, cultural, and civic engagement programming, and those who are serving under-resourced communities.

Kona Historical Society is a community-based, nonprofit organization and Smithsonian Museum affiliate that has spent the past four decades collecting, preserving and sharing the history of the Kona districts and their rich cultural heritage within Hawaii. For more information, visit www.konahistorical.org.

If you would like more information about this topic, photos, or to schedule an interview, please email Executive Director Dance Aoki (dance@konahistorical.org) or Community Engagement Manager Carolyn Lucas-Zenk (carolyn@konahistorical.org). For general information about our organization, visit www.konahistorical.org.