A couple of decades ago, street artists often found themselves running afoul of Hawaii’s billboard laws or saw their work — with the taint of gang-fueled vandalism — covered up again and again by layers of fresh paint.

Today the artists have crossed over into the mainstream. Their public dialogue is viewed as adding color and character to Hono­lulu streets, and POW! WOW! Hawaii, a locally based global network of artists focused on mural art and live art installations, is Hawaii’s first arts organization to be included in Google’s Global Cultural Institute.

POW! WOW! Hawaii makes its debut at google.com/culturalinstitute Tuesday, as one of 50 global partners in a street art collection that directs art enthusiasts around the world to murals adorning buildings throughout Hono­lulu.

The institute’s aim is to preserve artwork that is ephemeral.

"These works of art that decorate our streets don’t always hang about for long, which is why we’re delighted to work with partners around the globe to help them preserve this work online," said Amit Sood, head of the Google Cultural Institute, where its new Street Urban Art Institute has already curated more than 3,000 images and 90 exhibitions.

POW! WOW! Hawaii founder and lead director Jasper Wong said the organization’s partnership with Google came about when he found out about the Cultural Institute a year ago. Wong submitted photos and information for consideration in his quest to pre­sent the group’s work to a wider audience.

"Right now we’re trying to expand the program and take it all over the world in hope of getting more attention for what we’re doing and get it to more people," Wong said by phone Friday from Austin, Texas, where POW! WOW! Hawaii is collaborating on South by Southwest art projects. "Our major goal has been to get more attention for local artists, which is why we fly in artists and have them meet each other. By doing that, we’re helping the local community to grow, opening the doors for more collaboration. We have seeds planted all over the globe."

In addition to SXSW, POW! WOW! Hawaii has projects coming up in Long Beach, Calif., Singapore, Shanghai, Japan, Germany, Colorado and Washington, D.C.

The Google Cultural Institute launched in February 2011. Lucy Schwartz, program manager for the institute, said in a phone interview from New York that it started with the idea of providing technology to help museums and arts and cultural institutions around the world to make their collections available to all who are interested. The project expanded in 2012 to include archive institutions and world heritage sites.

"It’s understandable that some people may have had reservations in the beginning, of museum attendance dropping if collections go online, but we have more examples that prove otherwise," she said. "An online presence is a global presence, and the institute offers exposure to people who might not know about a museum or might not be able to go to the city or the museum itself.

"People who are planning to go to a museum would not be satisfied with an online visit, but the experiences are complementary. The goal of the Cultural Institute is to keep providing the technical expertise useful to the arts sector and to preserve cultural artifacts of all sorts."

She called POW! WOW! Hawaii’s inclusion an amazing collaboration.

"They have great content and exhibitions, and play a really big role in influencing the art world, so it just made sense," she said. "POW! WOW! is also one of our few partners who are on Android, and the result is really interesting, allowing people to have art with them all day."