Foundation to expand Hawaii arts exhibitions, isle events

The State Foundation on Culture and the Arts is about to receive an injection of public funding that will allow it to expand its neighbor island exhibits and stage more special events on Oahu to showcase its collection of 6,300 pieces of artwork.

The foundation has also stepped up its efforts to make its collection of mostly Hawaii-influenced art or works by Hawaii artists more digitally accessible. That includes loading information into an online system that allows friends of the arts to learn which works from the state collection are being showcased, and locate them in the government buildings where they are on display.

Gov. David Ige signed Act 180 into law at the end of June to provide an additional $341,000 over the next two years to restore four positions that were mostly eliminated by Gov. Linda Lingleʻs administration during the economic downturn, said foundation Executive Director Jonathan Johnson.

Those positions include a gallery director to oversee the exhibits in the foundation’s Hawai‘i State Art Museum downtown at the No. 1 Capitol District Building, and a project manager who will plan events and displays on Oahu and the neighbor islands to help draw attention to the foundation and its collection.

“We are in a turnaround,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to increase attendance and the impact of this institution.”

The foundation was the target of a stinging report by the Hawaii state auditor last year that concluded it needed to “improve its management to ensure the accountability, accessibility and protection” of its unique collection. Johnson said the foundation is the only institution focused on collecting the work of Hawaii artists.

Among the shortcomings cited by the auditor was the failure of the foundation or the state comptroller to actively monitor the amounts that state agencies are supposed to pay into the Works of Art Special Fund.

The fund is supplied with money from a 1 percent levy on state construction and renovation projects, but in some cases state departments did not make the full required payments, according to the audit. The fund receives about $3 million a year, and money from the fund is also used to purchase or commission artwork.

One of the four positions approved by lawmakers this year is an account clerk position to more carefully monitor the revenue flowing into the special fund, Johnson said. Each of the four new positions will be financed from the special fund, which means the cost of the hiring will not be a burden on the stateʻs general treasury, he said.

Johnson said the audit provided a list of improvements that needed to be made, and the foundation has been “aggressively pursuing this road map of things to do.”

“My goal is to respond to the audit and get more art out to the neighbor islands,” Johnson said. He said that will start with a pilot project, and the foundation also plans to add art education programming on the neighbor islands including the Artists in the Schools program.

“We’ll start small, and I think we’ll have a big impact,” he said. “There is so much change. It’s actually pretty exciting.”

Currently the downtown art museum is visited by about 28,000 people per year, and the foundation wants to grow that by 5 percent, Johnson said. He expects the attendance numbers will get a boost from some upcoming free events, including a celebration on the lawn outside the museum Aug. 8 to mark the foundation’s 50th anniversary, and a major retrospective show that opens Sept. 3.

To review the list of works in the state collection, visit sfca.hawaii.gov. To locate where various works are on public display, visit publicartarchive.org.