The Waianae Elementary Mural Collaboration Project was a community-based art effort that bridged teachers, students & families during an “Ohana Night” event with a mobile piece that was used as a backdrop for plays performed during the Waianae Elementary Annual Spring Festival. Keep It Flowing co-organized the fun West O’ahu “pre-development” themed plywood mural with Turnaround Arts Hawaii & special support by Lei Ahsing, Education Director of Hawaii Arts Alliance & Sara Mizban, Implementation Coordinator of Turnaround Arts: Hawaii.
The goal was to create a 3-tiered backdrop for a student-written play & manage the collaborative efforts of over 30 youth & community members for the first phase of painting during the elementary school’s hosted “Ohana Night” on April 3, 2018, which included a number of other complimentary projects to bring together a fully community supported larger-than-life production.
The joy & smiles surrounding the craftwork, sponsored food & entertainment deemed the project a success & the behind-the-scenes action had an array of keiki dancing, singing & of, course hand-painting! A wide generation gap between the community attendees didn’t stop any participants from learning from one another.
The Keep It Flowing team was especially inspired by the newly formed relationships between some of the oldest kapunas & youngest of keiki as they compared notes on the best, most effective methods for creating their art & craft collaborations, even on the “coolest” dance moves!
Once the 8 feet high by 20 feet wide tri-panel backdrop’s first phase was completed with the volunteers at Ohana Night, Keep It Flowing’s Creative Director & Founder, “East3” added his aerosol artist flair to complete the Waianae Mountain Range with native flora & fauna.
Later, the staff of Waianae Elementary relocated the individual pieces & reconstructed the scene for the Annual Spring Festival on April 22, 2018. The keiki were proud to showcase their artwork: both the mural & their self-written & directed play to an audience of over 250 parents & community members! This entire project shares the power of authentic relationships that are created through collaboration, organic conversation & community-driven events.
A special MAHALO goes to: Turnaround Arts Hawaii , Letty Fierro, former Miss Diamond Head for connecting the Keep It Flowing team with O’ahu’s District 21 & resources. Also, we’d like to thank National Roofing Company, Sherwin Williams Hawaii, Hampton Inn & the numerous volunteers that supported this project. And of course; we always give a big shout out to all our keiki participants; we appreciate you!
“Keep it Flowing’s strategy is treat their clients as partners. Our Wai’anae students and family members felt like collaborators during the workshop session. Ken was realistic and honest about what we could achieve in the time frame that we had and this contributed to the success of the project. I’m so pleased the Keep It Flowing LLC is a creative resource for our students and communities. We look forward to working with them in the future.”
Hawai’I Arts Alliance
Educational Director,
Lei Ahsing
