Heritage Media Center
Cultural heritage is essentially the social fabric of a community, and in Hawaii, multiculturalism provides an exemplary milestone of success. Understanding the complex issues of multicultural communities across Hawaii and the US mainland requires stories of resilience from individuals in those communities. Learning to appreciate and admire our diverse heritage can bridge gaps of cultural misunderstanding for generations to come. In particular, the historical heritage of West Kauai and Hanapepe provides a model of multicultural groups who developed a cooperative lifestyle.
To learn about and celebrate all of the cultures that have come and lived together in Hawaii, STH has transformed our facility, under the guidance of STH trustees, to include the ‘Heritage Media Center’ (HMC). The HMC features historical exhibits of the lifestyles and practices of five different cultures, a small, 16-seat media viewing theatre, an interpretive garden that celebrates the life of our town hero Sparky Matsunaga, and a talk show set for oral history interviews.
STH will open its front doors for the HMC to greet visitors from Kauai, from other islands, the US mainland, and from other countries. Visitors will learn from interactive exhibits, printed materials, and guest presenters about the rich history of Hanapepe Valley, Hanapepe Town, West Kauai Plantation Life, and much more. Storybook Theatre is also the home of the Spark M. Matsunaga International Children’s Garden for Peace, an interpretive garden at STH dedicated to the legacy of peace making by former U. S. Senator Sparky Matsunaga and others like him. Sparky was a Hanapepe hometown boy growing up and this garden contains the world’s only statue of Sparky, among other features celebrating peace.
The HMC will serve the Kauai community with urgency and with scale, by utilizing a media technology solution that keeps up with the pace of social media and provides models and dynamically presented stories of resilience and courage across cultural and ethnic lines. The HMC community programs will include: a Bi-Monthly Talk Show titled ‘Sparky Would Go!’ , guest speakers and performers representing a variety of island cultures, art and writing challenges for students, written historic essays and screen plays available for classroom use, and for younger children, reading and speaking challenges relating to resiliency and courage.
Storybook Theatre of Hawaii (STH) has developed programs around community needs for 42 years, including free local cultural festivals, indoor and outdoor theatre events, and educational school touring productions related to the arts, literacy, peace, and the environment. STH has produced the longest running Children's Educational Television show in the islands (23 yrs) that is still seen weekly on Kauai. STH also has a Facebook Page with more than 5,000 friends and has produced more than 150 children's program segments for YouTube at Russell’s Hawaii Rainbow.
