HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi declared February as Culture and Arts Month on Oahu.
In a ceremony at Honolulu Hale, the Royal Hawaiian Glee Band performed after the proclamation signing on Wednesday.
To celebrate arts and culture during the month, the city said it plans to hold a number of performances and campaigns to highlight various art forms.
“Culture and the arts are not only beneficial to us socially, emotionally, and physically, they have become a force in our economic diversification and revitalization in Hawaii,” said Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts Executive Director Makanani Sala.
The city said Hawaii’s creative industries have grown by 10% over 10 years and have employed more than 50,000 people.
“Thank you for recognizing our culture — not only those of Hawaii, but the cultures that have come from all over the world,” said Tony Silva of the Commission on Culture in the Arts.
“I mean, we are truly the melting pot of the Pacific. And having said that, that goes with music, that goes with the performances of different dances. We so greatly appreciate it.”
One of the campaigns, which launches on Thursday, will ask the public to help identify misspellings of Hawaiian words on public signs around the island.
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