Our Agency

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Executive Director's Message

As a life-long bachelor with no children, keiki hula forced me to be near 500 children from all over the Hawaiian Islands and Japan. Being so up close and personal with such little people revealed what a wonderful mystery children were.

To all but the family who support them, children are mysterious creatures. Becoming your BED (“Bachelor Executive Director”) was revelatory. For instance, children are small. But in spite of their teeny size, they are extraordinarily loud. They also scurry ceaselessly, like ants in an anthill. But then a miracle happens. The booming, authoritative voice of a Kumu Hula calls the hālau to assemble and the once uncontrolled swarming collection of smaller-than-life life-forms fall into straight lines. When the music begins, these creatures move in the most poetically, eye-wateringly beautiful synchronized movements imaginable. That’s precisely the moment when I fell in love with 500 kids who were not my own.

Mahalo nui! to all of our Kumu Hula, our tireless cultural practitioners who transform tiny dancers into young adults, and in the process shape our future community. All of us at Kalihi-Pālama are endlessly grateful to have the opportunity to share part of their lives and their dreams that our founders envisioned almost 50 years ago.

Garrett Kam

President

Guy Musrashige Sibilla

Executive Director

Sibilla is an award-winning author (Boarding Passes to Faraway Places – Barnes & Noble 2018), travel writer, and 2021 Emmy Award-winning Television Writer and Producer. He lives between Honolulu, Hawaii and Yokohama, Japan. He matriculated from the College of William & Mary in Virginia with an Artium Baccalaureus Degree in Government and English Literature with an emphasis in poetry.

Mika Kimura

Assistant to the Executive Director (Japan)

Kimura lives in Yokohama and is fluent in Mandarin, Japanese and English. She has traveled extensively and maintains close ties to Hawai'i. She is a hula dancer and she presently teaches children at a Chinese private school.

Wendy Suite

Visual Media Content Creator (Writer/Producer, Makaha Studios)

Suite is an Emmy Award-Winning television writer and producer with over 30 years of experience in broadcast media. Her experience at KITV, KHON TV, KGMB TV and others prepared her to write and produce visual content with Makaha Studios cultural and current topics.

Keoni Fernandez,

Visual Media Content Creator (Director, Cinematographer, Makaha Studios)

Fernandez is an Award-Winning Director and Cinematographer and owner of Makaha Studios, a wholly owned native Hawaiian business. In his 20+ years of experience in broadcast media, Frenandez has produced award-winning programs, documentaries and films.

James "Kimo" Garrett

Director of Digital Media Content

Garrett is Director of all digital media and across all platforms. He is versed in computer programming ("writing code"), website design, press and media packages, and magazine publishing. As a celebrated photographer in his own right, Garrett's photographs have appeared in publications in Hawai'i.



Our Board of Directors


Kēhaulani Watson-Sproat, President, J.D., Ph.D.

Director


Matt Sproat

Director


Bryan Andaya

Director


Susie Chun-Oakland

Director


Jon Nouchi

Director


Kaipo Leopoldino

Director


Delia Ulima

Director


Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

Director

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