House Standing Committee on Culture & Arts

Good morning, everyone. We are here, the Committee on Culture and the Arts, gaveling in for our 10 o'clock AM agenda. Today is February, March 14th, 2025. We are in Conference Room 309, and we have two measures on our agenda, so we're going to jump right into it.

Our first measure that we're hearing is SB 441, SD 1, relating to the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. Designates the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra as the State of Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and requires an annual report to the Legislature and appropriates money. Up first, we have the Attorney General with comments.

Deputy Attorney General, Ian Robertson. I'm appearing for Randall Nishiyama. The Department has submitted testimony with comments including some suggested language for contributing an appropriation to the State Endowment Fund to help support the symphony. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Up next, we have State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, with comments. Not present. We also have the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, in support, in person.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. My name is Dane Lamb. I'm the Music and Artistic Director of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, testifying in vociferous support of SB 441. The Hawaii Symphony Orchestra delivers more than 50 concerts annually to people all around the straight—around the state—from Keiki to Kupuna. We do masterworks concerts.

We do harper symphony concerts with local recording artists like Jake Shimabukuro, like Robert Kazimaru. We work with young composers. We do side by side concerts with the Youth Symphony. We do free concerts in parks and in public places for people all around the state, for our Keiki to our Kupuna.

This Bill will allow us to expand our program, specifically our education and community programs, to deliver more music to more people in more places. In the past, the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra did receive state funding which allowed the orchestra to travel to neighbour islands and share their music.

As the only professional orchestra in the State of Hawaii, it's incumbent upon us to share music with more people because we know, in studies, that exposure to orchestral music and instruments increases academic performance, increases social cohesion, and brings a community together. So, I commend the Bill and thank you for the time for hearing it.

Thank you so much. Thank you for the work you're doing and for being here. We also have testimony in support from June Shin, Democratic Party of Hawaii.

Chair Kapela, Vice Chair Kong, Members of the Committee. My name is Jun Shin, and I am testifying in support of SB 441, on behalf of the Democratic Party of Hawaii. You have our written testimony, so I just wanted to add a couple points.

Just real quick, I think music should be, like all other arts, should be enjoyed and accessible to all people, regardless of their age and background.

And through this commitment by the state, I hope that the Symphony, which is already doing a great work of doing that mission, is able to expand on that work, while also making sure that for the folks who make the Symphony run, from the people who are in the orchestra and all the other people behind the scenes, that this will bring job stability and security for them and their families.

And so, I think we're in for a lot of difficult years ahead. And I think music is very important in soothing the soul. And so, I hope that this is—while you're making difficult decisions through the State Legislature that you consider also supporting this measure as well. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you for being here today. Thank you for your testimony. We also have testimony in support from IATSE 665, Tuia’ana Scanlan, President.

Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee. Tuia’ana Scanlan, President, IATSC Local 665, IATSC International Trustee. We stand on our written testimony in strong support.

IATSC 665 has worked for many years with HSO, and I'd just like to point out that not only is it an economic driver, but even in dark times, the arts uplift us, and they make us better human beings. We look forward to working with HSO for many more years to come.

And again, we stand in our written testimony in strong support. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for being here today. I also have in person testimony from Gene Corpuz, in support.

Yes, I'm Jean Corpuz. Thank you for the—Chair, Vice Chair, and the Committee. I submitted a testimony yesterday. I got it under the wire, so it was elicit late. I'm testifying in support of SB 441 because, well, because I think the orchestra provides the cultural, artistic exposure for our residents here in Hawaii. I think in my testimony, it listed I'm a Member of the Oahu Choral Society.

I'm the tenor section leader. We just performed Beethoven's 9th Symphony last Sunday as part of the Beethoven Festival. Did anyone go to any of the Beethoven Festival concerts? Well, maybe you should have, but it was great.

No, because I had someone who said they went to all of them and they thought that was great. And also, one of the things that I had performed with the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, before they had to renovate the concert hall, is we did Carmina Burana, which is a well-loved piece as well.

So, a lot of people in this state support the orchestra. In fact, I tell people if you've ever been to a concert, they're just excellent. I said they're the best orchestra west of the Mississippi. So, I think that, well, we need to support the orchestra because of its contribution to the cultural life in this state. Thank you.

Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for your testimony. That's all I had on my in-person testifiers list.

I will note that I also have testimony in support from ABC Stores, the Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra Society, the University of Hawaii Manoa Music Department, the Raflbrain Institute, more from the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Music Department, from Members of the Hawaii Youth Symphony and the Hawaii Youth Symphony itself.

And there was over 143 pieces of testimony in support. So, there's lots of support. There was one—a couple of with comments and one, one in opposition. But is there anyone else wishing to testify either in person or via Zoom? Okay, Members, are there any questions? Okay, I have a question for Symphony. Thank you for being here.

Thanks for the work that you're doing. Can you talk a little bit about, I guess, the endowment and the money that would be coming. So, this General Fund appropriation, would it go directly to the endowment or is it a General Fund appropriation that goes directly to you folks?

We would prefer that it goes directly to our operating costs because in order to roll out these programs, these education programs, these free concert programs, we need money in the bank to be able deliver them as soon as possible and reach more kids, reach more Kupuna.

Thank you. And then, another follow up question, just kind of outlining, I guess the number of individuals that you, A, have on your symphony, but then, can you also share how many people that you folks have touched even just through this last—the Beethoven works that you have done—and through this last year, through your last season?

Yeah, we have serviced tens of thousands of people. There's something like 40,000 unique audience members even in the past year, and that's not taking into account our livestream of the Jake Shimabukuro concert which went out live on Hawaii News Now, to all the neighbor islands for free. And then further afield, there was a paywall.

We got thousands and thousands of clicks through on that. And we have our HPR broadcast. So, this tens, even into the hundreds of thousands of people that we reach through our music. We talk about employment as well. We have 84 musicians in the orchestra. These are elite athletes really of the musical world.

Absolutely in the top 5% of people in the world who would not be living here if not for the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and the employment that they receive through us, including benefits. But apart from that, there is the IATSI crew, there are workers at the theater.

We—one of our very important musical partnerships is with the Hawaii Theater downtown in Chinatown, and we perform most of our concerts there. Now, I know it's very important, this revitalization of Chinatown, and we know that many of our patrons will go for a meal before or after the concert.

And I've even seen, just anecdotally, when there was not a sponsor event after one of the concerts in the Beethoven Circle, for which we received thousands and thousands and thousands of visitors and engagement.

I just went to the local pub, J. Dolan's, outside the theatre, and I think there must have been at least 70% of people there who were at the symphony concert, as evidenced by the fact that they broke out into this round of applause and then we walked and had dinner, and as we walked past other restaurants, people sitting outside, with clapping.

It's galvanising to the community. And I just think it's such an essential service, not just for the emotional benefits that music undoubtedly brings to us all, but there are hard economic drivers and economic facts that we contribute to the economy. It's a net positive. It's a net positive for sure.

Thank you. Final question. This Bill originated in the Senate, not in the House, so can you expand—I think for our House Members that sit on this Committee, funding from the state is not necessarily a new thing to the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. In fact, there was funding that came many years ago and, and then that funding kind of dwindled off.

And we've talked privately, I think, about the up and the incredible high and then the incredible low and how it was really the symphony orchestra members who kept the symphony together and moving forward. You talked about, at one point in time, there was—you had many week, a many week season, and now it's, it's slowly building back up.

Can you talk about how this funding will impact that and allow you folks to expand not only in the length of your season, but also to neighbor islands?

Yes. Well, yeah, just a brief history of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra. It's one of the oldest symphonies in the United States. There's records of a symphony orchestra in Honolulu dating back to 1900, so well over 100 years of symphonic music in these islands.

The orchestra went through tough times after, among other things, the orchestra lost state funding in the early 2000s, so they stopped their neighbor island touring.

And there's such amazing stories in the wake of a hurricane in Kauai, of our orchestra flying there, there being some doubts about what music could do, but how it brought the community together and gave hope and gave solace in a time of great suffering. The orchestra went under for a brief period in around the 2009-2010.

It was through a really committed group of musicians and, and a very small group of supporters, people who had the vision to know that any world city, any world state, needs a great university, needs a great art museum, and needs a great symphony orchestra.

And so, the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra came into being about 12 or 13 years ago. The name change from Honolulu Symphony to Hawaii Symphony was reflective of the fact that we need to serve the entire state, not just Oahu. And so, we've built up the weeks over the years.

At its peak, it was a 40-week orchestra before the bankruptcy, and it dwindled to nothing. And then, five weeks and then, six weeks. This week is a 19-week season. Next season, we're going up to 21 weeks and we hope to continue to increase that. And that's what this funding will do.

It will allow us to provide more employment for our musicians so that we can share music for more people, so that we can go into more communities and expand our education, education programs, to really engage as an orchestra of the Pacific because we play music that is from Europe, like Beethoven.

But what's interesting about this Beethoven cycle is we began every one of these concerts with a work by a living composer from the Pacific, from Hawaii, and from other places in the Pacific, to really give us a sense of place because we are of this community, we are here for the community, and so, we believe we need to reflect the community.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Members, any other questions? Okay, seeing none. We're going to move on to our next measure on the agenda. SB 1581 relating to the Hawaii Japan Pacific Peace Monument establishes a Hawaii Japan Pacific Peace Monument. Wow. Okay. To be developed by the State Foundation on Culture and.

On Culture and Arts and appropriate stakeholders representing Hawaii and Japan. I only have one testifier on the list today. That State foundation for Culture and the Arts who failed to be here with us. So Members, there's no, no one that we can ask questions of. Is there anyone on Zoom that's wishing to testify? Okay, seeing none.

We are going to recess. Okay, gaveling back in for decision making for our 10am agenda. Up first we have SB441SD1 relating to the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra.

We are going to be accepting the AG's testimony to insert a preamble and outline the purpose of the Legislature's intent with this measure, along with the state history and connection of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra in the preamble, we'll also be mentioning the State of Hawaii Endowment Fund and the numerous state statewide public benefits that the Hawaii has that Hawaii has experienced from the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra.

We're also going to be adding another point to Section three to ensure that these funds will also be used to allow the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra or the State of Hawaii Symphony Orchestra to serve as a to serve a statewide purpose and further support neighbor island access to music and educational opportunities.

I recommend that we also also move this forward by adding a defective date of July 1st, 3000 and we'll be adding technical amendments for clarity, consistency and style. Members, are there any questions, comments or concerns? Okay. Seeing none, Vice Chair for the vote.

[Roll call]

Thank you so much. Members, moving on to SB 1581 SD1 relating to the Hawaii Japan Pacific Peace Monument, I recommend that we pass this forward with amendments. We're just going to be further defecting the date to July 13000. We will also be adding technical amendments for clarity, consistency and style.

Members, are there any questions, comments or concerns? Okay, Seeing none Vice Chair for the vote.

Okay, voting on SB 1581 SD1 with amendments noting the absence of Representative Garrett. Are there any no's as any with reservations See None. Your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you Members. We are adjourned.

Thank you so much.