Preserving the Voices That Keep Us Connected

The KŪ Digital Moʻolelo Preservation Initiative is a community-supported effort to record, preserve, and share the stories of Hawaiʻi’s kūpuna, families, and communities at home and across the diaspora.

Through oral histories, interviews, and digital archiving, we hope to create a living collection of stories that future generations can return to for years to come.

Support the Initiative

Fiscal sponsorship provided through the Institute for Art and Media (IAM), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Stories Carry More Than Memories

Across Hawaiʻi and throughout the diaspora, stories help keep people stay connected to home, family, and identity.

The stories shared around dinner tables.
The memories passed down at gatherings.
The lessons, phrases, foods, music, and experiences that continue traveling across generations and oceans.

Many of these stories are never formally recorded.

As time passes, we risk losing not only memories but also voices, perspectives, and ʻike that future generations may one day seek.

The KŪ Digital Moʻolelo Preservation Initiative was created to help preserve these stories through oral histories, recorded conversations, and digital archiving rooted in care and relationship.

This work is not only about documenting the past.

It is about helping future generations remain connected to where they come from.

Our Vision

Record

Conduct oral history interviews with kūpuna, families, and community members across Hawaiʻi and the diaspora.

Preserve

Digitally archive recordings, photographs, and stories for long-term accessibility and care.

Create meaningful ways for future generations to engage with these stories and experiences.

Connection Travels Through Story

Stories are one of the strongest ways we stay connected.

The way grandparents spoke.
The memories people continue repeating decades later.
The stories attached to neighborhoods, beaches, kitchens, songs, and everyday life.

These stories carry belonging.

This initiative exists to help preserve those connections for future generations - whether they are growing up in Hawaiʻi or learning about home from somewhere far away.

Help Us Begin

The KŪ Digital Moʻolelo Preservation Initiative is currently in its beginning stages.

We are launching this effort through community support and grassroots fundraising to help build the foundation for long-term preservation work.

Early donations will directly support:

Recording equipment
Oral history interviews
Audio and video preservation
Archival storage
Editing and transcription
Digital archive development
Community storytelling efforts

By supporting this project now, you are helping create something that can continue serving families and future generations for years to come.

Make a Tax-Deductible Donation

Fiscal Sponsorship

The KŪ Digital Moʻolelo Preservation Initiative is a fiscally sponsored project of the Institute for Art and Media (IAM), a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

All donations made through IAM are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law and directly support the mission and development of this initiative.

Fiscal sponsorship helps provide transparency, accountability, and long-term sustainability as the project grows.

Help Preserve the Voices That Keep Us Connected

Every contribution helps support the recording and preservation of stories that future generations may one day return to for connection, remembrance, and understanding.

Whether large or small, your support helps this work begin.