KAHULUI - Hokulani Holt-Padilla, esteemed Maui kumu hula and cultural programs director for the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, was one of 50 recipients named Monday of USA arts fellowships for 2009.
The grants were announced Monday in Santa Monica by United States Artists (USA), a national grants-making and arts advocacy organization.
The group gave 50 unrestricted grants of $50,000 to artists in all disciplines across the nation.
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Hokulani Holt-Padilla
The organization recognized Holt-Padilla as a hula master who started her own halau in 1976. In addition to teaching, promoting and supporting traditional Hawaiian culture, her halau has performed in competitions throughout Hawaii, and her original hula drama, "Kahekili," toured the U.S. and was performed in two German festivals.
It also acknowledged her as one of the organizers of the World Hula Conference and the founder of the Hawaiian language immersion schools on Maui.
For more details, visit www.unitedstatesartists.org.
