“THE LOCAL” AND “THE TOURIST”: SHARED CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR HONOLULU ARTS ORGANIZATIONS

Operating within the overlapping and sometimes-conflicting spheres of the tourist and the local, arts organizations in Hawaiʻi face shared challenges in the form of Hawaiʻi’s brand, limited resources, and accessibility issues. To identify common successes and struggles in the face of those challenges, this thesis conducts case studies of four key Honolulu arts organizations: the Honolulu Museum of Art, the ARTS at Marks Garage, POW! WOW! Hawaiʻi, and the Honolulu Biennial Foundation. Results show that these organizations can best overcome their common challenges by pooling resources in the form of knowledge, money, space, and people; advocating for cultural tourism; and investing in long-term collaborative programming and arts education initiatives.