What is Ka Pilina?

In Hawaiian Ka Pilina means "The Connection". It is also the name of our 501c3 nonprofit charitable and educational, arts and community organization that is also the official Burning Man Hawaii Regional group. In over 100 regions around the world there are organizations and groups of people who support and create interactive art and form communities based on their common experiences at Black Rock City, Nevada (aka "Burning Man"), together they are known as the Burning Man Regional Network. As a member of that network Ka Pilina is guided by Burning Man’s “10 Guiding Principles” and all revenue generated is put straight back into local community projects in a transparent manner.

Our Mission

It is the mission of the Ka Pilina Interactive Arts Society, Inc. (501c3) to bring together people separated by distance and culture to support interactive art in Hawaii by promoting all types of participatory art, in order to grow and strengthen community ties and build Social Capital. Through art grants, festivals, art  shows, gatherings, workshops, community service, community projects, and more we aim to inspire individuals to participate and connect, starting at our events and spreading to the local communities.

Our Plan

The interactive art (art that is participatory) events and gatherings we produce are only possible with the inclusion and cooperation of everyone involved, and as such they are Participant-only. Events are brought about by and for the Participants. We try to make our events as cheap as possible to include as many as possible but have to charge for some events to raise funds which are used for art grants, future arts events, and year-round organizational costs.

We aim to hold 3-4 "Interactive Arts Festivals" a year, on different islands. They will be statewide events and will rotate through each island over the years. We also aim for 1-2 or more "urban events" on each island per year, these will most likely be fundraisers or art shows. Each island also aims to hold at least one "meet-n-greet" style gathering a month that can be social or creative or both.

We also plan to create a local "Interactive Arts Grant" program to support local artists to create interactive art not only for our events but for the larger community as well. Ka Pilina would love to have office space on each island and perhaps run live/work studio spaces for artists there as well. We plan to give back to the community by cleaning beaches and parks, using art to reclaim blighted urban areas, establishing "Art Pads" (permanent public places to display temporary art), public beach burn platforms, and more projects.

We welcome ALL who wish to help build our community, participate, and create interactive art. Ka Pilina is ONE family separated by a lot of water, we exist as separate island units yet we all come together to share resources, produce the Festivals, the web assets, the themecamp, and a lot more. Each island has it's own identity but collectively we are Ka Pilina.

The Ka Pilina Family

Ka Pilina is made up of 5 parts, 4 for the main islands and one for Ka Pilina Central (KPC) which takes care of the back-end business end of things.

What each island gets from Ka Pilina:

-501c3 nonprofit status (The golden key that opens everything in Hawaii, but it comes with a lot of responsibility)
-Official Burning Man Regional status (Includes the rights to use BM trademarks and the responsibility to protect them)
-Liability protection (We have access to great insurance and have a proven track record of producing large events with NO claims or injuries, we can get insurance for any type of event on a moments notice)
-Money (The organization brings in more than any one island, all in grants and donations that go to KPC, include funds brought in on all islands and the Island Council has the ability to fund events and operations on every island)
-Experience (Since 2002 Ka Pilina has held numerous events on all islands from small meet-n-greets all the way up to festivals with 600+ participants, we have iconic status in the BM Regional Network)
-Legitimacy (Our standing in the community is small but we do have a track record and a very good reputation, we can walk in to any government or Law Enforcement Official (LEO) office and be welcomed)
-A statewide network that is there to help you (Each island has similar teams, so when any one of us has an event, the other islands can send staff, volunteers, and equipment to help out)
-Island Council (A 9-member group that make day-to-day decisions, made up of the co-Directors of the 4 islands and the Executive Director)
-Board of Directors (the group with final decision making ability, and deals with strategic decisions, meets once a year)
- Volunteers (Local island teams will have access to online resources and connections with similar departments on other islands which will help out and share advice)

Responsibilities each island has as part of Ka Pilina:

-Money (Accounting is centralized to make this whole thing feasible, that means all funds flow to and from ONE pool of money, use of which is decided by the Island Council, islands can raise and keep their own funds for specific local projects provided they are first approved by the Island Council, and we are strict about accounting)
-Volunteers (Local volunteers will have to coordinate with similar volunteer departments on other islands and at times work together on projects like the themecamp or a festival on another island)
-Liability (anything any of us go and do in an official capacity has the potential to affect us all statewide so we all have a minimum set of standards for official Ka Pilina activities)