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Seaview Performance Arts Center for Education
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follow the instructions.
Driving directions from Hilo airport to BellyAcres and S.P.A.C.E. Pavilion
S.P.A.C.E.
Over the past years, the
demand for HVC programs and services has caused us to outgrow the temporary
buildings used as office and storage facilities. To better fulfill our mission,
HVC is consolidating our operations in a new facility know as the Seaview
Performing Arts Center for Education (S.P.A.C.E.). This improvement in our
organizational capacity will permit us to expand our outreach and instructional
capabilities to students, resulting in greater impact to communities throughout
Hawaii.
For this reason, the principal short term goal of HVC is to seek funding to
build the state-of-the-art Seaview Performance Arts Center for Education (S.P.A.C.E.).
S.P.A.C.E. is the only public facility within 14 miles available to the
community for:
 | Hiccup Circus Classes, events and camps |
| Community culture and arts workshops and residencies |
| Community meetings, fund raisers, benefits, etc. |
| Family social events such as birthday parties, baby luaus, weddings, etc. |
| Professional residential arts workshops |
| Farmer's Market every Saturday |
Phase 1, the Green Room, was completed in June 2007. It is a 2,500 sq. ft.
building with workshop space and storage for props, costumes, and equipment.
Phase 2, the Pavilion opened in early November 2007. It is a Polynesian-style
3,500 sq. ft. performance arts center, storage and office space. It will be
used 12 hours daily for arts workshops, classes and performances.
Activities already scheduled include circus arts, hula, gymnastics, viewings and
discussions of thoughtful social films, hip hop dance, modern dance, tap dance,
drumming, marimba band, samba dancing, etc. Phase 3, which is in the planning
stages, will provide us with a commercial kitchen and dining courtyard. We plan
to make the commercial kitchen available to small business startups and for our
use for periodic dinner theater shows.
S.P.A.C.E. Site Plans & Architectural Drawings
(click on the pictures to enlarge them)
S.P.A.C.E. is a 9,700 square-foot, two-story, Polynesian hip roof wooden structure designed by renown
local architects Daniel Bona and Valerie Simpson featuring rooms for training
and workshops, a commercial kitchen, costume and prop storage, offices, a
library, a graphics and set design laboratory, and a dining courtyard. The
architectural design of S.P.A.C.E. reinforces our love of our work and the
connection between work and family. HVC has also adopted a Native Hawaiian view
of sustainability - protecting our local landscape and using only the resources
we need to function effectively. Accordingly, we are committed to use solar
energy and creative landscaping to lessen the impact of our workplace on the
environment.
S.P.A.C.E. Location: The District of Puna, Hawaii
The vast majority of HVC programs are conducted in Puna District, Island of Hawaii. These programs
provide supplemental educational, cultural and recreational skills and activities to the residents of one of the most impoverished, problematic areas
in the entire state of Hawaii.
The Puna District is a rapidly growing rural community beset with a number of significant social and
economic problems that demonstrate the need for facilities such as the
Performance Arts Center for Education.
Features of the Puna District include:
| population of about 34,000 in an area larger than the island of Oahu |
| most economically depressed area in the State of Hawaii |
| highest incidence of teenage pregnancies, domestic violence and drug abuse |
| large population of alienated students, potential dropouts, broken homes and low-income
families |
| on a per capita basis, leads the County of Hawaii in many categories of crime over the past
decade |
Public schools in the Puna District have overcrowded classrooms and a small range of organized
social activities available for students outside of school. Pahoa, Keonepoko
and Kea'au Schools are all on the State list of Special Needs Schools.
Department of Education budget cuts have consistently reduced the ability of the
local school district to provide funds for cultural and recreational activities.
Rural Puna sadly lacks infrastructure for cultural activities. There is no youth center, no
public beaches and few accessible park facilities. Due to a virtual absence of
public transportation, the 8,000 students lack easy access to recreational,
cultural, artistic and social events that are available to other Hawaiian
children. This is further complicated by the area’s high annual average rainfall
of about 150 inches per year, causing many outdoor recreational activities to be cancelled or curtailed.
Building Social Capital in Puna
At Hawaii’s Volcano Circus, the focus is on children. We refuse to permit stark statistics about
Puna to dampen our enthusiasm for bringing our community together and improving
the quality of life for our children.
Our programs engage all community members in teamwork and cooperation while instilling confidence
and a sense of accomplishment. Important ties, trust and norms are formed that
lead to a significant increase in social connectedness that is taken back to
their homes and smaller communities.
The byproduct of our programs is an accumulation of social assets that is known as “social capital,”
a public good that sociologists attribute to adding to quality of life and
personal happiness. There is an important link between the performance arts and
social capital. Our programs provide students with a hands-on experiential and
exploratory learning environment. Such an environment helps students to
strengthen and integrate skills in research, analysis, problem solving, and
communication.
HVC Builds Social Capital by:
| offering programs that serve as a valuable tool to improve the local school system and help students find
alternative ways to improve comprehension, perception, and communication of information.
|
“We see our programs serving as a connecting point to the entire community, helping engage students,
teachers, and parents in a set of mutually reinforcing relationships. Ultimately, we hope this will lead to a greater quality of life in the Puna
District.” --Graham Ellis, Executive Director, HVC.
| having real collaborations with the community at large, with all participants actively
involved in developing, planning, and implementing programs and activities.
|
“Students gain from learning at an alternative site that provides unique, motivated, learner-centered, hands-on, and personally
relevant skills and experiences. Parents and families gain from after-school
and weekend programs for families and children to learn together. Schools gain
from community support and participation from professionals who are enthusiastic
and informed about creative, standards-based teaching and learning. And the
entire community gains through the connectedness and social trust created as a result of the performance arts experience of the students.”
-- Karolyn Allen After-School Activities Director, HVC.
| improving access to positive and prominent cultural and recreational activities like the
Hiccup Circus, providing a much needed boost in pride for the local community. |
“The positive role model presented to Puna students by the local Hiccup Circus performers motivates
other children’s interest in educational and cultural activities in the district
and have had far reaching effects.” – Gail Clarke, School Administrator, Hawaii
Academy for Arts and Science 
Make a tax-deductible donation to our S.P.A.C.E. Center for Performing Arts
online using Paypal. You don't have to sign up for a PayPal account to donate.
You can use any credit card to pay securely. Just click the button below and
follow the instructions.
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