Huakaʻi 2026: Annual Fundraising Gala

Hawaiian Mission Houses Presents an Evening Honoring the Partnership of Missionaries and Aliʻi
Features Live Entertainment, Award-Winning History Theatre Performances, and an Auction of Unique Island Experiences

Huakaʻi I Nā Hōkū — Navigating Our Future Together

For Tickets and Event Details: CLICK HERE

Individual tickets are $350 per person or $600 per pair, and table sponsorships are available.
Sponsorship opportunities range from $5,000 to $15,000, with benefits including exclusive recognition,
VIP experiences, private archive tours, and complimentary memberships.

Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site & Archives is a registered 501(c)(3) organization.
A portion of your charitable contribution may be tax deductible. Federal Tax Identification #99-0073491

Questions?
Amy Schwab: [email protected], (808) 266-0117
Jocelyne Twigg-Smith: [email protected], (808) 238-4937

Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site & Archives, a National Historic Landmark, invites the community to Huakaʻi I Nā Hōkū — Navigating Our Future Together, its Annual Fundraising Gala celebrating Hawaiian culture and history, on Saturday, September 12, 2026, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at The Royal Hawaiian in Waikīkī.

This year’s theme draws on two great voyages that converged on the same shore. Centuries before, Polynesian wayfinders navigated thousands of miles of open ocean by the stars to settle Hawaiʻi. Then, in 1819, the missionary company aboard the Brig Thaddeus set out from Boston on a 164-day, 13,000-mile passage around Cape Horn, sighting Mauna Kea—the same mountain that had guided the wayfinders—on March 30, 1820. Two journeys, two peoples, one landmark. From that meeting grew a partnership that would shape modern Hawaiʻi.

The evening centers on that partnership—the documented, working relationship between the missionaries and the aliʻi. It was a collaboration that produced a written Hawaiian language and, with it, one of the most literate populations in the 19th-century world. Within a few years of the missionaries’ arrival, the chiefs themselves were directing the work: the printing press at Hawaiian Mission Houses preserved the Hawaiian language in print, and the Aliʻi Letters—an archive of more than 200 letters from 33 Hawaiian chiefs—record the chiefs’ own voices, in their own hand, as partners and decision-makers. This is not a story of one people acting upon another, but of two peoples navigating a shared future together.

• An Unforgettable Evening of Entertainment and Culture
• Elegant cocktail reception and dinner at the iconic Royal Hawaiian beginning at 5:00 p.m.
• Live Hawaiian music evoking the golden era of the 1940s and 1950s
• Award-winning history theatre performances woven throughout the evening, bringing to life the voices of the aliʻi and the missionaries who worked alongside them
• Silent auction featuring made-in-Hawaiʻi crafted items and unique island experiences
• Live auction with once-in-a-lifetime experiences for the whole family

Guests will be transported through time as the program weaves in HMH’s award-winning history theatre portrayals—performances that demonstrate the unified and harmonious work accomplished between the missionaries and the lāhui (nation of Hawaiʻi), giving deeper appreciation for this collaborative heritage. Program and performers to be announced.

This extraordinary celebration supports HMH’s educational and preservation mission throughout the year. Your gift makes possible:

• Hands-on field trips, aligned with Department of Education standards, for nearly 3,000 students each year—exploring the interwoven lives of aliʻi, makaʻāinana, and missionaries in 19th-century Hawaiʻi—with buses and admission covered for haumāna from under-resourced schools
• Care for the two oldest Western-style houses still standing in Hawaiʻi—the 1821 Frame House (Ka Hale Lāʻau) and 1831 Chamberlain House (Ka Hale Kamalani), and a reconstructed Hale Pili
• An archive with one of the world’s most extensive Hawaiian-language collections—including the Aliʻi Letters Project (200+ letters from 33 Hawaiian chiefs, transcribed and translated)—all scanned and free to read online, from the birthplace of the printed Hawaiian language
• A permanent collection of 5,000+ original cultural artifacts—daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, paintings, furniture, historic quilts, journals, church records, and more—documenting 19th-century life in Hawaiʻi
• More than 15 events and award-winning programs year-round—including Oʻahu Cemetery Pūpū Theatre (15 years, 15+ Poʻokela Awards, 700+ attendees each season) and the twice-yearly Mele Series, with Native Hawaiian hālau bringing moʻolelo, oli, and hula to audiences of every age
• Roots & Resonance, our premier digital exhibit—launching in 2027, tracing music in Hawaiʻi from 1820 through the golden age of the Royal Hawaiian Band