Waiākea High School senior Keira Ida Ayu wants to see Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra perform on Hawaiʻi Island. She is about 4% of the way toward her goal. You can pledge to help.
For a school project, Ayu created a petition to bring HSO to Hilo that captured more than 90 signatures. Now, the motivated student, who is also a musician, is raising money to bring HSO to the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo for free educational concerts next year on March 4 and March 5.
Her fundraising goal is $96,000, which covers wages, food and sound/lighting expenses, but not items she hopes to cover with in-kind donations, she clarified via email. The deadline to raise the funds is Oct. 1.
“By bringing the symphony over here, then people would see it and they would be like, ‘Wow, this is this is so cool! We need to have more of this here in Hawaiʻi because not everybody can fly over to Oʻahu just for a concert,’” she said.
Earlier this year, Gov. Josh Green signed House Bill 1860 into law, which designates HSO as the state orchestra, but does not provide funding to support the group or performances on Neighbor Islands.
As part of her own musical journey, Ayu has been part of multiple orchestras, including Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony — she flies in for rehearsals every other week — as well as Orchid Isle Orchestra, Kamuela Philharmonic Orchestra, Waiākea High School Band, and the Chamber Orchestra of Kona. Participating in Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony showed her some of the differences in opportunities and facilities available on Oʻahu, compared to where she grew up, she said.
As a sophomore, Ayu took an entrepreneurship class where she focused on increasing access to music education in her community. That is when she created a petition to bring HSO to Hawaiʻi Island.
As part of her senior project, she put together a budget with how much it would cost to bring the symphony to Hilo. The musician estimates the total cost of bringing three concerts to Hawai'i Island over two days would be about $143,000. That number includes line items for airfare, transportation of musicians, school buses for keiki, hotels, food and wages, as well as in-kind donations.
Music has been in Ayu’s life for a long time. At 4 years old, she was playing piano. Then, she joined band and started playing percussion in sixth grade.
Listening to music helps build empathy, curiosity and social connection, while playing in an orchestra teaches teamwork, Ayu said.
For more information, visit mokuokeawemusic.org.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
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