Hawaii’s arts community is breathing a collective sigh of relief — at least for now.

On Tuesday a Senate committee deferred House Bill 1807, which proposed changes to a special art fund that would have drastically slashed funding for arts and arts education programs run by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts.

HB 1807, introduced by state Rep. Kyle Yamashita (D, Pukalani-Kula) proposed only 1% of original state building construction costs — not renovation costs — go toward the state’s Art in Public Places Program established nearly 60 years ago.

The change, according to Karen Ewald, executive director of the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, would have resulted in a drastic cut to its program, potentially closing down the Capitol Modern, the state’s public museum downtown.

The committee at the same time approved House Bills 1939 and 1940, appropriating funds to the SFCA to provide greater access to the arts for communities in need, including those affected by the Maui wildfires, and to incorporate art into planned capital improvement projects.

“We are grateful to the Senate committee on transportation and culture and the arts for the passing of HB1939, and HB1940,” said Ewald in a statement, “and for listening carefully to the concerns from the community on HB1807HD2.”

She told the Star- Advertiser the passage of HB1807 would have resulted in an estimated 90% cut in the foundation’s annual revenue, and operations of the Capitol Modern would have ended.

According to recent annual reports, the “percent-for-art program” amounts to about $5.5 million a year.

Artists speak out

Hundreds of artists, including Hawaiian artists and arts groups from across the state poured into the chamber at the Senate Committee on Transportation and Culture and the Arts to testify against the bill Tuesday.

Hawaii artists representing visual arts, theater, music and poetry, as well as teachers and curators spoke passionately about art as a form of identity, culture and the pulse of a community.

Art creates a sense of community, they said — and when a community is hurt, art heals, which is more important than ever for a community like Lahaina in the aftermath of the Aug. 8 wildfires.

The artists also took issue with the bill saying the state “currently possesses a surplus of artwork in storage for current and future uses.”

Honolulu artist Erik Sullivan testified that the “art is not a commodity to be accumulated until a certain quota is met,” but a “living, evolving expression of our society and its values.”

The King Kamehameha Celebration Commission, along with the Hawaii Arts Alliance, Hawaii Craftsmen, Kahilu Theatre, Maui Arts & Cultural Center and Maui Dance Council, among others, submitted testimony opposing the bill.

Rosina Potter, executive director of Hawai‘i Contemporary, which produces the Hawaii Triennial, was also relieved at the bill’s deferral.

The Hawaii Triennial, scheduled for Feb. 15 to May 4, 2025, would be in jeopardy if the Capitol Modern was no longer available as an exhibition space.

“We already invited 12 to 15 artists that would have been housed in that space,” she said. “Not only would we have lost funding; we would have had to fund-raise much more to make up for the loss of that space.”

So much advance planning goes into the state’s largest exhibition of contemporary art from Hawaii, the Pacific and beyond, she said.

With the support of SFCA, the Triennial in 2025 will expand to include Maui and Hawaii island, generating substantial economic activity.

“I think the state doesn’t recognize the impact this has on real human beings,” she said. “They think a lot about the artwork in their office or the artwork they see around, but literally thousands of students are given opportunity to have a creative practice. They’re not looking at our creative workforce.”

Ready to defend

Kailua artist Jodi Endicott, creator of “What’s Next,” the sculpture on Bishop Street of a man reading a newspaper, said the bill was shortsighted.

She is ready to defend arts for the public again in the future, given the numerous attempts she has seen to defund arts with similar bills in the past dec­ade or so.

Art is often dismissed and devalued when budgets are tight, she said, but is an economic driver, essential to a state’s vitality and attractiveness as a destination.

Furthermore, it’s a driver of health and mental wellness, and she has seen it work magic with schoolkids.

“I can’t tell you how many artists are artists because there was some trauma, and they’re healing,” she said, demonstrating with a sketch Tuesday. “They want to bring beauty to the world to cover up the bad parts and soften the edges.”

Eric Johnson, Honolulu Theatre for Youth’s artistic director, said there is a misconception the program is just for paintings on the wall.

The nonprofit’s programs providing sensory-friendly theatrical experiences for special-needs kids would have been affected, he said.

He looks forward to a conversation on how to find new avenues for funding more arts programs, not fewer.

“We are known as an arts-friendly state,” he said. “Let’s not lose that. Let’s build on that.”

There was little, if any, viable testimony supporting the measure.

The Honolulu Star-­Advertiser reached out to Yamashita, who is also chair of the House Finance Committee, for the opportunity to comment on the bill’s deferral, but did not hear back by press time Thursday.

State Sen. Chris Lee, chair of the committee, thanked artists for taking time out to discuss the bill.

“I don’t think it was anybody’s intention to damage or do disservice to the arts community,” he said, “to take away funding or do anything that would otherwise put people who have legitimate livelihoods and culture and all sorts of other things on the line.”

The discussion is not over whether to fund art, he said, but how to do it, and what other potential forms of revenue could be tapped.

“Hopefully, this is the start of a constructive conversation,” he said.

In 1967, Hawaii was the first in the nation to adopt a “percent-for-art law,” designating 1% of construction costs of new state buildings for the acquisition of works of art. In 1989 the works of art special fund was created, and added in 1% from renovation costs to capital improvement projects.

The Art in Public Places Program acquires works of art and commissions artists to create works of art for specific locations. It also supports arts education in schools and community programs.

The works of art are displayed in more than 640 sites statewide, including schools, libraries, airports, state office buildings and the state Capitol.

In September the Hawaii State Art Museum, formerly called HiSAM, rebranded itself as the Capitol Modern.

It is a free public, contemporary art museum that hosts various events and holds some of the local artwork from the Art in Public Places Program.