We write as kanaka ‘oiwi, as Hawaiian women with great love for Bishop Museum, who have worked, partnered and collaborated with the institution for decades. We know that the museum, established in 1889, will survive. It has weathered an overthrow, annexation, colonization, and even two world wars.
Most recently, it has weathered a major pandemic. Many museums and cultural and arts organizations permanently closed their doors, yet under President and CEO Melanie Ide’s leadership, Bishop Museum stabilized, emerged stronger, and grew and diversified its funding sources.
Indeed, it received more than $17 million this past legislative session, and received millions more in governmental and private foundation support.
The museum increased indigenous leadership and expanded its national and international partnerships. Just this past week, three of the most prominent curators of Oceanic collections in the world — from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum and The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa — were working alongside Bishop Museum staff.
Yet we write with great kaumaha, that the institution so beloved by so many, is once again experiencing turmoil, a crisis of leadership, with both the executive and board at odds. We know that workplace issues are of major concern, but there must be a better way to deal with this than by making it fodder for the press, and by creating a crisis in leadership that threatens the economic stability and future of the museum.
At a time of scarcity came a director who saw the museum for all of its potential, and, despite innumerable challenges, elevated it. To lose such a qualified, caring, dedicated leader to an internal administrative issue cannot be the answer.
Within Bishop Museum are held the treasures of our past. They are the sacred heirlooms of our ali‘i who had no children to pass them on to, and there is integrity in keeping them safe for future generations. We know that being a leader is no easy task. There is weight and heft to the responsibilities borne by board members and the executive team. We cannot know the details, nor do we want to, that led to this moment of crisis, but all we can ask for is your patience and aloha.
Our plea is for de-escalation. Our plea is for the board and its leadership to recognize that the choices made, even if done for the right reasons, may cause irreparable damage to the institution and its stability.
Our plea is for intervention to ensure that Melanie Ide does not resign, and that she and the board can come together amicably, in the spirit of cooperation, and acknowledge that the long-term needs of the institution are what matters most. Our ancestors thought generations ahead. Let us follow in their footsteps. Aloha wale no.
Maile Meyer is founder of Na Mea Hawai‘i and a kanaka maoli community advocate; Meleanna Aluli Meyer is an artist, educator and filmmaker; Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu is a kanaka maoli visual arts advocate and former Bishop Museum employee.
