We’ve been working hard for the last two years to make this happen. All this time, our rallying cry has been “Imua”, which in Hawaiian, translates to “forward,” “ahead,” or “onward.” Like most Hawaiian words, “Imua” carries deeper meaning. In this case, the expression conveys advancing with courage, striving toward a goal, or pressing onward through adversity (“go forward,” “charge,” or “keep moving ahead”). And that’s what we have been doing through all the “ups and downs”!
Pretty much everything that was imagined as the original concept of “Forest Calls” two years ago ended up becoming reality. In the process, friendships were born and beautiful creative collaborations were made. The outputs of these collaborations will end up either in the main live performance of “The Story of the ʻAkikiki” this Sunday (10/11), or have lives of their own, with various distribution, sharing and outreach strategies. The goal has always been to reach as many people as possible, and distribute all of our creative collabs and media projects for free – and that’s exactly what we’re going to do!
Just to give you a quick taste of the collaborations that came out of this year’s “Forest Calls”, here are two videos we absolutely love. The first one is called “The Last Call of the ʻŌʻō Bird”. It is an animation collab led by Daisy Church (University of Hawai’i, School of Cinematic Arts), with the original musical composition of Louis-Gabriel Pothier, this year’s ‘Artist-in-Residence’ in Cincinnati.
The second one is a video poem written and performed by Kealoha, an amazing slam poet from Hawai’i, who has also written “Gardens”.
For the next week, there will be free public events going on every day. These events will cover everything, from artistic expression to scientific knowledge and Indigenous wisdom. We will connect with people not only at the University of Cincinnati, but also at the Zoo, at the Museum, in the streets and in various parks and locations throughout the Cincinnati Tristate area. We will connect with different people, with different cultures. We will learn and share, and we sincerely hope to meet you somewhere along the way.
We have now released the official poster for our main live performance, called “The Story of the ʻAkikiki”. This will be amazing event, and we hope to see you at the Patricia Corbett Theater.
The official Digital Program will be uploaded soon, as well as many other assets, pictures, and videos of the events and collaborations.
This website serves as the main “hub” for the entire week.
So come back often and check the updates every day.
As our community grows, we invite you to not just be a spectator, but to become a participant. As you attend these events, as you connect with us, please post on your various social media platforms and let the world know of what is going on in Cincinnati October 8th to 13th inclusively. And as you do, please make sure to use our official hashtags #ForestCallsand #ReconnectToNature. This will help us find you.
THANK YOU to everyone who has believed in this vision.
The week is about to begin; the real fun is about to start!
