Get ready!
Three Days in Mōʻiliʻili
A three-day celebration of moʻolelo, ea, and place-based innovation — spread across the wahi pana of Mōʻiliʻili through ceremony, global sessions, hands-on labs, and community activations. From the Japanese Cultural Center to Shinnyo-En Hawaiʻi and the Church of the Crossroads, Eahou Fest weaves together cultural practice, skill-building, and collective design to showcase the circular, regenerative, and self-determined futures Hawaiʻi is already building.
Conference Info
Festival Schedule
Three days of sessions, labs, performances, and community activations — opening with ceremony and closing as a working assembly. Global speakers, hands-on skill-building, evening cultural events, and collective design rooted in the work of building a self-determined Hawaiʻi.
Day One — Kīhoʻihoʻi Restoration as Foundation
Friday, May 1, 2026
8:30-10:30 am
Morning Sessions
Opening Kīpaepae
A kīpaepae, literally "stone steps", is a traditional Hawaiian ceremony of welcome and transition. Led by Kumu Kekuhi and Hālau ʻŌhiʻa, our opening kīpaepae will ground us in place, intention, and the responsibilities we carry as we enter the work of Eahou Fest together.
Opening Keynote
Kekuhi Kealiʻikanakaʻole is a Kumu hula, composer, and cultural practitioner Kekuhi Kealiʻikanakaʻole will ground Eahou Fest in Kīhoʻihoʻi Kānāwai — ancestral ecological law as living practice — and the 5H Kaʻao storytelling framework, weaving our collective journeys as the foundation for the three days ahead.
Eahou: Keoni DeFranco
Keoni DeFranco, Managing Director of Purple Maiʻa, will share the vision and intent behind Eahou — a kāhea, a call, for a more equitable and sovereign Hawaiʻi rooted in the wellbeing of all who call these shores home.
Purple Kula: The Community is our School (ʻŌpio Panel)
Purple Kula is Purple Maiʻa's ʻōpio (youth) program, cultivating the next generation of culturally grounded innovators and community builders. This panel brings the voices of our ʻōpio to the forefront as they share their journeys at Hālau Hekili, Purple Maiʻa's high school — speaking to what it means to grow up learning at the intersection of Hawaiian life ways, technology, and ea.
10:30-12 pm
Mid-Day Sessions
Eahou Sessions: Moananuiakea Storytelling & Media
Exploring how Indigenous communities across Oceania reclaim narrative as a tool for sovereignty and movement building.
Eahou Sessions: ʻĀina Justice
Mapping bold frameworks for ʻāina return and justice — from Kenya to Bolivia, Aotearoa to Maui.
ʻĀina Foundry: Aloha ʻĀina Tech Showcase
ʻĀina Foundry is Purple Maiʻa's applied innovation department, building culturally grounded tools in environmental monitoring, data sovereignty, and ʻāina restoration — where community-rooted ideas become working solutions.
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1:00-4:30 pm
Afternoon Sessions
Eahou Sessions: Indigenous Data Sovereignty & Sustainable Computing
Building Indigenous tech and data governance on our own terms — from Hana and Mauritius to Pakistan, rooted in self-determination.
Eahou Sessions: Cooperatives & the Solidarity Economy
From Oaxaca to Hilo, exploring what a cooperative solidarity economy rooted in collective ownership looks like.
Hawaiʻi Co-op Hui Workshop
The Hawaiʻi Co-op Hui is a pae ʻāina-wide coalition uniting cooperative practitioners and community builders around collective ownership and economic self-determination — weaving together cooperative development, Indigenous economic frameworks, and legislative strategy.
Pau Hana
Join us for pau hana and pilina building on the JCC Terraces overlooking Mōʻiliʻili.
5:30-9:00 pm
Eahou Film Festival
Eahou Short Film Festival
Join us for the inaugural Eahou Short Film Festival at Shinnyo-En Hawaiʻi, just down the street from JCC. A free community showcase of short films rooted in sovereignty, resilience, and cultural identity — featuring Narrative, Documentary, Experimental, and Wāhine in Film categories plus an Audience Award. Open to all. RSVP required as space is limited. 👉 https://luma.com/eahoufilm
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Day Two — Kānāwai in Practice Skills, Systems, and Sovereignty
Saturday, May 2, 2026
8:30-10:30 am
Morning Sessions
Ho'iho'i EA: EA in our Lifetime
A talk story with Brandon Makaʻawaʻawa and ʻIlima Long on the future of the Hawaiian Independence Movement
Eahou Session: Impact Fund-Shifting; Sovereign Wealth Fund
Growing sovereign wealth through regenerative finance models that keep resources, ownership, and abundance within our communities.
Governance, Sovereignty & Community Power
Drawing on models from Chicago to Pueblo Territory, Waiʻanae to Panama — building collective power and self-determination from the inside out.
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10:00-12 pm
Mid-Day Sessions
Eahou Labs: Digital Creators
This workshop guides participants through the art of visual storytelling, using Canva to build collages, layouts, and graphics that carry your community's moʻolelo with intention and impact.
Eahou Labs: Hālau ʻŌhiʻa
Grounded in the traditions of Hālau ʻŌhiʻa, this session connects participants to hula and chant as living practice — a way of knowing, remembering, and relating to ʻāina and lāhui.
Eahou Labs: KILO: Environmental Monitoring Sensors
Learn how to build and deploy affordable environmental sensors to track the health of ahupua'a in real time. A hands-on introduction to community-led data collection rooted in aloha ʻāina.
Eahou Labs: Makaliʻi Metrics Soil Lab
Get your hands in the dirt. This lab explores soil health through an 'Ōiwi science lens, using the Makali'i Metrics framework to understand and restore the foundation of a thriving ʻāina.
1:00-4:30 pm
Afternoon Sessions
Eahou Cohort: Resilient Food Systems
Designing a sovereign food system from seed to table to policy, resilient, community-led solutions from Jamaica to Maui, Guåhan to Peru.
Eahou Labs: Tissue Culture
An introduction to plant propagation through tissue culture — growing and preserving native and agricultural species to support food sovereignty and ecological restoration.
Eahou Labs: Reels
A practical workshop on creating short-form video content — from concept to edit — to amplify your message, your mana, and your mission across digital platforms.
Eahou Labs: Food+ Policy
Learn how to navigate and shape food policy from the ground up. This workshop connects farmers, organizers, and advocates with the tools to turn community knowledge into legislative change.
Day Three — Haku Waiwai Building What Lasts
Sunday, May 3, 2026
8:30-10:30 am
Morning Sessions
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10:30-1 pm
Mid Day Sessions
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1:00-2:30 pm
Closing Kīpaepae
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FAQ
Nīnau? Questions?
If you still have questions, please email us at: kokua@purplemaia.org