Street Art and the Community: A Study on Pow! Wow! Hawai‘i and the Kaka‘ako Community.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to better understand how community members perceive the role of street art on a community. Specifically, this study focused on the Kaka‘ako community in Honolulu, Hawai‘i and the POW! WOW! Hawai‘i annual street art festival. Qualitative interviews were conducted on 22 respondents, all of whom identified as members of the Kaka‘ako community. Three categories of community members were interviewed: POW! WOW! Hawai‘i artists, Kaka‘ako business owners, and consumers of goods and services in Kaka‘ako. Themes that emerged from these interviews include Kaka‘ako and gentrification in Kaka‘ako; the street art of POW! WOW! Hawai‘i; the cultural, social, psychological, and economic role of street art on the Kaka‘ako community; and the relationship between street art and gentrification.