The Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Summer Arts Institute is a three day professional learning experience for classroom teachers and teaching artists (Grades K to 6). This immersive institute focuses on arts integration through creative movement and place based learning to support engaging and meaningful classroom practice.
This year’s theme centers on wai as a source of connection, movement, and life. Participants will explore how water shapes our environment, culture, and sense of place, and how these understandings can inform creative practice and classroom learning. Through kilo, or careful observation, educators will engage with the presence and movement of wai in different forms, translating those experiences into meaningful, arts integrated learning opportunities.
Over the course of three days, participants will engage in hands on workshops, collaborative lesson design, and guided reflection. Sessions are designed to build practical skills in planning, facilitation, and student assessment, while exploring how the arts can deepen learning across subject areas.
The institute will be held June 1 to 3, 2026 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. On the final day, participants will take part in a morning huakaʻi to Keālia Pond, offering a unique opportunity to practice observation, or kilo, and connect learning to Maui’s natural environment.
Program Highlights
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Designed for classroom teachers and teaching artists (Grades K to 6)
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Three day immersive professional development experience
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Hands on workshops in creative movement and arts integration
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Collaborative lesson planning and peer learning
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Strategies for planning, facilitation, and student assessment
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Final day morning huakai to Keālia Pond
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Opportunities to connect learning to place through observation and creative practice
Professional Development Education (PDE) credits are currently in process for this institute. While approval is not yet confirmed, we anticipate offering approximately 3 PDE credits for full participation across all three days with 2 additional days in the Fall that are designed to support participants' implementation.
Updates will be shared with registered participants as soon as more information becomes available.
PDE Credit
Registration
Space is limited and registration is available on a first come, first served basis. A completed registration form and payment are required to confirm participation. Registrations without payment may be released to those on a waitlist.
Department of Education and PTSA purchase orders must be submitted by May 15, 2026 at 10:00 am.
Jamie Simpson-Steele
Dr. Jamie Simpson Steele is a professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa College of Education where she is an advocate for arts education and arts integration. She is an advisor for PhD students, prepares teacher candidates for initial licensure, and is the Director of Assessment, Accreditation, and Accountability. In addition, she is passionate about creating inclusive classroom environments where students of all abilities have creative options and opportunities to thrive in their learning.
Mauliola Cook
Mauli Ola Cook has been a Teaching Artist in Hawai’i for the last 40 years. Since receiving her MFA in Dance from UH Manoa in 1986 she has taught creative dance and arts education in schools and in professional development workshops throughout the islands, nationally and internationally. As a dedicated and enthusiastic student and teacher of hula and all that hula encompasses, Mauli is known for integrating her love of Hawaiian culture with her passion for creative dance.
Merrill Ranken
Merrill grew up along Long Island Sound, exploring tide pools and forests. She moved to Hawaiʻi in 1989 to work with Pacific Whale Foundation, where she spent 22 years and became Education Director, while deepening her connection to Hawaiian culture through hula, ʻōlelo, and community.
She later taught at Montessori Hale O Keiki, Kīhei Elementary, Kīhei Charter, and Pōmaikaʻi Elementary, where she developed a K–5 STEAM program after earning her MEd from UH Mānoa. Now semi-retired, she continues mālama ʻāina work with Maui Invasive Species Committee.
A mother of five and grandmother of two, Merrill is inspired by sharing curiosity about the natural world.
As part of this year’s Summer Arts Institute, we are excited to reintroduce MACC’s educator credit tracking program with a new name, Nā Kumu Noʻeau.
Nā Kumu Noʻeau recognizes and celebrates teachers who actively engage in professional development through MACC programs. Participation in the Summer Arts Institute is a great way to begin or continue building your credits, with opportunities to work toward milestone levels.
All participating educators will be recognized, with a special celebration planned for Spring 2027 to honor teachers and their commitment to bringing arts rich learning into their classrooms.
Additional program details are included here, with more information to be shared as the program continues to grow.
Introducing Nā Kumu Noʻeau: MACC Credit Tracking
Sponsored in part by:
