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UH Academy for Creative Media Receives $20,000 Gift

Gift from ABC Stores to Support Students Scholarships and Hawaiʻian Language Narrative Cinematic Production Program

(Honolulu, Hawaiʻi) - The University of Hawaiʻi Foundation has received a $20,000 gift from ABC Stores in direct support of the university's Academy for Creative Media (ACM).

"I am thrilled by the generosity and support of our friends at locally based ABC Stores," said Chris Lee, ACM's chairman and founder. "As the Academy for Creative Media begins its second semester this fall, this gift will help underwrite a vital interest of the ACM, which is providing student assistance, including scholarships for students interested in furthering their educations in film, television, and digital media content such as computer animation and games, with preference to Native Hawaiʻian students. In particular, the ACM will soon launch the world's first academic program dedicated to Hawaiʻian Language Narrative Cinematic Production, and this gift will be the foundation of making this curriculum a reality."

The ACM, established by the Board of Regents in 2004 as a Center at the University of Hawaiʻi, is currently based at the Mānoa campus and is designed as a system-wide initiative. The ACM recognizes the talents of Hawaiʻi's students in the growing global fields of film, television and digital content and is dedicated to anchoring the state's emerging media industries while providing a platform for indigenous storytellers to bring their stories to the broadest possible audience.

"As a locally based company, ABC Stores remains committed to endeavors that embrace the uniqueness of Hawaiʻi, particularly those that foster the education and support of our Native Hawaiʻian culture," said Paul Kosasa, president and CEO of ABC Stores.

"All of us at UH Mānoa Kamakakuokalani Center for Hawaiʻian Studies are deeply moved by this generous gift," commented Jonathan Osorio, the center's director. "While it has been very exciting to work in partnership with Chris Lee to work with Native Hawaiʻian students to tell our stories, this gift will enable them to be on the cutting edge of digital media. Mahalo nui loa to ABC Stores for sharing such true aloha."

A key aim of the ACM is to provide Native Hawaiʻian and other indigenous peoples with the opportunity to record and tell their own stories, using digital media as a tool for defining and conveying their own cultural heritage in their own voices. A fundamental commitment of the ACM is to create and promote opportunities for indigenous peoples to function within 'mainstream' industry as well as providing the tools necessary to develop production industries.

The ACM program will bring together students, faculty and professions from Hawaiʻi, the mainland United States, Asia, and the Pacific. Drawing on Pacific, Asian and western narrative traditions and techniques, the program will emphasize the creation and production of stories rooted in and informed by the cultural traditions of Asia and the Pacific.

"We are extremely grateful to ABC Stores for their gift. Their support is indicative of the high-level of community confidence in the program and its leadership team," said Acting UH President David McClain. "The 10 campuses that make up the University of Hawaiʻi system already offer an impressive array of first class infrastructure for teaching media arts. Until the creation of the ACM, this latent potential was never harnessed by integrating these elements in a coordinated manner."

The ACM is a system-wide interdisciplinary initiative that seeks to leverage existing university resources and assets across all 10 UH campuses and the three UH Centers to develop a comprehensive, creative media program that focuses on Hawaiʻi, Asia and Pacific themes and competes in the global marketplace. The program will support students at all UH campuses through the provision of computer and software equipment and internships, among other needs. For more information, please contact ACM's office at 808-956-7736 at acm@hawaii.edu or visit ACM's website at acmhawaii.com

ABC Stores consists of a chain of 65 outlets that span the Pacific from Hawaiʻi to Guam and Saipan. Owned by Sidney and Minnie Kosasa, the ABC Stores had its genesis in the 30's. Sidney grew up working in his parents' grocery store in Honolulu and earned a pharmacist's degree at the University of California at Berkeley in 1942.

In 1949 the Kosasas opened their own drug store, and a chain of drug stores followed shortly. On a trip to Miami Beach Kosasa watched visitors shopping local convenience stores instead of the high priced hotel shops. He envisioned that Waikiki would someday be packed with visitors, like Miami Beach, and the ABC concept was born: stores conveniently located for visitors with merchandise sold at fair prices.

Drawing upon his experience in drug and grocery stores, Kosasa opened the first ABC outlet, on Waikiki Beach in 1964. Today there are ABC Stores on every major island in the State of Hawaiʻi and the ABC concept has been exported to Guam and Saipan.

About the University of Hawaiʻi Foundation
The University of Hawaiʻi Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization whose purpose is to raise private funds according to priorities determined by the academic leadership of the University of Hawaiʻi. Founded in 1955, the Foundation provides a full range of fund raising and alumni relations services for all 10 UH campuses. For more information on the Foundation, visit www.uhf.hawaii.edu.