Blog

Indie Lens Pop-Up at Impact Hub HNL

October 1, 2018

In partnership with Hub member organization Hawai’i Women in Filmmaking, we are pleased to announce that we’ll be hosting the 2018-2019 season for the Indie Lens Pop-Up series. All of these film events are free and open to the public.

This is the seventh year Hawaii Women in Filmmaking has been a partner for Indie Lens pop-up, and a first for us as a host space.

HWF explains that the Indie Lens Pop-Up series is “a neighborhood screening series that brings people together for community-driven conversations around documentaries from the award-winning PBS series, Independent Lens on PBS Hawaiʻi. Over the past decade, nearly 6,500 Indie Lens Pop-Up events have brought an estimated 370,000 participants together to discuss issues that impact local communities.”

Learn more about Indie Lens Pop Up in this short video here:

The 2018-2019 film series covers a range of timely topics from around the nation, and we look forward to being a community partner along with Hawai’i Women in Filmmaking, Hawai’i People’s Fund and PBS Hawai’i. All films will be held at Impact Hub HNL, 1050 Queen St. Suite #100, from 5pm to 7pm on dates listed below.

Indie Lens Pop-Up 2018-2019 Films and Schedule

Dawnland | By Adam Mazo and Ben Pender-Cudlip

Date & Time: Wednesday October 24, 2018 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Dawnland tells the story of the first government-sanctioned truth and reconciliation commission in the U.S., investigating the devastating impact of Maine’s child welfare practices on Native American communities. With intimate access to this groundbreaking process, the film reveals the untold narrative of Indigenous child removal in the United States.

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World | By Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana

Date & Time: Wednesday January 16, 2019 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Rumble brings to light a profound and missing chapter in the history of American music: the Indigenous influence. Featuring music icons Charley Patton, Mildred Bailey, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Ed Davis, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson, Randy Castillo, and Taboo, Rumble shows how these pioneering Native musicians helped shape the soundtracks of our lives.

The Providers | By Laura Green and Anna Moot-Levin

Date & Time: Wednesday March 13, 2019 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Set against the backdrop of the physician shortage and opioid epidemic in rural America, The Providers follows three “country doctors” in New Mexico at clinics offering care to all, regardless of ability to pay. As their personal struggles at times reflect those of their patients, the providers work to reach rural Americans who would otherwise be left without healthcare.

Charm City | By Marilyn Ness

Date & Time: Wednesday April 10, 2019 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Filmed during three years of unparalleled violence in Baltimore, Charm City delivers a powerfully candid portrait of those on the frontlines. With grit, fury, and compassion, a group of police, citizens, community leaders, and government officials grapple with the consequences of violence and try to reclaim their city’s future.

Wrestle | By Suzannah Herbert and Lauren Belfer

Date & Time: Wednesday May 8, 2019 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Wrestle is an intimate, inspiring coming of age portrait of the wrestling team at a struggling high school in Huntsville, Alabama. As they fight towards the State Championship, wrestlers Jailen, Jamario, Teague, and Jaquan face injustices and challenges on and off the mat, grappling with obstacles that jeopardize their success, while their coach wades into the complexities of class and race in the South.

Member Spotlight: ARCH Hawaii

September 24, 2018

In case you haven’t noticed, Impact Hub HNL has a couple truly unique additions to the space that came from some of our most creative members. Evan Collier’s company ARCH Hawaii, along with his team including Impact Hub members Micah Thrasher and Lealyn Papaya, designed and fabricated our new phone booths to provide an attractive and fun solution for a well-known coworking challenge.

Impact Hub HNL Co-Founder George hiding out in our new phone booths.

Aligned with our commitment to sustainability, ARCH created the booths from mostly reclaimed wood from Re-Use Hawaii, repurposed polycarbonate from our existing office walls, and other found items. Other recent projects include creating jumbo sized harps for a beach wedding altar in Ko’Olina, brand activation displays for major brands such as Beats by Dre, 40-foot train car facades for an event in Maui, and upscale furniture pieces for commercial designers.

On his first visit to Oahu in 2015, Evan saw that there was not an inclusive design and fabrication shop on island. Whether it’s a six-foot-tall set of illuminated letters for your event or a professional, cutting-edge display for your shop, you would likely need to build it yourself, work with a local general contractor, or have it built overseas and shipped over.

But Evan knew his company, ARCH NYC, could help solve some of these challenges – and it allowed him to stay on the island after realizing his love for the ocean and the Aloha spirit. Thus, ARCH Hawaii started as a sister studio to his thriving NYC shop.

Evan teamed up with Rick Schneider, local business owner of Events International (EI), a full service event company established in 1987. Partnering helped him utilize existing office and warehouse space, combine production and bookkeeping staff, business networks, and the experience and expertise of an on-island part. Many of EI’s clients want to display large structures or custom items that can’t be found in stores, so the partnership made sense.

Evan says a good piece of advice for budding entrepreneurs is, “to find an established business that will take you under their wing. If you can find the right fit, it’s a creative way to leverage each other and operate symbiotically.”

Currently, Evan leads a small dedicated staff in Hawaii consisting of two designers, two fabricators and one sales person, but organically grows using their network of local artists and makers when bigger jobs require more man power. The team operates as a family and Evan regularly promotes health and positivity in the workplace, being mindful that a successful and vibrant company can only be lead by successful and vibrant employees.

ARCH’s Lead Designer & Project Manager Micah Thrasher, a Hawaii native, holds a doctorate in Architecture Design from the University of Hawaii and runs the show while Evan is back in NYC or selling and bidding on projects here around the state. The two started as friends and then learned they both had a vision of building beautiful and sustainable creative projects for Hawaii.

As a young company, ARCH’s main focus is learning about local organizations that may need their help. They are looking to present their work to architects, theaters, dance companies, retail shops, event companies, designers, and anyone who needs a small or large creative build project brought to life. If that’s you or someone you know, please reach out and say hello to ARCH Hawaii. Find out more on their website and follow them on Instagram.

HNL SOUP Hosts a ‘Solutions Showcase’ for Local Businesses

September 19, 2018

HNL SOUP is a micro-granting dinner that supports local ideas, projects, organizations, and businesses via crowdfunding of community dollars. In mid-September, HNL SOUP and Impact Hub HNL hosted the HNL SOUP ‘Solutions Showcase’ to feature the progress of three previous HNL SOUP winners.

HNL Soup Solutions Showcase participants and Impact Hub HNL team.

What is HNL Soup?

HNL SOUP is a program brought to Honolulu by Samantha Ruiz, who was inspired after learning about the SOUP model in Detroit, Michigan. HNL SOUP is a part of a global network of community crowdfunding events. She says, “We hope that HNL SOUP changes the way people engage with the democratic process and increases our community’s creativity and collaboration.”

The premise is simple: each attendee donates $15 for a bowl of soup and bread from local chefs. The group then listens to the three project pitch about their organization and the work they do in the community. After listening to all three pitches, the audience votes on the winner: the project that receives the majority of votes wins the community chest.

HNL Soup Solutions Showcase

At the ‘Solutions Showcase’, community members learned how three former projects – HNL Tool Library, WerkArts, and WorkNet – utilized their community micro-grants to get their business off the ground, and how they could benefit from ongoing community support.

During the ‘Solutions Showcase’, HNL heard how community funds were instrumental for getting HNL Tool Library off the ground, and how the support from the community (both moral support and physical donations) inspired founder Elia Bruno.

WerkArts shared a similar story: learning that the community loved their bamboo bike idea helped them feel like they were on the right path with their company. Founders Krystle Marcellus and Barret Werk hope to get some of the parts fabricated outside of the U.S. to double their output over the next year. HNL also heard from Ruby Menon and Chas Williams of WorkNet, a non-profit that helps former inmates reintegrate into society with jobs, skills building, and housing.

The winner of the ‘Solutions Showcase’ was HNL Tool Library, which seeks to expand membership, build their inventory of available tools, continue to offer workshops, and expand into a self-sustaining non-profit.

We’ll be hosting another HNL SOUP in the future, so stay tuned for updates about when the next micro-granting dinner will be!

Humans of Impact Hub: Holger & Suzanne of Topos Media

September 17, 2018

Holger Heine and Suzanne Savet have been a part of our Impact Hub HNL community since we were in our ProtoHub location. Holger and Suzanne are dedicated Hosts, and you’ll see them behind the Host desk at least once per week – but sometimes more often! They are also members of the coworking community and you’ll see them around throughout the week.

I was really happy to sit down and learn more about their current business, their background, and how they ended up here in at Impact Hub HNL.

Currently Holger and Suzanne manage Topos Productions and develop digital apps and games. They originally chose the name topos, which means place, location, or opportunity in classical Greek, as the theme for theirSan Francisco.-based special event production and marketing business back in the 1990s. Today, Suzanne explains, instead of curating real-life events, their mobile and web-based app help create customized experiences in the digital sphere.

Over the years, their business model has shifted its focus on creating stronger social impact, aiming to make the world a little better, especially for digitally underserved communities.

One of their larger current projects is the development of an app for people with mild memory problems. The app aims to create a sense of connectedness and importance in people suffering from early Alzheimer’s and other dementias. In addition to reinforcing personal memories, the app connects people with memory problems to their friends and loved ones, helps them stay in touch, and allows them to express their love. Holger and Suzanne are developing the app together with a professor at the John A. Burns School of Medicine and they are currently looking for additional beta testers for the app. If you or someone you know is interested in beta testing the app, please reach out here.

But Holger and Suzanne have not always been app developers – both of them have pretty diverse backgrounds. Suzanne started her career in the meeting and event industry in Washington, DC, and Holger spent many years in the hospitality and transportation industry in San Francisco.

They met while working together at one of the leading destination management and corporate event production companies of San Francisco. In 1996, they took the leap and founded Topos Productions as a special event production company, curating everything from corporate conferences for thousands of people to small, exclusive VIP wine country tours and incentive travel experiences.

The transition to a digital media production and marketing company started early on: their clients started asking them to make websites for their special events and incentive travel programs. In the late 1990s, these were simple ‘brochure’ type sites, and this got Suzanne and Holger to work more often in the digital space. “We look at websites as interactive events, which allowed us to combine our event production skills with website design and online marketing services,” she said.

“Creating a website (or mobile app) is about creating an experience,” says Suzanne, “focusing on the experiential factor in website and app development led us to emphasize user experience as a key component of successful digital media design.” This movement into the digital space meant they could become ‘digital nomads’ in Europe (starting in 2002, before it was a THING!). In 2008, an opportunity for Holger to pursue a PhD by research at the University of Melbourne came along, and Holger and Suzanne left their beloved San Francisco for a four-year stay in Australia.

During their time “down under,” Suzanne worked at the U.S. Consulate General Melbourne and served in the U.S. State Department and U.S. Department of Commerce, helping U.S. companies develop their business in Australia. After four more years of digital nomading, Suzanne and Holger have moved themselves and their business to Hawaii, providing digital media services with aloha.

We’re so grateful that this smart and interesting pair bring their social consciousness and their bright personalities to Impact Hub HNL everyday. Learn more about their business here.