WASHINGTON, D.C. -- United States Senator Daniel K. Inouye announced today that the Senate approved $750,000 for the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program (NHCAP) within the National Park Service's National Recreation and Preservation Program. This provision is included in the Fiscal Year 1998 Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill.

"Notwithstanding the federal fiscal constraints, I am pleased that the Senate recognized the importance I place on this program to preserve Native Hawaiian heritage. Authorized in Public Law 99-498, the American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Culture Arts Development Act, the NHCAP was created to provide a greater sense of cultural awareness and ethnic pride essential to the survival of the Native Hawaiian people," stated Senator Inouye.

The NHCAP is currently devoted to establishing cultural learning centers on each of the islands of Hawaii at sites of cultural and historic significance to Native Hawaiians. The cultural learning centers are educational programs focused on Native Hawaiian traditions, arts and language, and serve to fulfill the NHCAP's mission to disseminate the cultural research that has been completed by the program. Currently three sites have been identified: the Hawaii Maritime Center on the Island of Oahu, and the Greenwell Botanical Center and Waipio Valley, both on the Island of Hawaii.

In addition to the cultural learning centers, the NHCAP continues to focus on the historical and cultural significance of Polynesian voyaging traditions. Long before western cultures mastered the seas, the ancient Polynesians deftly navigated the enormous expanse of the Pacific Ocean. This aspect of the program includes plans for future educational voyages tracking historical routes by ancient Pacific mariners, and the installation of the Hawai'iloa, the voyaging canoe built under cooperative agreement with the Park Service, at Bishop Museum as the centerpiece of an interactive educational program.

The measure will now face a joint House-Senate Conference and final Senate vote before its transmittal to the White House.