Makana, Slack Key Artist Activist

photo credit from artist website

I had heard of this artist, but learned a lot by listening to a podcast, the Fearless Storyteller, in which he was interviewed. It was around the time that I was redesigning my website to focus on Creativity Activism. I have personally met all the other artists on this page, and Makana is the first that I don't know personally (yet). What he embodies is exemplary of what I mean by creative activism. Going to his website, on his Kuleana page, I found there's so much he has done in this realm. My goodness, from Mauna Kea (of course) to going to Russia to understand nuclear proliferation, to protests against Monsanto, and so much more - this man is incredible, He's turned down major industry contracts so that he could follow his na'au (gut, instinct) on what he wanted to do with his music. On his About page, he describes his philosophy, which has been an "unorthodox journey of using my art to inspire the change I want to witness in our world. For it is said: giving never leaves one with less, and the principle of Makana- a gift given freely- has brought me a richer life than I could have ever dreamed."