Support the Merrie Monarch Team
Please consider donating to the Merrie Monarch Fund of the Academy of Hawaiian Arts. Almost all costs associated with competing at Merrie Monarch are paid by the dancers themselves. Costs include:
- Air travel to, road travel, lodging, and boarding in Hilo
- Tuition at the Academy of Hawaiian Arts
- Costuming and crafting implements
- Leis and adornments
- Entry fees, etc.
These costs are in addition to the long hours of practice, extra weekends of crafting & costuming, and non-stop halau volunteering that each member of the Merrie Monarch Team gives willingly to the Academy. The Academy also notes that most of these dancers are young—early in their careers, still attending university full time, and / or raising new families (some as single parents). We hope you can help lighten their load by donating generously to those we proudly send to “break da floor!”
Each dancer is committed to raising $1300 at the rate of $130 per week starting in December. Please consider a donation of $130 that would provide relief from 1 week of fundraising for a dancer. Any amount you are able to donate is valuable to a dancer. (Remember when you were in college or just starting out and $10 could easily have felt like a $100 to you.) If you do not designate a particular dancer, then your donation is shared with all the dancers. Mahalos!
Here are other ways you can support the Academy of Hawaiian Arts. Take the Voyage!
Read about one dancer's experience at the 2006 Merrie Monarch
Learn more about the Merrie Monarch Festival