Mission
Pacific Islanders in Communications’ (PIC) mission is to support, advance, and develop Pacific Island media content and talent that enhances public recognition of and appreciation for Pacific Islander history, culture, and society.
History
In 1991 PIC was established in Honolulu, Hawai‘i as a national non-profit media arts organization committed to amplifying Pacific Islander voices.
In its 30+ years, we have provided more than 200 hours of media content to the national public media system that are authentic and accurate representations of Pacific Islanders, and reflects America’s growing ethnic and cultural diversity. PIC is the only organization in America that does this by developing, producing, and funding films and film series, providing talent development opportunities to emerging filmmakers, and screening films at community events and festivals across the nation and abroad. Our programmatic activities are centered around the belief that it’s crucial for media to truly reflect the world around us and the people in it in order to enrich the civic and cultural vitality of America.
In 2011 we created our signature series Pacific Heartbeat, a public television series that premiers annually in May accompanied by outreach and engagement activities that extend conversations around the films’ subject matter and themes. Because Pacific Islander stories aren’t just relevant in the month of May, we created a companion online short film series in 2019, Pacific Pulse, which runs from March through August annually.
PIC is a member of the National Multicultural Alliance (NMCA) formally known as the National Minority Consortia (NMC), which collectively addresses the need for programming that reflects America's growing ethnic and cultural diversity. Other NMCA members serve the Asian American, Latino, Black, and Native American populations. Over the past years, NMCA members have provided hundreds of hours of culturally-diverse programs to PBS. Primary funding for PIC and the NMCA is provided through an annual grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
We define “Pacific Islander” as one whose ancestors were the indigenous people of Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia and Australia.
If you’d like to support our endeavors, please visit www.piccom.org/pages/membership.
View our toolkit here.
Core Values
As peoples of the Pacific, a vast ocean often referred to as the blue continent, anchors, and connects us. It is the source of our abundance, the lifeblood of our breath, and the pathway of our ancestors. Traditionally, it was the sacred technology of the voyaging canoe, and the wisdom to navigate it which allowed us to bridge pathways to new lands and to one another.
Today, it is our stories through the vessel of media, that allow us to endeavor into the great unknown. Stories that bridge connections, deepen an intimate understanding of others, and in turn, ourselves. Like a voyage on the canoe, it is the values ingrained in those that share the work that give us the power to fish up islands from the sea.
We hold strong to these core values, as they give structure to our vessel and guide our journey, like the stars above INTEGRITY is the foundational structure in which we put our trust. Integrity holds us together in truth and accountability, just as the rope and lashings hold the form of the canoe soundly together. This assures we remain intact while we move forward.
With a sound vessel held together in integrity, HARMONY is the beautiful tapestry of crew members from wide-ranging origins and skill sets that become family on a voyage. Harmony acknowledges that each person has their role and responsibility and asks us to contribute these efforts so that together we may accomplish anything.
RESPECT is rooted in knowledge that we are all on this voyage together. Respect makes every interaction sacred by approaching it from a space of empathy and acknowledges that differing viewpoints are necessary to gain a greater vision, bringing us forth safely to new lands together.
HONOR is most essential for any voyage as it centers us in the abundant space of gratitude for all those that have come before us and for the breath of life within us that allows us to navigate the unknown. We stand upon the backs of the ones that charted the way and call upon their divine power, that our sails be filled, that we gain the infinite wisdom passed down, and that we are protected every step of the journey.
As our crew and canoe pull land from the sea, making real and tangible what was once just a vision, we make sure to CELEBRATE these massive achievements. For it is in celebrations with one another and our global communities that we share our stories and lessons of the voyage which nurtures the inspiration for future endeavors.