ANNO is a new initiative stimulating scholarship in Hawai‘i and the global Indigenous community that highlights the artistic practices of aboriginal peoples. This new research institute enables conversations and collaborations across academic disciplines by bringing together faculty based in American Studies, Cinematic Arts, Curriculum Studies, English, Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, Kawaihuelani Center for Hawaiian Language, Theatre and Dance, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. For graduate students, ANNO provides funding, mentorship, and publication opportunities.

Leveraging our strengths, the establishment of ANNO will expand knowledge production and increase contributions to the new field of Indigenous performance studies. This research institute builds on lessons learned through the pandemic including addressing underrepresented worldviews and curriculum by online and hybrid accessibility to knowledge systems of Indigenous peoples in the Pacific. The pandemic has taught us that Indigenous performing arts enable joy, inspire resilience, and present an opportunity to indigenize the Department of Theatre and Dance as well as the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. ANNO will also devote efforts to tackle the dearth of scholarship and curriculum in Hawaiian and Indigenous performance studies.