Pu‘uhonua Society creates opportunities for Native Hawaiian and Hawai‘i-based artists and cultural practitioners to express themselves and engage with and impact audiences. It supports artists and makers who serve as translators/mediators/amplifiers of social justice issues in the community.

Founded in 1972 as the Young of Heart Workshop & Gallery by Emma Aluli Meyer the community center presented art exhibitions and offered classes in woodworking, ceramics, drawing, cooking, and painting, as well as performances for more than 15 years. In 1996, Emma’s third daughter, Maile Meyer, became Executive Director, and in 2004, Young of Heart Workshop changed its name to Pu‘uhonua Society to better reflect its renewed mission as a safe haven for artists and cultural practitioners. For 25 years Maile envisioned and worked to create thriving creative spaces including  an annual curated-juried exhibition, a gathering place for community exchange and connection, and a contemporary art gallery, artist studios and community space in Kakaʻako that continues today, alongside countless other community drive programs and projects.

Today, Puʻuhonua Society is led by a third generation of Meyer wahine, with Emma Broderick, eldest daughter of Maile. Puʻuhonua Society’s programs also include a community weaving program that perpetuates the Native Hawaiian practice of ulana lauhala; Hoʻomau Nā Maka o ka ‘Āina, working to preserve and make publicly accessible Nā Maka o ka ‘Āina’s entire 6,500 moving image archive; a makers’ space and series of classes and workshops that are focused around the perpetuation of material cultural practices, and a cultural agroforestry movement affirming the importance of niu and uluniu, coconut and coconut groves to the health of Hawaiʻi and its people.