HIMELE Announces Changes to Livestream Schedule

May 6, 2026 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

HIMELE is announcing a revision to its Livestream schedule and will now limit its Livestream broadcasts to selected events.

Prior to this, HIMELE had attempted to livestream concert portions of all festivals on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island.

HIMELE pivoted to livestream broadcasts of Hawaiian steel guitar presentations on the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase during the COVID-19 pandemic when in-person festivals were paused. Showcase presentations included featured steel guitarists, Keiki steel guitarists, and videos submitted by steel guitarists all over the world. The livestreams presented are all archived on the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase's gallery.

Post-COVID, HIMELE decided to continue livestream broadcasting of festival concerts on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island to expand the reach of the Hawaiian steel guitar to worldwide audiences.

While there is no question about how livestream broadcasts can reach a worldwide audience, the numbers of viewers for HIMELE festival concert livestream broadcasts have gradually diminished over the years. HIMELE has determined that the small number of livestream viewers do not justify the expense of producing livestream broadcasts for every O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island festival – the locations where HIMELE has identified and utilized on-island providers.

HIMELE has therefore decided to limit livestream broadcasts to events where larger audiences might be anticipated due to the nature of the event. Currently, the J-FESTA event – the Japan-Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival in July – and Hawaiian Steel Guitar Festival - Keiki Kine festivals will be livestreamed. Livestreaming of other festivals will be discontinued.

Prior to livestreaming, some festival performances were video recorded and archived on festival websites and on the respective festival YouTube channels. This practice will be resumed, with select festival performances video recorded and posted to HIMELE's Instagram account by HIMELE's media coordinator and may be archived on the respective festival's website gallery for demand viewing.