Swalm family’s $150,000 donation supports restoration from storm damage

HONOLULU, April 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Hawaii Theatre Center is pleased to announce a $150,000 grant aimed at helping the historic venue recover from storm damage and pay for skyrocketing insurance costs. The contribution, provided by the Swalm Family Mālama Keiki Initiative, is intended to raise awareness of and promote community-wide participation in sustaining one of Hawaii’s most treasured performing arts institutions.

“This generous contribution comes at a vital time, ensuring that we can continue to share the magic of live theatre with Honolulu,” said Gregory Dunn, president and CEO of the Hawaii Theatre Center. “We’re extremely grateful to Nicole and Clark Swalm for leading this community effort.”

The grant comes at a pivotal moment, as the Hawaii Theatre works to make storm-related repairs while addressing the continued weight of six-figure annual insurance premium costs.

First opened in 1922, the Hawaii Theatre hosts music concerts, comedy and magic shows, and drama performances. In addition, the Hawaii Theatre’s children’s programs, which include summer theatre camp and music festivals, bring the joy of live performance to over 10,000 children each year. The Theatre was forced to curtail several of these programs in the last few months due to the rapid rise in annual property insurance premiums.

“The Hawaii Theatre’s children’s programming is vital to passing our culture along to future generations and inspiring lifelong passion for performing arts,” Nicole Swalm said in a statement. “Anyone who has seen the joy in a child’s eyes when they’re exposed to live theatre knows how important it is to keep institutions like the Hawaii Theatre around for many years to come.”

For more than 100 years - longer than Hawaii has been a state - the Hawaii Theatre has served as a gathering place where audiences come not just to watch performances, but to share a collective experience that reflects the culture and spirit of the community.

Thanks to the Swalm family’s contribution, the Hawaii Theatre Center will be able to perform much-needed repairs to the theatre's historic marquee and digital sign as well as roofing updates following extensive storm damage. Over the next 90 days, the Hawaii Theatre hopes that the community will be inspired by the Swalm family’s generosity to help raise a total of $450,000 to pay for repairs and ballooning insurance costs.

Donations can be made in the form of digital currency, stocks, donor advised funds, and credit cards directly through the Hawaii Theatre Center here: https://www.hawaiitheatre.com/support

HAWAII THEATRE CENTER

The Hawaii Theatre Center was established in 1984 as a private nonprofit organization to restore and operate the historic Hawaii Theatre as a multi-purpose performance facility for artistic, cultural, entertainment, and educational events and to promote the redevelopment of the downtown Honolulu and Chinatown districts. Opened on September 6, 1922 as the flagship of the Consolidated Amusement Company, the 1,400-seat Hawaii Theatre is listed on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. It reopened in 1996 after an extensive restoration and was recognized by the League of Historic American Theatres as the 2005 Outstanding Historic Theatre in America. In 2006, Hawaii Theatre Center received a National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. To learn more, visit www.hawaiitheatre.com

CONTACT:

Ron McDaniel

Director of Communications and Marketing

ronmcdaniel@hawaiitheatre.com

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