Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti (PEAK)

About the Organization:

The Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti (PEAK) seeks to redefine and expand Pasifika entertainment so that Pasifika creatives can thrive, evolve, and drive innovative storytelling that honors the richness and diversity across Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. PEAK uplifts and supports Pasifika talent by fostering community and utilizing industry networks, facilitating cultural workshops and training, and providing development opportunities for filmmakers.

The Issue:

Pasifika populations, which include the diverse peoples of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, have long faced significant challenges in Hollywood and the media, arising from a combination of stereotypes, lack of education, cultural misappropriation, anti-Blackness, homophobia, transphobia, and limited opportunities for authentic storytelling.

Our writers, actors, directors, and producers are frequently overlooked in mainstream media and entertainment; this underrepresentation not only denies Pasifika talent valuable opportunities, but also limits the visibility and authentic portrayal of our stories. For example, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s analysis of the 1,300 top grossing films (2007 to 2019) found that, out of 51,159 speaking characters, only 5.9% were AAPI, with 39% of films lacking AAPI characters entirely. Additionally, only 3.5% of directors, producers, and casting directors, including only three women, identified as AAPI. With approximately 7% of the U.S. population identifying as AAPI, the disproportionate representation of these populations is jarring. Given that this data is not disaggregated, Pacific Islander statistics alone are considerably lower or, in some cases, non-existent.

Furthermore, Pasifika cultures are often exploited for profit in the media without proper understanding or respect. Traditional symbols, clothing, dances, and rituals are sometimes used out of context or without permission, resulting in the distortion of their cultural significance. This misappropriation erases the nuances behind these practices and can perpetuate harmful stereotypes that commodify our way of life.

It is essential to provide platforms for Pasifika voices to be heard and celebrated to promote greater cultural understanding, foster inclusivity, and contribute to a more equitable media landscape. By dismantling stereotypes, we seek to challenge preconceived notions and foster greater empathy and appreciation for the rich, diverse heritage of these cultures. Pasifika-centered storytelling is essential for the preservation and celebration of our cultural traditions. Unfortunately, many organizations fighting for AAPI representation tend to lack Pasifika voices; as the only Pasifika-led organization targeting these population-specific challenges, we see our mission as one of social justice and equity. By providing opportunities for Pasifika artists to share their stories, we seek to break down barriers and create a more inclusive entertainment industry.

The Solution:

As the only Pacific Islander-led organization pushing for narrative change in Hollywood, PEAK delivers training workshops that cover Pasifika representation and storytelling and the erasure of Pacific Islanders, even in AAPI spaces. To that end, we host both in-person and virtual industry presentations, workshops, training, panel events, and moderated discussions for media and entertainment outlets and leaders. Our sessions center Pasifika experiences in Hollywood covering everything from the history of Pasifika representation, nuances in identity, problematic narratives, and ideation for mitigating these issues in Hollywood. Sessions include space for audience engagement and are tailored to the individual needs of target organizations. Through these conversations, we promote solidarity and inclusion so that Pacific Islanders can be seen in their fullness.

Outside of workshop facilitation, PEAK also works with organizations and corporations to provide cultural sensitivity readings of scripts, review of merchandise and consumer products, early or rough cut storyboard reviews, referrals to translators and dialect coaches, and talent referrals.

Pasifika populations are not a monolith, therefore it is a major part of our mission to ensure integrity, authenticity, and nuance in Pasifika storytelling and representation. Therefore, in addition to our industry education initiatives, we also provide development workshops and a fellowship program for emerging Pasifika writers. In 2022, we coordinated our first writing fellowship in which five emerging artists were mentored by showrunner Dana Ledoux Miller. With additional funding, we would like to host an additional 5-10 writers in 2023 in order to help them advance their skills and industry relationships that will propel their careers forward. Through these programs, we strive to uplift Pasifika creative talent and empower them to thrive within a more equitable and inclusive industry.

Manisha G. Bewtra, AICP

Planning, Mobility, and Development Advisor to Tucson Mayor Regina Romero

Manisha Bewtra, AICP (she/her) is Mayor Romero’s Planning, Mobility, and Development Advisor. In this role, she leverages her passion for planning for thriving, healthy, and inclusive communities with her love for policy-making and politics as the Mayor’s liaison on transportation and land use issues. Manisha is an experienced public process facilitator and project manager and works collaboratively with the Mayor’s team and city departments to apply an equity lens to all city initiatives.
Manisha has built her career on bringing divergent perspectives together, facilitating conversations around change, and generating data-informed solutions that move communities forward. She is driven by public service and champions equitable policies and inclusive community engagement.
Prior to her current role, she worked at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council in Boston as a senior regional planner and the manager of the analytics team, at the Massachusetts Housing Partnership where she was a statewide technical assistance provider, as an adjunct city planning instructor for Master’s degree program courses at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and at Arizona State University, and in municipal government and nonprofit community development organizations in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Chandler, Arizona.
Manisha has served on various equity-focused organizations and committees and is a graduate of Emerge Massachusetts, the Initiative for Diversity in Civic Leadership, and the Massachusetts Commonwealth Seminar, three organizations dedicated to training underrepresented groups to influence public policy and to run for office. She has a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a BA in Economics and Art from The University of Iowa, and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. She currently serves as a member at large for the American Planning Association Arizona Southern Section and is a member of the executive team for the Asian American and Political Islander Caucus for the Arizona Democratic Party.
Before moving to Tucson in the summer of 2020, she lived in the Boston area for twelve years. During her years in Melrose, Massachusetts, she served as a Human Rights Commissioner and subsequently as a City Councilor. When elected to the Melrose City Council, she became the first person of color ever to serve in elected office in Melrose. She grew up in Iowa and identifies as Desi/Indian-American. She, her husband, and her son felt welcomed and right at home in Tucson when they moved here – even in spite of a pandemic and searing summer heat.

Arnie Saiki

research, writer, program director

Broadly focusing on regional economic and geopolitical themes in the Asia and Pacific regions, Arnie Saiki is currently leading a working group on data, statistics and valuation in the Pacific. His book “Economic and Ecological Accounting: Towards Intemerate Values,” was published last year by the Pacific Conference of Churches, the Pacific Theological College and the University of the South Pacific.

Since the publication, this campaign has been introduced to the Ecological and Economic Justice program at the World Council of Churches and he is participating in a G8 Interfaith forum for the inclusion of Wellbeing indicators into our economic accounts.

While national statistics and ecological accounting normally fall under the purview of government, academic or international institutions, Arnie has been campaigning in democratizing our ecological data, seeking support for a proof-of-concept accounting program that would enable poor, impacted, and indigenous peoples to actively participate in how we account for our socio and economic biodiversity. Intemerate Accounting is an equation that helps to correct accounting disparities that have, to a large extent, excluded the Global South. Revising our accounting system can provide access and opportunities that cross wide campaign sectors, bringing hope, action and efficacy to reverse climate change, restore our ecological biodiversity, and redistribute global wealth more equitably.

Arnie has been actively promoting and working on global justice campaigns since 2007 when he received a “We the People” grant from the Hawai’i Council of the Humanities for his work on Hawai’i Statehood. He has organized conferences with Hawaiian national independence groups, managed the Save Rapanui campaign after the Chilean military forced a lockdown of Easter Islanders. Arnie spoke at the World Bank representing the Pacific Island Forum, and participated in discussions around regionalism in the Pacific. He was recently appointed the US-Pacific Diplomacy and Solidarity Mission for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), and is on the management team of the Deep Seabed Mining Campaign.

In 2011, Arnie received the blessing from Dr. Kekuni Blaisdell to organize a counter-conference in Honolulu while APEC was there and coordinated the Moana Nui conferences, an international partnership between the International Forum on Globalization and Pua Mohala I Ka Po. For the last ten years he has been campaigning on issues around trade, development, ecological resources, indigenous issues and militarization in the Pacific.

His essays, “TPP at the End of the Line: a briefing on economic cooperation and capacity building” was published in American Quarterly by John Hopkins University Press, and “Manifesting the Liquid Continent,” was published by Yunnan National University, as part of the 1st International conference on Asia and Pacific Ethnology and Anthropology.