(upbeat music) - Creative Pacific Week is a three day cultural showcase celebrating underrepresented Pacific Islanders.

And here to tell us more about this important event is Ben Powell from Creative Pacific Foundation.

Hi Ben.

Thank you so much for being here.

I know the organization is a really interesting one that you co-founded, and I want you to tell us why you decided to focus on artists, designers, and entrepreneurs this time.

- Yeah, I think part of it is our story of the two co-founders, the late Afa Ah Loo and myself.

We put this together because we felt there were times where we just felt very underrepresented, or arts and creative workspaces was not really a big focus in not just the Pacific Island community, but I think for a lot of people, traditional education is usually sometimes the way to success.

And so we wanted to serve the community of creative spaces, whether it's in art, music, design, hair, makeup, any of those unique creative spaces to be recognized for the work they do.

And also how to help develop perhaps workshops, mentoring them, and also leading them to be maybe successful entrepreneurs or owners of things that they'd like to do.

- Wonderful.

And tell us about some of the things you have coming up in addition to the panels and workshops.

- Yeah, so July 31st, we have a workshop scheduled with a various group of artists from music, dance, from theater, as well as makeup artistry, and just all the different avenues that we reached out to locally and also outside of the state to bring a panel of artists that can also create a workshop afterwards in the afternoon on July 31st.

And then August 1st, we'll have a fashion show.

We've done this about three years now in a row.

This year, it's gonna be at the Natural History Museum, and it's gonna focus on 10 different designers with a tribute to Afa Ah Loo.

- Oh, wonderful.

- So we're definitely working on all of that.

And then our last is our Market Vendor Day, which is gonna be on August the 2nd, which is gonna be held at the Cultural Center in West Valley.

- Thank you so much for being here, for what you do, thank you.

- Yeah, you're welcome.

- And if you'd like to know more about that upcoming festival, the Creative Pacific Foundation, July 31st to August 2nd, Utah Cultural Celebration Center, except the fashion show is at the Natural History Museum of Utah.

Go to creativepacific.org.

I'm Mary Dickson, thanks for watching "Contact."

(upbeat music) - Local events, arts, culture.

It's what brings us together.

Hi, I'm Mary Dickson.

Here on Contact, we introduce you to local events and organizations that serve your neighborhood.

If you work for a nonprofit and would like to appear on our show, please visit pbsutah.org/contact.