BIO
Nāwāhineokalaʻi (Nawahine) Lanzilotti is a kanaka ʻōiwi (Native Hawaiian) multi-disciplinary artist and educator from lower Mānoa, Oʻahu. Nawahine’s work aims to cultivate deeper connections across indigenous communities and amplify indigenous voices, with a focus on Pacific communities.
From 2012-2018, Nawahine lived in New Delhi, India studying Hindustani music, developing and teaching place-based music curriculum with a local NGO, and creating cross-cultural productions with her international arts collective. Working with indigenous artists in India and the continental US instilled the value of connecting our indigenous communities around the world for our collective liberation.
Nawahine holds an MA in Ethnomusicology from Eastman School of Music on conceptions of sound and song performance in the Deaf community. In 2019, she earned her MFA in experimental sound from Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College with the completion of her thesis, "Nā Kai ʻEwalu: Fluidity and Fragmentation as Form in Indigenous Experimental Performance."
In 2023 Nawahine founded Pulse Oceania to advance Pacific self-determination (for our food, lands, and waters) through projects that support indigenous creative processes and artistic exchanges.
Nawahine was named a 2024 Culture of Health Leadership Institute fellow in support of her pursuit to advance health equity through arts. In this work she advocates for transformative justice by centering indigenous methods, amplifying indigenous perspectives, enriching cultural competency, and strengthening community relationships through land-based creative practice.
Nawahine is a 2026 First Peoples Fund Native Performing Arts Fellow as well as a 2026 Wehiwehi Fellow— a grant supporting Native Hawaiian performing artists at the intersection of identity and contemporary creative practice.
