Inside The 2026 TAAF Heritage Month Summit

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 15: (L-R) Lāiana Kanoa-Wong, Producer, Kūmau Productions; Auliʻi Cravalho, Actor & Producer; Ty Sanga, Producer, Kūmau Productions and Stacey Young, Executive Director & Founder, Pacific Island Film Festival of NYC attend TAAF Heritage Month Summit and Celebration Day 2 on May 15, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images for The Asian American Foundation (TAAF))

Getty Images for The Asian American Foundation

Ten years after audiences first met Disney’s fearless wayfinder, Moana has returned to theaters in a new live-action adaptation. The film, which opened July 10, stars Catherine Lagaʻaia as the feisty young heroine and features Auliʻi Cravalho (who voiced Moana in the animated films) as one of its executive producers.

While the live-action remake has generated considerable attention, one of the franchise’s most meaningful milestones arrived earlier this year with relatively little fanfare. In February Disney+ released the 2024 animated film Moana 2 in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, the indigenous language of Hawaii.

Once on the verge of extinction, with fewer than 50 speakers under the age of 18, ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi now has more than 20,000 speakers, thanks in large part to the growth of Hawaiian-language immersion programs across the state beginning in the 1980s.

Cravalho recounted the process of re-recording Moana 2 in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi at The Asian American Foundation’s Heritage Month Summit, where she joined Native Hawaiian filmmakers Lāiana Kanoa-Wong and Ty Sanga onstage for a conversation about Hawaiian storytelling, language and cultural reclamation. For Cravalho, who was born in Hawaii and is of Native Hawaiian descent, voicing the character of Moana in her ancestral language carried an enormous sense of responsibility.

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“My cousins also go to Hawaiian immersion schools,” Cravalho told the audience. She added that knowing that Moana 2 would be used as educational material for her younger cousins who are learning ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi made the pressure to get it right “undeniable” but also “so absolutely worth it.”

Kanoa-Wong emphasized the historical significance of dubbing the film in a language that was once banned in Hawaiian schools and brought back only through decades of community-led revitalization efforts. “If we lose our language, we lose who we are,” he said. Making Moana 2 available in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, he explained, allowed Native Hawaiians to hear their mother tongue spoken in one of Disney’s most popular franchises.

“Telling our stories is one form of planting a flag and reclaiming space,” Kanoa-Wong said. “We’re done with others telling our stories. It’s time for us to take back the charge.”

Although the conversation centered on Native Hawaiian language and storytelling, its message extended far beyond the world of Moana. Throughout the summit, speakers returned to similar questions of who gets to tell a community’s stories, how representation can translate into real power, and what a better future for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities can look like.

Held on May 14–15 in New York City and organized by The Asian American Foundation (TAAF)—a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the safety, belonging and prosperity of AANHPI communities—the 2026 TAAF Heritage Month Summit brought more than 1,400 attendees to Manhattan’s Javits Center for two days of panel discussions, fireside chats, musical performances and networking.

Leading figures from entertainment, tech, journalism, sports, fashion and other fields shared their thoughts on what it meant for AANHPIs not only to take up space but also to shape their own narratives and help define the country’s future.

This year’s theme, “Together We Are the Asian+American Dream,” served as both a celebration of the impact that AANHPIs have had on American life and a call to help build a better future for their communities. The message felt particularly timely given that 2026 marks both America’s 250^th anniversary and the fifth anniversary of TAAF and its annual summit.

A wide-ranging group of high-profile speakers took the stage to discuss AANHPI representation, the contributions of AANHPIs to modern America and the challenges their communities continue to face.

Among them were:

• Actor, director and producer Daniel Dae Kim, who reflected on the history and evolution of TAAF and led attendees in a moment of silence for those killed amid the pandemic-fueled rise in anti-Asian hate
• Fashion designers Vera Wang and Jason Wu, who joined makeup artist Daniel Martin, Hollywood stylist Jeanne Yang and former Allure Editor-in-Chief Michelle Lee for a conversation about AAPI representation in fashion, beauty and culture
• Gymnast and six-time Olympic medalist Suni Lee, Olympic fencing silver medalist James Williams and four-time U.S. Paralympian Chuck Aoki, who spoke with NBC News anchor Vicky Nguyen about AAPI representation at the highest levels of sports
• Min Jin Lee, bestselling author of Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, who discussed her upcoming novel American Hagwon during a fireside chat with ABC News Nightline anchor Juju Chang
• Singer-songwriter, author and director Hayley Kiyoko; actress and singer Isa Briones; actor, dancer and producer Harry Shum Jr.; and pioneering fashion influencer Chriselle Lim, who participated in a panel moderated by MS NOW anchor Richard Lui on authentic representation in AAPI storytelling

(The full speaker lineup is available on the 2026 TAAF Heritage Month Summit website.)

Attendees also enjoyed performances by Juilliard piano prodigy Anwen Deng, trailblazing composer and pianist Chloe Flower, U.S. Army veteran and singer Paul Ieti, and U.S. Olympic fencers Mitchell Saron and Maia Chamberlain.

A special awards dinner was also held to honor the achievements of Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube; Jeremy Lin, NBA Champion and board chair of the Jeremy Lin Foundation; Sheila Lirio Marcelo, co-founder and CEO of Ohai.ai and founder of Care.com; and Oscar-winning actor and author Ke Huy Quan.

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The summit concluded with a friendly basketball game at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center featuring teams of AANHPI athletes and creators.