Allegra Gaines

Allegra Gaines serves as President and CEO of Ho'ike Kaua'i Community Media, the nonprofit public access organization serving the island of Kaua'i, and also as Executive Director of Hawaii Children's Theatre, combining community media leadership with arts education on an island where both functions serve the same goal of giving local voices a public platform. Ho'ike provides training, equipment, and channel time to Kaua'i residents and organizations, producing programming that ranges from County Council coverage to community interview shows to emergency safety information, making it the primary civic media infrastructure for a geographically isolated island community.

Her service on the ACM Western Region board connects that island-based work to the wider field, carrying the perspective of a small, place-specific station into national conversations about PEG access, funding, and the future of community media infrastructure.

Allegra's leadership at Ho'ike reflects what community media looks like in a place where the nearest commercial television market is hundreds of miles away: a station that functions as both civic infrastructure and cultural platform, keeping local stories in local hands.