Pacific Islands Research Institute

Programs: Piri organizes several unique research expeditions to remote pacific islands. These involve promoting schooling and education, as well as archaeological, biological and environmental studies. Our interest is to promote a greater understanding of these past cultures in a wider non sectarian universal sphere, so they will be able to better conceptualize their past events and feel pride in their unique past cultural accomplishments, such as their astronomical knowledge and navigational skills, or the carving, transport and erection of the giant stone statues on easter island. In may 2016 piri conducted a 10 day expedition to rapa nui (easter island). We documented and recorded archeological sights in relation to their astronomical allignments using state of the art gps technology. In addition, we began the construction of a planetarium on rapa nui. The planetarium will offer lectures, presentations on history, and preventive healthcare, as well as screen educational documentary films to the general public and school groups.

as a major component of piri's educational outreach, we organize and present the annual friday harbor documentary film festival. The festival takes place over three days the first weekend in november. In 2016, we featured 34 full-length films, and 15 short films that were viewed by a total of 1,400 attendees, 40% of which were visitors from outside of san juan county.