Current Affairs (Event Planning and Production Company)

Established in 1984 as an event planning and production company in Hawaii, Current Affairs provides event-planning services to both private and corporate entities. Since its inception, Current Affairs has planned and produced events for clients such as AT&T, Coca-Cola, Condé Nast and more. Current Affairs offers a broad scope of services, including entertainment, staging, lighting, AV, event design, food and beverage services, logistical planning, on-site management and venue selection, among others. The company has a staff of 10.

History

Founded in 1984 by Philip Richardson, Current Affairs was initially called International Catering Concepts. The company’s first major event was a “Great Gatsby” themed dinner held on the Big Island of Hawaii. The event caught the eye of CBS New York, who called Richardson to produce another gala event shortly thereafter.

While business began to grow for the company, some clients misunderstood what the company did and tagged it as a catering company. For that reason, International Catering Concepts was shortened to ICC, but the name only confused clientele even more. Therefore in 1997, Richardson renamed the company Current Affairs to help broaden the scope of services the company offered.

In 1995, Current Affairs acquired a kitchen to produce their own food for events. The kitchen had a storefront named Keawe Café. Richardson and his staff began spending more time managing the restaurant instead of planning events, so he decided to leave the cooking to the professionals and close the kitchen’s doors in 1999 to focus once again on event planning. Current Affairs then formulated a partnership with chef David Paul of Diamond Head Grill, through which Chef Paul prepared food for all of Current Affairs’ events. This led to more successful partnerships with other renowned local chefs, such as Roy Yamaguchi, Alan Wong and Sam Choy.

Present

Today, Current Affairs counts three additional companies. They include:

• SpandexUSA Hawaii

• EventAccents

• HawaiiSpeakers.net: In 2009, Current Affairs expanded its scope of services by acquiring Hawaii’s largest speakers bureau representing celebrities, comedians, consultants, futurists, musicians, Hawaiiana experts, sports figures and others.