The Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center is seeking a passionate individual for our part-time Program Manager position!

Reports to: Artistic Director
Job Type: Part-Time, Up to 80 hours a month
Compensation: $25 / hour

This role works closely with the Artistic Director and Executive Director in a collaborative team environment. The Program Manager’s responsibilities include program coordination, artistic coordination, and marketing and communications related to the annual United States of Asian America Festival and APICC programs.

View the Job Description and Apply Today

Email your resume and cover letter to [email protected]. Include the position title “Program Manager” in the Subject Line. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joanna Cayanan, Communications Assistant
[email protected]

Where Is Your Body Opening Reception (Photographer: Joyce Xi)

BE(LONG)ING HERE: AAPI ARTISTS EMBRACE HERITAGE, IDENTITY, AND A FUTURE WITH DIGNITY

Honoring the rich cultural contributions of the Asian American community while highlighting the city's vibrant creative scenes

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, March 14, 2024 - In honor of Asian Pacific Heritage Month, Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) proudly presents the 27th annual United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF), a two-month showcase highlighting the rich cultural contributions and diversity of San Francisco’s Pacific Islander and Asian American communities. USAAF features artists from a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, highlighting the work of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) artists across all artistic disciplines including theater, music, dance, film, literature, visual arts, and beyond.

This year’s theme, Be(long)ing Here, turns to AAPI artists to express what belonging means for themselves and their communities. The festival will honor the diverse histories, present impacts, and future visions of AAPI artists with roots connected to diverse immigrant, refugee, and mixed-race experiences.

“Our festival is coming to us after collectively experiencing major shifts and changes - so many beloved art spaces and local businesses have closed or are struggling and “doom loop” narratives of our city’s decline permeate the media all while a crucial presidential election looms, says Artistic Director Melanie Elvena, “We must continue to provide platforms for arts and culture to meet these pressing challenges, expanding San Francisco AAPI arts across communities creating spaces of belonging that bridge our differences. In our commonalities, we might find that this city and our communities still have so much life and abundance to offer.”

Since 1998, USAAF has garnered the attention of thousands of viewers by featuring groundbreaking artists including celebrated pianist and composer Jon Jang, award-winning San Francisco-based dancer and choreographer Lenora Lee, and SFJAZZ poet laureate, Genny Lim. Rising stars like rapper and music producer Ruby Ibarra and comedian Irene Tu have delivered some of their earliest performances at USAAF before skyrocketing to fame, demonstrating the festival's ongoing commitment to showcasing emerging talents.

Meeting the Moment: Transforming Struggle into Beauty
With inflated costs of living in the San Francisco Bay Area, many people are questioning where and how communities of color, families, and artists can remain living and working in San Francisco. Yet, it’s San Francisco’s artists of color that have always met the region’s challenges with spirited community efforts to organize for a dignified future where everyone can belong.

Featured Artist Ramon Abad’s show Duck Soup is a welcoming haven for families and youth to gather for growth and exploration through dynamic puppetry. This show, alongside many others, breathes life into the intergenerational essence of San Francisco and ensures safe spaces remain for all ages to come together to exchange stories, wisdom, and experiences, enriching the city's cultural diversity.

The rhythm of joy is key in a year that continues to deliver grief and sorrow as the ongoing genocide in Palestine spurs global social unrest. Moreover, the loss of key members in the AAPI arts community, whether due to COVID-19 or other factors, extends beyond individual grief, impacting the community's collective creativity and cohesion. That’s why Megan Lowe’s presentation of Just a Shadow, a dance performance that ritually celebrates the lives of loved ones who have passed on, is right on time. “Our performance aims to recognize and celebrate our individual and collective resilience, acknowledging the inevitable challenges of death while embracing the miracle and beauty of life,” she says, “It welcomes diverse perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds, recognizing that the narratives surrounding death and processing grief are multifaceted and deeply personal.”

AAPI Successes, Triumphs, and Milestones
Already 2024 has seen AAPI representation reach new heights with artists making an indelible impact on the world’s pop cultural landscape. A shining example is the 81st Golden Globe Awards, where Ali Wong (a San Francisco native and past APAture/KSW collaborator) won Best Actress and Steven Yeun won Best Actor for their outstanding performances in the limited series BEEF.

As Asian American representation continues to become a norm on the silver screen, USAAF artists are ushering in generations of nuanced stories that deepen audiences' connection to who Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are today, where they have been, and why future generations’ well being depends on the arts, culture, and community that comes from festivals like this.

Attendees are invited to the premier of the visual art exhibition Where is your Body, curated by Delaney Chieyen Holton, which gathers women/trans/queer artists of the AAPI diaspora who are engaging with practices of the body to explore questions of labor, memory, and desire. This show highlights the body and its needs as the lowest common denominator for solidarity.

“The exhibition I’m organizing at SOMArts, Where is Your Body, invites community members to think about their bodies — what we use them for, and how they mediate relationships or the ways we move through the world,” Delaney Chieyen Holton says, “We are living in historic times, politically, and I want folks in our community to be equipped to engage meaningfully. I curated the show with the hopes that it could give our communities a chance to think about identity beyond representational politics, to see the ways our bodies are all vulnerable to, and thus dependent on, one another.”

Building solidarity across the Bay Area’s diverse communities is central to USAAF, which is why APICC continues to support its artists to produce free, accessible events that encourage connection, conversation, and intercultural dialogue.

The San Francisco Bay Area stands out as a hub for rising talent within the Asian American community, courtesy of ongoing initiatives like APICC's annual United States of Asian America Festival. This festival has played a crucial role in nurturing an environment for both emerging and established AAPI artists to innovate and contribute to their communities. Spanning from intergenerational stories to the creation of supportive and imaginative spaces, the festival's diverse programs unfold throughout San Francisco from May to June. This year’s festival calendar can be found at www.apiculturalcenter.org/usaaf2024.

HIGHLIGHTED FESTIVAL EVENTS

Where is Your Body | Curated by Delaney Chieyen Holton (art exhibition)
SOMArts Cultural Center opens on April 25 from 6 PM - 9 PM. On view April 26-May 24. This year's festival features an art exhibition Where is Your Body that explores questions of labor, memory, and desire through practices of the body by women/trans/queer artists of API diasporic experience. Through a range of approaches, from abstract to figurative, and through durational embodied processes, they explore the boundaries of the body and efforts to transcend towards a future, or each other.

Just a Shadow | Curated by Megan Lowe Dances (dance performance series)
The Joe Goode Annex on May 31- June 2 & June 7-9 from 7:30 PM - 9 PM. Join us in celebrating life and honoring our lost loved ones. Just a Shadow brings together 7 powerful artists in a process that nourishes the soul, supports healing, acknowledges resilience, celebrates life, and honors the memories of loved ones. Megan Lowe Dances aims to provide a platform for catharsis, empathy, and collective understanding, fostering connections that transcend individual stories and unite us in a shared journey toward solace and healing.

Duck Soup | Ramon Abad (puppetry)
Bindlestiff Studio on June 8-9 from 1-2 PM and June 15 from 1-2 PM. Embark on an enchanting journey through an immersive theater experience designed for children and families where you will witness short stories come to life through captivating puppet performances. Join us for an unforgettable adventure filled with wonder and imagination.

USAAF: BE(LONG)ING HERE Outdoor Showcase
Co-Presented by Sunday Streets and Livable City
Sunday Streets Tenderloin on June 23 from 1-5 PM. Join us for a day of music, dance, stand-up, poetry, performances, and more! Featured APICC artists include dNaga Dance Co., Sun Park, Johnny Huy Nguyễn w/ Tim Kim, Swetha Prabakaran Productions, and Preeti Vangani w/ Shikha Malaviya and Maw Shein Win. More artists and performers will be announced.

WHAT/WHO
27TH ANNUAL UNITED STATES OF ASIAN AMERICA FESTIVAL: BE(LONG)ING HERE
Presented by Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center as part of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Featuring events in music, dance, puppetry, theater, literature, visual arts, and more showcasing Asian and Pacific Islander artists.

WHEN
May-June 2024

WHERE
Various venues throughout San Francisco

FOR MORE INFO
See the full calendar and register for events at www.apiculturalcenter.org/usaaf2024

###

ABOUT USAAF
Each year, the United States of Asian American Festival (USAAF) presents around 20 different programs reflecting the artistic accomplishments and cultural diversity of San Francisco’s Pacific Islander and Asian American communities. USAAF showcases artists representing a diverse range of ethnic and cultural groups and aims to heighten the visibility of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) artists working in all disciplines - theater, music, dance, film, literature, visual arts, etc. Our goal is to nurture and empower these groups to be self-sufficient while providing the support they need to grow.

This year’s USAAF is funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, California Arts Council, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and startsmall.

ABOUT APICC
Our mission at the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) is to support and produce multidisciplinary art reflective of the unique experiences of Asians and Pacific Islanders living in the United States.

APICC was founded in 1996 by representatives of five nonprofit arts groups: Asian American Dance Performances, First Voice, Asian Improv aRts, the Asian American Theater Company, and Kearny Street Workshop. Since 1998, the center has promoted the artistic and organizational growth of San Francisco’s API arts community by organizing and presenting the annual United States of Asian America Festival as well as commissioning contemporary art for and by the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

Press Content for the United States of Asian America Festival 2024

USAAF 2024 Press Release

FEATURED ARTISTS SHIFT THE SCRIPT INTERVIEWS

The Art of Puppetry with Ramon Abad - May 15, 2024

Just a Shadow: Meeting Grief through Art and Community - May 22, 2024

FEATURES/REVIEWS

APEX Express – 5.2.24 – Celebrating AAPINH Month!
KPFA APEX Express, Miko Lee - May 2, 2024

Exploring Identity and Solidarity Through Art: Where Is Your Body Exhibition at SOMArts
East Wind Ezine, Stephanie Gancayco - May 13, 2024

A Mother and Child Connect to the Past Through Dance
SF Classical Voice, Aimée Ts'ao - May 14, 2024

Mother and Daughter Duet in Multi-Disciplinary ‘flowers and fog’ Show
KQED, Ariana Proehl - May 14, 2024

Review: Melissa Lewis Wong & Joy ChenYu Lewis, flowers and fog 花和霧 Gateway Theater, San Francisco, May 17 – 26, 2024
Jen Norris Dance Reviews, Jen Norris - May 19, 2024

Megan Lowe Dances | Quinteto Latino | A Chance to Harmonize book | Mads Men
KALW, Janice Lee - May 20, 2024

Chinese artist mother and daughter perform "Flowers and Fog"
World News Network, Yang Yichen - May 20, 2024

A Cultural Mission: Megan Lowe Explores Loss
Mission Local, Andrew Gilbert - May 23, 2024

Review: Megan Lowe’s ‘Just a Shadow’ showcases spectacular duets of grief, lacks subtlety
SF Chronicle Datebook, Rachel Howard - June 1, 2024

"Pravaasi" - A view from the audience
India Post, Jyoti Angresh - June 7, 2024

Pravaasi - A feast for the eyes and the soul
Narthaki, Baishali Raychaudhuri - June 8, 2024

Artist and teacher Ramon Abad brings stories to life through puppetry 
Mahalaya, Faith Alexandria Remollino - June 10, 2024

LISTINGS

FLOWERS AND FOG Created By Melissa Lewis Wong To Premiere May 18 In San Francisco
Broadway World, A.A. Cristi - February 5, 2024

'Just a Shadow' (World Premiere)
Patch - April 11, 2024

27th Annual United States of Asian America Festival: Be(long)ing Here
Patch - April 23, 2024

SOMArts Cultural Center: APICC presents Where is Your Body
Mission Local - April 24, 2024

USAAF: Be(long)ing Here
ArtsEarth - April 25, 2024

27th Annual United States of Asian America Festival: Be(long)ing Here
KRON4 Calendar - May 7, 2024

Megan Lowe Dances presents "Just a Shadow"
SF/Arts, Heather Desaulniers - May 6, 2024

Silk Road to San Francisco
SF/Arts - May 7, 2024

Going Out, May 9-17, 2024
Bay Area Reporter, Jim Provenzano - May 9, 2024

Going Out, June 6-14, 2024 arts and nightlife events
Bay Area Reporter, Jim Provenzano - June 6, 2024

Melissa Lewis Wong: 花和霧 flowers and fog
Dancersgroup

“Pravaasi” @ San Francisco International Arts Festival
IndiaCurrents 

Gray Area: Born a Problem - A Multimedia Exhibition by Paula Te & Edward Gunawan
Mission Local

Z Space: Echoes in the Diaspora
Mission Local

27TH ANNUAL UNITED STATES OF ASIAN AMERICA FESTIVAL: BE(LONG)ING HERE
Do The Bay

ANUPAMA SRIVASTAVA AND THE INSYNCKATHAK DANCERS WITH SARADA KALA NILAYAM
Do The Bay

Zara Ahmed

“Queering Biryani” is a cooking class and supper club, hosted by Zara Ahmed, a queer / trans-Pakistani cultural practitioner and creator. 
To “queer” the iconic South Asian spicy rice dish “biryani”  means to worship the magical burst of spice and comfort that a bite of biryani provides, keeping inclusivity and accessibility in mind (which is why we’re highlighting an adaptable vegan recipe). At this event, Zara will hold space for a “queer and trans” group while offering a cooking demo for vegan biryani, followed by a collective meal. The evening will include a discussion grounded in food as ancestral medicine, and participants will go home with a homemade biryani spice blend!

This event will be at The Ruby

DATE & TIME

Monday, May 20 @ 7-10PM

TICKETS: Coming Soon!

Zara (they/them) is a non-binary Pakistani cultural practitioner based on the unceded land of the Ohlone people (Oakland, California). Zara is passionate about food justice and amplifying ancestral wisdom through storytelling, healing spaces, and community building.

Scott Oshiro's Deciphering Broken Rhythms Collective

Afro Asian Futures is a musical performance with The Deciphering Broken Rhythms Collective. The collective will perform compositions, written by Dr. Scott Oshiro, that combine Jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music with traditional Japanese and Okinawan music. In addition, the ensemble will include computer music generation/improvisation systems using cutting-edge and emerging technologies. The music will explore and comment on how technology can be used to liberate and expand upon the cultural narratives of communities of color in the Bay Area rather than being used as a tool for displacement and oppression. Following the concert, there will be a panel discussion with the musicians talking about their experience, approaches and philosophies about interacting with these technological systems.

This Performance will be at Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery

TIME & DATE

Saturday, May 18 @ 7 pm

TICKETS: Coming Soon!

Musicians

Scott Oshiro - Flute & Electronics
Francis Wong - Tenor & Soprano Saxophone
Kumi Maxson - Bass
Djean Vasciannie - Drums

The Deciphering Broken Rhythms Collective is a musical group that combines elements from both African American and Asian American musical traditions through a futuristic lens. The ensemble integrates emerging technologies within their compositions to liberate and expand upon the cultural narratives of communities of color.

Eth-Noh-Tec

This staged, multimedia 'who-dunnit' radio play searches for answers! Broadcast in front of a live audience, Mystery Radio Showcase hopes to solve the cold case of Mr. Chin Fan Foin, a famous restaurateur of Chicago's Mandarin Inn. It is 1924. A rain storm. Thunder. Lightening. Flooding in the basement. Prohibition. Fires, tong wars, jealousy, and greed hang in the wet and darkened air. Shadows lurk. Secrets are kept ... secret. Mr. Chin Foin has plunged four floors down the elevator shaft of his own restaurant. Were his black patent leather shoes too slippery, or was he pushed? His death was officially ruled an accident, but there are just too many strange circumstances surrounding his unexpected and untimely death to ignore. His granddaughter vows to find the culprits 100 years later!

Join Eth-Noh-Tec and guest actors in this true-life mystery. What do the granddaughter's dreams foretell? What will the ghosts have to say about it? What will you, in the audience, have to say about it?

Join us to find out and decide 'who-dunnit'!

This performance will be at Mission Cultural Center

DATES & TIMES

Saturday, May 4 @7:30-9PM
Sunday, May 5 @ 2:30-4PM

Art Exhibit: 447 Minna space in SOMA
3 weekends: Fri, Sat, Sun beginning Fri, Apr 26 - May 12

Panel and lunch: Chinatown Restaurant on Washington Ave. in Chinatown
Sun, Apr 28 @ 11AM - 2PM

TICKETS: Click Here

Actors: Nancy Wang, Zolboo Namkhaidorj, Alex Hsu, Andrew Rogge, Doug Nolan, Benedikt Sebastian

Sound and media creator: Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo

Playwright: Nancy Wang

Light Designer: Stephanie Johnson

Artist: Chee Wang Ng

Panelists: Jack Chin, Phd, Russell Jeung, Phd, Chee Wang Ng, artists

Eth-Noh-Tec, a San Francisco Asian American storytelling non-profit, builds cultural bridges that celebrate diversity and create compassionate communities through the art of storytelling. Their unique style weaves movement and the spoken word and is an international essential asset to those organizations committed to presenting diverse voices.

Understudy

Curated by five emerging Asian-American artists, "Understudy: Reviving & Reclaiming AAPI Stories in the Bay Area'' is an archival project & generative writing workshop dedicated to illuminating AAPI narratives in our communities. This event is an invitation for community members to engage with the archives and write in conversation with our shared histories of belonging, otherness, oppression, mutual aid, and identity-making through the arts. The artists will also distribute a zine with original pieces generated throughout the archival process, crafted to serve as a keepsake and educational resource for the participants’ continued exploration of the archives.

This Performance will be at Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery

DATES & TIMES
Saturday, May 25, @ 2-5PM

TICKETS: COMING SOON!

Understudy

Kristin-Faith Avenis
Angel Bista
Celadon Loo
Ryan Nakano
Percy Schumacher 

“Understudy” is composed of five writers whose mission is to create an anti-imperialist Asian American gathering space to share archival knowledge about Asian American communities throughout the Bay Area. By sharing our work and leading generative workshops, we aim to inspire active forms of community solidarity through writing. 

Anupama Srivastava and the InSyncKathak Dancers

“Pravaasi” translates to a migrant living away from home. The saga of a typical immigrant experience in search of a “home-away-from-home”, is through phases of wanderlust, separation anxiety, identity crisis, nostalgia, and assimilation. These phases are non-linear and unpredictable. The struggles in navigating them are real, but so are the tenacity and courage that a “pravaasi" shows in finding acceptance, a new identity, and a safe haven where they can thrive. Drawing parallels to the universal emotions of anyone who leaves the secure comfort of “home”, whether or not they cross an international border, this relatable journey is presented through Indian Classical Kathak dance.

The performance will be at Dance Mission Theater

DATE & TIME
Sunday, May 12 @ 2-3:30 PM

TICKETS: https://www.sfiaf.org/2024_insynckathak

PERFORMERS

Anupama Srivastava
Reva Srivastava
Vyoma Bhanap
Aditi Bharambe
Mihika Deshpande
Anandi Pota
Anaya Talekar
Arohi Bharambe
Anika Srinivasan
Anshika Jain
Aarshya Lakhani
Kashvi Rajam
Ridhvi Shetty
Saanika Urgaonkar
Siri Belavigi

Anupama Srivastava is a performer, teacher, choreographer of the Indian Classical Kathak dance, Founder & Artistic Director of InSyncKathak Dance School, Master Artist (Pennsylvania Council on the Arts), and guru of three National YoungArts Foundation awardees. Her choreographies have won wide acclaim and accolades across the US, Canada and India.

HOMEMADE

Artist Paula Te and poet Edward Gunawan present a multimedia exhibition called “BORN A PROBLEM”, which investigates the invisible historical forces that impact present-day culture, society, politics and ultimately, our sense of personal flourishing and communal belonging. 

In 1965, a CIA-aided military coup marked the beginning of a tumultuous period in Indonesia. The new authoritarian government, perceiving a "Chinese Problem," initiated a series of anti-Chinese policies from 1967-2000: Chinese language names were barred on official documents, Chinese language media and schools shuttered, and public celebrations of cultural festivals such as Chinese New Year were banned.

These exclusionist and forced assimilation laws, echoing the Indian Treaties & the Removal Act, the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, and the Immigration Act of 1924 in the United States, fostered resentment and discrimination that led to massacres and sexual violence against the Indonesian Chinese community in 1965 and 1998.

This exhibit will be at Gray Area

Dates & Times
Opening Reception: Sunday, Apr 28 @2-4PM
Exhibition Opening Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, May 1-5 @ 3-8PM
Artist Talk: Wednesday, May 1 @6-7PM
Discussion Panel: Friday, May 3 @6-7PM
Poetry Reading: Sunday, May 5 @2-4PM

https://homemadelit.org/bornaproblem

FEATURED ARTISTS

Paula Te
Edward Gunawan
Cynthia Dewi Oka
Colin Sullivan
Jeddie Sophronius
Giovanna Lomanto
May-Li Khoe
Dr. Viola Lasmana

HOME MADE is a non-profit collective that hosts free intimate in-person literary arts gatherings to connect, cultivate & celebrate the stories and storytellers from immigrant/refugee backgrounds in the Bay Area.

By Ramon Abad

"Duck Soup" is an immersive theater experience for children and families at Bindlestiff Studio. The one-hour show will engage the audience by guiding them to various sections of the theater, where they will witness short stories brought to life through captivating puppet performances. The title of the show "Duck Soup" is Depression-era slang for something that's "easy to do" or a "piece of cake." No actual ducks will be cooked. Tickled perhaps, but not cooked!

The performance will be at Bindlestiff Studios

Dates and Times

Sat, June 8 @ 11:00 AM
Sat, June 8 @ 3:00 PM
Sun, June 9 @ 11:00 AM
Sun, June 9 @ 3:00 PM
Sat, June 15 @ 11:00 AM
Sat, June 15 @ 3:00 PM

Tickets:

Writers
Sofia Chanco
Marc Abrigo
Kim Arteche

One-Person-Band/Accordion Musician
Mark Davis

Ramon Abad (he/his) is a Filipino American puppeteer, artist, and teacher based in San Francisco, CA - unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land.
Since the mid 90s to present day, he has performed solo puppet shows at Bay Area Filipino American festivals and events. His current puppet booth project Tito Ramon’s Pop-Up Puppet Show was the first puppet show performed at Kapwa Gardens post Covid-19 lock-down. Since 2021, Ramon has been a resident artist of Balay Kreative Studio, a collective of Filipino American artists based in SOMA Pilipinas, San Francisco.

He was a shadow puppeteer and maker with Larry Reed’s ShadowLight Productions and was in Wayang Listrik that toured in the Jim Henson International Puppetry Festival. As a company member of the premier Filipino American sketch comedy troupe tongue in A mood, Ramon has made and performed with puppets on countless skits at Bindlestiff Studio.

Ramon’s first solo art installation show “Mabuhay, Friend!” ran from October to November 2023 at the gallery of the San Francisco Arts Education Project inside the Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco. A series of interactive sculptures or “puppets” were designed to encourage gallery visitors to touch, move and play with the artwork directly.

He has directed in-person stage plays and online shows using puppetry. Ramon has led puppetry residencies in the US and the UK. As a workshop leader, he seeks to engage all communities to explore modern puppetry regardless of age, background and skill set.

Directed by Megan Lowe

Just a Shadow, by Megan Lowe Dances, is a performance journey in service to artists who have lost loved ones prematurely. With a title inspired by a poem Megan’s mother wrote shortly before she died, the project stems from Megan’s desire to process the loss of her mother and sister through art and co-create a space of mutual support with collaborators who are also dealing with recent loss. Just a Shadow brings together 7 powerful artists to make 6 distinct duets, in a process that nourishes the soul, supports healing, acknowledges resilience, celebrates life, and honors the memories of loved ones. It welcomes diverse perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds, recognizing that the narratives surrounding death and processing grief are multifaceted and deeply personal. Through dance performance, MLD aims to provide a platform for catharsis, empathy, and collective understanding, fostering connections that transcend individual stories and unite us in a shared journey toward solace and healing.

The performance will at The Joe Goode Annex

Dates & Times

Friday, May 31 @ 7:30-9PM
Saturday, June 1 @ 7:30-9PM
Sunday, June 2 @ 7:30-9PM
Friday, June 7 @ 7:30-9PM
Saturday, June 8 @ 7:30-9PM
Sunday, June 9 @ 7:30-9PM

Tickets: https://joegoode.org/event/megan-lowe-dances-presents-just-a-shadow/

Created and Performed by:

AJ Gardner
Sonsherée Giles
Joshua Icban
Megan Lowe
Frances Teves Sedayao
Roel Seeber
Shira Yaziv

With an affinity for dynamic places and partners, Megan Lowe Dances (MLD) creates multidisciplinary dance productions in the San Francisco Bay Area, situated on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land. Directed by a choreographer of Chinese and Irish descent, MLD explores complex identities and experiences by tackling unusual physical situations and inventing compelling solutions, opening up the imagination to what is possible.

Curated by Delaney Chieyen Holton

“Where is Your Body” highlights the body and its needs as the lowest common denominator for solidarity. Thinking of the body – in its capacities and vulnerabilities – as a site of both violence and resistance, the exhibition gathers women/trans/queer artists of API diasporic experience engaged in practices of the body to explore questions of labor, memory, and desire. Rather than gesturing towards an identarian collectivity, the racial and gendered angle of the exhibition recognizes how systems of disenfranchisement are interlocked, co-constituting, and mutually sustaining.

The participating artists denaturalize and historicize these intersections, reflecting personal and communal responses to the violence of contemporary life that we each endure quietly. Their work, variously negotiating shades of abstraction and figuration, engaging durational embodied processes, or employing documentary aesthetics, maps the bounds and limits of the body and charts attempts at reaching beyond, towards a future, or each other.

The exhibit will be at SOMArts

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 25 @ 6-9PM
Exhibition Run: April 25-May 24,
Closing Reception: Friday, May 24 @ 6-9PM

Tickets: Free

Featured Artists

Nibha Akireddy
Erina Alejo
Sholeh Asgary
Bhasha Chakrabarti
Edi Dai
Theo/Tina Kashiwagi
Private Practices Collection (via Kayla Tange and Hailey Loman)
Thuong Hoai Tran
Kim Ye
Rachel Youn

Delaney Chieyen Holton is a writer, curator, and film programmer based in the Bay Area, currently completing a PhD in Art History at Stanford University.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tj Basa, Office & Communications Manager
[email protected]

Jade Wave Rising: Portraits of Power Opening Reception (Photographer: Diana Chen)

Reimagining Horizons: API Artists Envision Our Collective Futures

San Francisco’s Asian American art festival showcases the city’s innovative creatives during Asian Pacific Heritage Month

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 11, 2023 - The Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center of San Francisco announces and celebrates the 26th Annual United States of Asian America Festival, beginning April 27 - June 30 at various locations in San Francisco. Each year, the United States of Asian American Festival (USAAF) presents up to 20 different programs reflecting the artistic accomplishments and cultural diversity of the city’s Pacific Islander and Asian American communities. Since 1998, USAAF showcases artists representing a diverse range of ethnic and cultural groups and aims to heighten the visibility of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) artists working in all disciplines— theater, music, dance, film, literature, visual arts, and more.

This year’s theme, Reimagining Horizons, asks us to reconstruct the bridges between before and beyond, embracing abundance and celebrating our expansiveness. In our critically transformed, “post-pandemic” world, we must acknowledge the uncertainties and processes that arise as we question the horizons of possibility for ourselves, our communities, and our dreams. The festival honors the constant negotiation of the past and present to build towards a generative future in solidarity with our BIPOC communities.

“AAPI communities have experienced so much through the last few years— from the lows of the pandemic, anti-Asian violence, and political turmoil to the highs of major representation in mainstream media and national leadership roles, as well as being billed the fastest growing racial group in the US,” Artistic Director Melanie Elvena says, “In light of these events, AAPI artists are seizing this momentum, frenzied with inspiration and creative energy. They're looking to their cultural heritages to express themselves, grapple with the present, and carve out space for what's next. It's so exciting. Our dynamic festival lineup this year really reflects that.”

San Francisco has been an epicenter for Asian American cultural productions, with brilliant creatives gracing the USAAF stage, like muralist and visual artist Sami See, pianist and composer Jon Jang, award-winning poet Genny Lim, and comedian Irene Tu. This year, the festival continues this artistic legacy with incredible featured performances by Johnny Huy Nguyễn and Caroline Cabading. Attendees can also immerse themselves in a new multimedia exhibition entitled Jade Wave Rising: Portraits of Power, in collaboration with the Asian American Women Artists Association. In addition, APICC co-presents Being, Belonging & Beyond - SF Bay Area AAPI Dance Film Festival with 500 Capp Street and Center for Asian American Media (CAAM). We are working with Sunday Streets and Liveable City to present our Outdoor Showcase in the Tenderloin, helping to provide resources to the neighborhood’s Southeast Asian communities and to support economic recovery in the city.

Asian American resilience & excellence
Still struggling with anti-Asian violence and living in a critically transformed world, Asian American artists pave the path to excellence. Most recently, the 95th Academy Awards was an incredible night for Asian creatives across the globe. RRR became the first Indian feature film to win an Oscar with the Best Original Song “Naatu Naatu.” Of course, Everything Everywhere All At Once’s Oscars sweep gave accolades to Ke Huy Quan’s Hollywood comeback and Michelle Yeoh’s trailblazing work, becoming the first Asian to win Best Actress. We are witnessing history in the making— and this is just the beginning.

Through the theme of Reimagining Horizons, featured artist Caroline Cabading brings together the past and present, exploring pre-colonial artistry as a way to forge new possibilities for community engagement and cultural connection. “USAAF has provided me with the opportunity to teach the tribal culture I study in the Philippines to my local Bay Area community,” she says, “therefore helping me reimagine what the horizons of ancestral practice can be in the diaspora.”

The San Francisco Bay Area is a hotspot for emerging talent in the Asian American community, in part because of sustained programming like APICC’s annual United States of Asian America Festival. The festival has long fostered an ecosystem for API artists, emerging and established alike, to create something new and very much needed. In this momentous year, the festival is a celebration of Asian Pacific Islander memories and futures in the making. Ranging from intergenerational histories to cultivating spaces to thrive, care and imagine, the festival’s programs take place throughout San Francisco from April 27 to June 30. This year’s festival calendar can be found at www.apiculturalcenter.org/usaaf2023.

HIGHLIGHTED FESTIVAL EVENTS
Jade Wave Rising: Portraits of Power | Curated by Yeu Q Nguyen and Co-Presented by Asian American Women Artists Association (multidisciplinary art exhibition)
SOMArts Cultural Center’s Main Gallery through May 21st. As the AAPI community reels from the ongoing waves of hate and violence, Jade Wave Rising celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander women’s voices and pays homage to overlooked historical figures and community leaders. Inspired by the gemstone’s various metaphysical and cultural meanings in its association with power, jewelry and crowns, Jade Wave Rising establishes new legacies of leadership to imagine a more equitable future for AAPI women everywhere.

Being, Belonging & Beyond - SF Bay Area AAPI Dance Film Festival | Curated by APICC and Megan Lowe Dances
Co-Presented by 500 Capp Street and Center for Asian American Media (CAAM)
Kapwa Gardens on May 14. Screenings will include dance films by Lenora Lee Dance, Alleluia Panis,
Sammay Dizon, and culminates in the world premiere screening of HOME(in)STEAD, a site-specific dance work by 500 Capp Street artists-in-residence Megan Lowe and Johnny Huy Nguyen - a performance that utilizes the historical David Ireland House as a visceral canvas for exploring means of feeling, finding, creating, and healing home through dynamic architecture-oriented movement and intimate contact partnering supported by live music, text, and installation. The finale screening will be followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A, celebrating the lineage of AAPI performing artists and creating conversations about AAPI experiences. *This film festival is also part of CAAMFest.

No Country For Mother | Johnny Huy Nguyễn (USAAF 2023 Featured Artist / dance, theater)
Joe Goode Annex on May 26. Exploring personal histories, matriarchal myths, and Vietnamese mother goddess religion, No Country For Mother is an autobiographical reckoning and reconciling toward an embodied masculinity untethered by dominant narratives of manhood.

USAAF: REIMAGINING HORIZONS Outdoor Showcase
Co-Presented by Sunday Streets and Liveable City
Sunday Streets Tenderloin on June 4. Join us for a day of music, poetry, fashion, art-making, performances and more! Featured APICC artists include Caroline Cabading, Parivar Bay Area, SPULU, Shikha Malaviya, Maw Shein Win, Preeti Vangani, and Terry Lily Hwang. More Tenderloin artists and performers will be announced.

WHAT/WHO
26TH ANNUAL UNITED STATES OF ASIAN AMERICA FESTIVAL: REIMAGINING HORIZON

Presented by Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center as part of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Featuring events in music, dance, film, food, theater, literature, visual arts, experimental media, and more.

WHEN
April–June 2023

WHERE
Various Venues, San Francisco / Online

FOR MORE INFO
See the full calendar and register for events at www.apiculturalcenter.org/usaaf2023

###

ABOUT USAAF
Each year, the United States of Asian American Festival (USAAF) presents around 20 different programs reflecting the artistic accomplishments and cultural diversity of San Francisco’s Pacific Islander and Asian American communities. USAAF showcases artists representing a diverse range of ethnic and cultural groups and aims to heighten the visibility of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) artists working in all disciplines - theater, music, dance, film, literature, visual arts, etc. Our goal is to nurture and empower these groups to be self-sufficient while providing the support they need to grow.

This year’s USAAF is funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, California Arts Council, and Zellerbach Family Foundation.

ABOUT APICC
Our mission at the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) is to support and produce multidisciplinary art reflective of the unique experiences of Asians and Pacific Islanders living in the United States

APICC was founded in 1996 by representatives of five nonprofit arts groups: Asian American Dance Performances, First Voice, Asian Improv aRts, the Asian American Theater Company, and Kearny Street Workshop. Since 1998, the center has promoted the artistic and organizational growth of San Francisco’s API arts community by organizing and presenting the annual United States of Asian America Festival as well as commissioning contemporary art for and by the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Contact: Diana Li
[email protected]
650.703.8361

Generations of Power: Asian Americans Artists Celebrate Creative Resilience and Resistance in 25th Annual Festival

San Francisco’s Asian American art festival brings city’s cultural legacies to the forefront

The Last Hoisan Poets and Del Sol Quartet performs in Japantown Peace Plaza. Image courtesy of the artists.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, April 15, 2022 - Now in its 25th year, the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) presents the annual United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF), dedicated to highlighting the artistic accomplishments and cultural diversity of San Francisco’s Pacific Islander and Asian American communities. In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, this year’s crop of events commemorates the creative resilience of San Francisco’s Asian American arts community, under the theme Generations of Power.

Celebrating “Generations of Power” in the midst of continued anti-Asian hate

“Amidst increased violence against Asians and Asians Americans and a year since the Atlanta spa shootings, so much of media has been focused on portraying our communities as helpless victims, piling on the trauma of loss and fear from living in the pandemic,” says Melanie Elvena, APICC’s Artistic Director. “This year's theme, Generations of Power, is a direct response to anti-Asian violence by highlighting the long history of strength, resilience, agency, and resistance among AAPI artists here in the US.”

Since 1998, USAAF has made waves in featuring a dynamic line up of events ranging from visual art, music, film, theater, dance, literary art and more. Over the years, the annual festival has showcased a number of revolutionary artists like pianist and composer, Jon Jang and award-winning poet, Genny Lim. In the last five years alone, comedian Irene Tu, and rapper and music producer, Ruby Ibarra graced USAAF with some of their earliest performances before getting on the brink of fame, and it doesn’t stop there.

This year’s calendar of events include a Grace Lee Boggs inspired exhibition, Grow Our Souls (opening show), multi-sensory installations by Macro Waves, poetry and music by The Last Hoisan Poets and Del Sol Quartet along with galas and performances from the organizations that started the festival 25 years ago.

A shared anniversary for San Francisco’s API arts community

This year, APICC highlights the original nonprofit arts groups that came together to organize the first USAAF, including Asian American Dance Performances, First Voice, Asian Improv aRts, the Asian American Theater Company, and Kearny Street Workshop. While a couple of these organizations are no longer operating, the artists that rose out of them have been instrumental to the powerful movement of Asian and Asian American arts, culture and activism.

As APICC celebrates 25 years of the festival, 2022 also marks the 35th anniversary of Asian Improv aRts and the 50th anniversary of the country’s oldest Asian Pacific American multidisciplinary arts organization, Kearny Street Workshop, each hosting their own anniversary galas and art showcases this June.

With the collective organizing that formed the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, the organization's annual festival is a center of gravity for artists to innovate, produce and present their work, and in recent years, it’s become a space for communities of color to heal, create joy during moments of despair and fuel movements for representation in the ongoing fight against racism.

Asian American representation & activism
San Francisco has long been a hub of Asian American activism with artistic production central to each cultural movement. From the Third World Liberation Front, to the fight for the I-Hotel, to the struggle against anti-Asian rhetoric and violence today, each defining moment has catalyzed artists into claiming Asian American identity as one with deep rooted cultural histories and legacies, often intersecting and building solidarity with other BIPOC community cultural groups.

In the midst of anti-Asian racism, Asian American artists continue to be on the rise in mainstream media. Most recently, the Grammy’s featured the most Filipinos nominated in all major categories, including Bruno Mars, Olivia Rodrigo, Saweetie and H.E.R. (born and raised in the Bay Area). With their headquarters in Emeryville, Pixar’s latest, Turning Red, is turning heads toward Chinese American coming of age stories, and there’s no overlooking Michelle Yeoh in A24’s latest hit, Everything Everywhere All At Once.

The San Francisco Bay Area is a hotspot for emerging talent in the Asian American community, in part because of sustained programming like APICC’s annual United States of Asian America Festival. The festival has long fostered an ecosystem for API artists, emerging and established alike, to create something new and very much needed. In this momentous year, the festival is a celebration of Asian Pacific Islander memories and futures in the making. Ranging from intergenerational histories to cultivating spaces to thrive, care and imagine, the festival’s 20+ programs take place throughout San Francisco from April 29 to June 30. This year’s festival calendar can be found at www.apiculturalcenter.org/usaaf2022

Highlighted Festival Events

• Grow Our Souls (Opening April 29) - This year’s festival kicks off with Grow Our Souls, a multidisciplinary arts exhibition inspired by the wisdom of Grace Lee Boggs, featuring artists who are reimagining labor in an era of climate change and late-stage capitalism
• Generations of Power Showcase (May 14) at Japantown Peace Plaza featuring Asian American dance performances along with a number of poetry, dance and music artists in this year's festival. As one of this year's featured artists, Genny Lim will also perform with Last Hoisan Poets and Del Sol Quartet in the same showcase.
• breath.io (June 10) produced by Macro Waves at SWIM Gallery will take visitors on a multi-sensory journey with installations serving as a futuristic community healing space. Through sound, visual, and movement therapy, breath.io celebrates the power of collective care through the practice of guided meditation.

Highlighted Anniversary Events

• KSW50: To Imagine is to Exist Gala (June 10) - Celebrate Kearny Street Workshop’s 50 years
  as a force and home for empowering APA communities.
• Expansions // Horizons (June 30) - For 35 years, Asian Improv aRts (AIR) has been at the forefront of the Asian and Asian American movement – advancing artists, activism, and culture on a national level. Celebrate this historic milestone and look forward to the future with radical imagination.

WHAT/WHO
25TH ANNUAL UNITED STATES OF ASIAN AMERICA FESTIVAL: GENERATIONS OF POWER Presented by Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center as part of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Featuring events in music, dance, film, puppetry, theatre, literature, visual arts, and more showcasing Asian and Pacific Islander artists.

WHEN
April-June 2022

See the full calendar and register for events at www.apiculturalcenter.org/usaaf2022

 ###

ABOUT APICC
Our mission at the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) is to support and produce multidisciplinary art reflective of the unique experiences of Asians and Pacific Islanders living in the United States.

APICC was founded in 1996 by representatives of five nonprofit arts groups: Asian American Dance Performances, First Voice, Asian Improv aRts, the Asian American Theater Company, and Kearny Street Workshop. Since 1998, the center has promoted the artistic and organizational growth of San Francisco’s API arts community by organizing and presenting the annual United States of Asian America Festival as well as commissioning contemporary art for and by the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

ABOUT USAAF
Each year, the United States of Asian American Festival (USAAF) presents around 20 different programs reflecting the artistic accomplishments and cultural diversity of San Francisco’s Pacific Islander and Asian American communities. USAAF showcases artists representing a diverse range of ethnic and cultural groups and aims to heighten the visibility of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) artists working in all disciplines - theater, music, dance, film, literature, visual arts, and more! Our goal is to nurture and empower these groups to be self-sufficient while providing the support they need to grow.

This year’s USAAF is funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, California Arts Council, Zellerbach Family Foundation, and #startsmall.

Press Content for the United States of Asian America Festival 2020

USAAF 2020 Press Release

Character Media (May 15, 2020) - "Bigger And Even Better: Here’s 7 More APAHM Festivities Coming Your Way," Linh Nguyen

East Wind EZine (May 24, 2020) - “'Dance is the Hidden Language of the Soul' – Martha Graham," Eddie Wong

Mother Jones (June 26, 2020) - "Jon Jang Speaks Out About His Recent Album, Amiri Baraka, and Malcolm X," Daniel King

Press Content for the United States of Asian America Festival 2023

USAAF 2023 Press Release

Sunday Streets Tenderloin Community Block Party published in Sunday Streets SF 

Jade Wave Rising Exhibit Demonstrates the Power and Beauty of Asian American Women published in East Wind Ezine by Eddie Wong (April 30, 2023)

SF Choreography Festival Celebrates South Asian Activism published in IndiaCurrents by Ashwini Gangal (May 8, 2023) 

A story of resistance told through dance: The Indian revolutionary who immigrated to S.F. published in SF Chronicle Datebook by Rachel Howard (May 10, 2023)

At SOMArts, 'Jade Wave Rising' Is a Love Letter to AAPI Women published in KQED by Kristie Song (May 12, 2023)

LOWER HAIGHT ART EXHIBITION PAYS TRIBUTE TO AAPI FOOD, FAMILY, AND BELONGING published in Broke-Ass Stuart by Paolo Bicchieri (May 15, 2023) 

Strong Like Bamboo! May 28, 2-5p Oakland Cultural Center published by Emil Guillermo (May 18, 2023) 

Storytellers look to heal from sting of anti-Asian hate published in AsAmNews by Randall Yip & Jessica Xiao (May 24, 2023)

Emil Guillermo: ‘Strong Like Bamboo’ Stories of AAPI Resilience at Oakland Asian Cultural Center published by Post News Group (May 27, 2023)

Press Content for the United States of Asian America Festival 2022

USAAF 2022 Press Release

Grab a seat as the Bay Area dance scene springs back to life published in SF Chronicle Datebook by Rachel Howard (March 16, 2022)

Realms of Courage: “Celebrating Asian Women Composers” Panel Discussion published in FunCheapSF (March 15, 2022)

Free arts and entertainment events and performances to enjoy in the S.F. Bay Area published in SF Chronicle Datebook by Anne Schrager (May 15, 2022)

Piece Of Peace Reflections published by Megan Lowe Dances (June 2022) 

As Marcos Rises to Power, a Dance Ritual Helps Filipino Americans Process Grief, Fear published in KQED by Rayanne Piana (June 13, 2022)

A summer of classical, experimental and aerial dance performances in the Bay Area, inside and out published in SF Chronicle Datebook by Rachel Howard (June 15, 2022)

Realms of Courage: Celebrating Asian Women Composers – Composers Panel #5 published in FunCheapSF (June 26, 2022) 

CAMP Podcast Special Edition: Angela Han published by Contemporary Art Music Podcast (June 27, 2022) 

USAAF 2022: GENERATIONS OF POWER PERFORMING ARTS SHOWCASE published by Do The Bay

Lenora Lee
Posted by Anony Mous · January 22, 2024 10:57 AM · 1 reaction