To our community, 

On May 2, we at the Asian Pacific Cultural Center (APICC), alongside other arts and cultural organizations across the country, were devastated to receive the news that our $50,000 NEA grant that went towards supporting our annual United States of Asian America Festival was discontinued. 

We see this defunding as a way to silence the voices, history, and strength of our diverse American tapestry. The arts are a way to lift up voices, pass along traditions, and nurture our soul. Despite having lost this crucial funding, APICC is dedicated to our culture bearers and will move ahead with our commitments including hosting our 28th annual United States of Asian America Festival.

Having this opportunity to expand the festival and to reflect on and include wider AAPI experiences was imperative to holistically addressing this year’s festival theme, Critical Refuge, which prompted our artists to reflect on how they seek necessary sanctuary within ourselves and in our communities in times of unrest and uncertainty. As we continue to find, cultivate, and grow spaces of critical refuge, we encourage readers to engage with the events in this year’s festival dedicated to doing just this. 

• Go to our festival Link here to full schedule.

• Donate to APICC to support our objective of regranting funding to artists.
• Support the Americans for the Arts Protect the NEA Campaign - Link here to the petition.
• Attend arts events that uplift our diverse communities, and stand in solidarity with organizers who continue to do crucial work

With Care, 

API Cultural Center Team 

Dear Community,

We are devastated by the shootings in Atlanta, Georgia that led to the murder of 8 people, 6 victims who were targeted as Asian women, by a white domestic terrorist. The further mistreatment by the police and media who have not officially deemed this a hate crime is racist and abusive to the victims’ families and all Asian American Pacific Islander communities already severely impacted by the pandemic. We know that many of you are feeling emotions of fear, anger, frustration, and grief over these events as we have been witnessing the anti-Asian violence rise in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the nation. Also coupled with the shooting in Boulder, Colorado this week resulting in Islamophobic rhetoric, we condemn these plagues of racism, sexism and xenophobia. We resist the white supremacist systems and institutions that are embedded in American society that suppress Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities.

WE STAND UNITED WITH OUR ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER COMMUNITY AND CONDEMN ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE.

The race-based hate and attacks against our community has been an ongoing issue we've faced and it's now been elevated due to racist and xenophobic rhetoric surrounding the pandemic. Many of these incidents of hate often go unreported. We urge anyone who has been a victim to seek help, and know that your are not alone. If you are in need of any resources or want to learn how you can support, take a look at the list of resources below.

The paperback for Window: Glimpses of Our Stories Past is now available on Amazon.

An anthology of memoirs written by Senior Asian American participants in the senior Asian American writing workshop conducted by Genny Lim at the Japanese Community and Cultural Center of Northern California, San Francisco Japantown, in collaboration with Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center. Narratives include accounts of Japanese American Internment and post-internment by former detainees, Florence Dobashi, Harumi Serata and Michi Tashiro, an immigration saga by Leon Sun, poems and coming of age stories by Brenda Chinn, May Chung and Leslie Yee-Murata.

Purchase Here

APICC conducted a survey with the API arts community to gauge how folks were doing during the current COVID-19 crisis. We asked art professionals, supporters and lovers what were some of the biggest concerns they had and what kinds of resources folks were interested in and in need of during this challenging time. APICC is using the information in this summary to support API artists and the arts community through workshops, programs, communications and other services. Take a look at the results...

Graphics by Kalaya'an Mendoza, co-founder of Across Frontlines

Dear Community,

We are grateful for the privilege to create spaces and opportunities for Asian Pacific Islander artists and cultural workers. As we have the opportunity to celebrate our art and culture, we stand in solidarity with the lives of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, George Floyd, along with their families and communities. It is important for our community to recognize the historical violence and injustice inflicted upon black, brown and indigenous communities and call ourselves in to dismantle racist and oppressive systems. While there will always be much more to do, every act of engagement can open up possibilities to create a more just world. As non-black people of color we must take ownership of our participation in working towards anti-racism, in support of Black Lives Matter.

An Important Message from APICC

Dating back to the early 1800s when Asian immigration was rapid during the California Gold Rush to the very recent debate on diversity in media, our ability to self-identify has been controlled by politics, economics and racial stereotypes.

 APICC is part of an exciting initiative pushing for November ballot that will increase (vital) funding to the arts and to end family homelessness in San Francisco.