Calendar

USAAF 2022 Calendar

Welcome to the online calendar for the 25th Annual United States of Asian America Festival: Generations of Power! In celebration of API Heritage Month and the 25th anniversary of the festival, APICC is excited to present outdoor and virtual programming this MAY-JUNE, 2022.

Festival events listed below are organized by type of presentation. All times are listed in Pacific Standard Time (PST). Events with an asterisk (*) are featured artists of APICC and USAAF 2022. 

ACCESSIBILITY

Please check each event page for specific accessibility options and contact information.

 All in-person programs and events are wheelchair accessible. 
 ASL interpretation available at all festival events. 
• For events hosted at the Asian Art Museum, please check their Accessibility page to see a full list of accommodations.
• For any inquiries about specific programs or event locations, please reach out to [email protected]. 

This online calendar is best viewed on a desktop computer. Click through each link or image for more details on each program.

Click below to skip to a section:

 GROW OUR SOULS   •   25 YEARS OF USAAF   •   GENERATIONS OF POWER SHOWCASE   •   IN-PERSON & ONLINE EVENTS

CALENDAR AT A GLANCE

Click above to view the full calendar of USAAF 2022 events organized by date.

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KICK OFF THE FESTIVAL WITH GROW OUR SOULS 

Kick off the festival with the opening to APICC's annual visual arts exhibition

An art gallery with a large-scale film projection in which a geisha stands in the middle of a rainy street in a neon-lit and futuristic-looking setting, flanked by colorful (blue and gold) framed artworks on both sides.Grow Our Souls
Curated by Melissa Wang
April 30-May 22 @ SOMArts Cultural Center
Opening/Festival Kick-Off: Fri, April 29, 6pm
Workshop: Sat, May 14, 12pm

 
Inspired by Grace Lee Boggs, whose philosophical call-to-action urges us to think dialectically about working in the service of “a higher Humanity instead of [a] higher standard of living,” Grow Our Souls engages thirteen artists in an ambitious conversation about labor in the context of U.S. imperialism and global capitalism. 

The opening will feature a panel with Dr. Susette Min, the curator and exhibiting artists.

Celebrating 25 Years of USAAF with Generations of Power

APICC was founded in 1996 by representatives of five nonprofit arts groups, including Asian American Dance Performances, First Voice, Asian Improv aRts, the Asian American Theater Company, and Kearny Street Workshop, all of which were instrumental to organizing the first United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF) in 1998.

APICC is proud to celebrate 25 years of USAAF with these pivotal organizations, a few of which are also celebrating an anniversary of their own this year:
Collage of Japantown artists, families and activists
Youth Rising: World Wide Women Girls Festival - Three girls in purple costumes in the middle of a chakkar, a pirouette in Kathak, classical dance from North India.
First Voice: Songs for J-Town
Sat, Apr 23 @ Presidio Theatre

World premiere of Emmy Award-winning jazz innovator, composer and performer Mark Izu’s Songs for J-Town
Generations of Power Showcase
Sat, May 14 @ Japantown Peace Plaza

Featuring Asian American dance, music and poetry performances. (Scroll down for the full lineup)
Photo by Anth Bongco. Audience members lift their hands towards a stage off camera. They are sitting on the floor of Kapwa Gardengs outdoors, and standing with their hands raised, with two blue tents standing in the background.
 A grid of photos featuring Melody Takata (photo by Crystel Hadley), Marina Fukushima (photo by Isak Immanuel), YiTing (Gama) Hsu & Hien Huynh (photo by Hoa Huynh)
KSW50: To Imagine is to Exist Gala
Sat, June 11, 5pm @ SF Mint

Celebrate Kearny Street Workshop's 50 Year Anniversary!
Expansions // Horizons
Thu, June 30, 6pm @ Asian Art Museum

Asian Improv aRts' 35th Anniversary Celebration Festival


GENERATIONS OF POWER SHOWCASE

APICC is proud to co-present the following artistic performances as part of the outdoor showcase taking place at the historic Japantown Peace Plaza on Sat, May 14, 12-4pm.

RSVP HERE

This showcase is free and open to the public.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

12:00-12:15PM

Introductions

12:15-1:00PMWoman wearing 1930s style formal wear is reciting poetry. 

Caroline Cabading & The Autonomous Region
Sugilanon

1:00-1:50PM

Curated by Claudine Naganuma
Love & Unity: Asian American Choreographer's Showcase

1:50-2:40PMThe Last Hoisan Poets, Photo by Megan Wong: The Last Hoisan Poets, Nellie Wong, Flo Oy Wong and Genny Lim, with smiles as warm as the vibrant golden yellow and orange roses bouquets that they hold in their hands, stand in front of the shiny speckled gray granite wall in San Francisco’s Union Square.

The Last Hoisan Poets & Del Sol Quartet*
“Seh Kui: Community is In the Heart”

 

2:40-2:55PM

First Voice
Return of the Sun

2:55-3:20PM Youth Rising: World Wide Women Girls Festival - Three girls in purple costumes in the middle of a chakkar, a pirouette in Kathak, classical dance from North India.

Leela Youth Dance Company
Youth Rising

3:30-4:00PM
Two white-masked formless beings with horns stare back toward the camera, with steam or water streaming upward from their eyes. They are framed by two white owls with wings spread, over a backdrop of a large blue and green snake. The illustration of the two beings is by artist Kia Guillaume, and the snake is by Japanese printmaker Hokusai.

tashi tamate weiss
groundwater/chikasui 地下水
(Across Post St at Buchanan Mall)

IN-PERSON & ONLINE EVENTS

More programs and events from this year's festival artists!

Kwento Times IRL Cast gathered around stands, acting out a reading.
Bindlestiff Studio
Kwento Times Staged Reading Festival
Sun, May 1-7 @ Bindlestiff Studio
Angela Han Art LLC
Realms of Courage Composers Panels
Sun, May 1-June 26 on Zoom & YouTube
HellaTender: Mr. Ye of Chinatowns Stylers Art Gallery preparing a calligraphy scroll with wheatpaste
Vida Kuang & Carmen Chen x AAWAA's
Emerging Curators Program
Hella Tender
Sat, May 14 @ SF Chinatown
Street scene from the 1970s in black and white, and below it is another street scene from the present day San Francisco's South of Market in color.
SF Urban Film Fest x SOMA Pilipinas
World Premiere of “Sa Amin”
Thu, May 26 @ Kapwa Gardens
Kim Acebo Arteche on the left sitting in a chair and Kim Requesto standing on the right standing posing for a photo.
KKSILOG
Lumayo Ka Sa Araw (Stay Away From The Sun)
POSTPONED TO 2023!
Megan Lowe Dances
Piece of Peace
Fri, June 3 @ Studio B, ODC Dance Commons
Sat, June 18 Online
Hearts & Minds graphic with event info using purple, red and dark pink colors of two heads that form a heart
GAPA Theatre + GAPA Men's Chorus
Hearts & Minds
Sat, Jun 4 @ Gunn Theater, Legion of Honor
Eth-Noh-Tec
Wise Women
Sat, June 4 on Zoom 
A blue square flyer with white and gray graphics of abstract circle shapes that mimic movement through a blur effect center the image, with the text at the top right that reads, \
Macro Waves*
breathe.io
Fri, June 5-17 @ SWIM Gallery
Alchemy and Twine Productions
Searching for Kapwa: A Film Screening
Thu, June 9 @ SF LGBT Center, Rainbow Room 
Lynn Huang and Johnny Nguyen leap off the ground with their arms and legs apart. They are both wearing red and gray clothes in front of a white and brow brick building. Photo by Robbie Sweeney.
Lenora Lee Dance
Convergent Waves: Boston
Thu, June 9 @ Asian Art Museum 
Sapphic Sunday by Sarah Drepaul. A fat Tamil-American woman in a red dress and South-Indian gold jewelry caresses a white transgender woman in a lavender dress.
Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project
18th Annual International Queer
Women of Color Film Festival
Fri, June 10-12 @ Presidio Theatre
 
SAMMAY wearing a white dress, posed with arms down and palms facing outward, her hair flowing in the wind and partially covering her face
SAMMAY Productions
ritual for thrivation no. 2
Fri, June 10-11 @ ODC Theater
June 17 Online
Large light blue flag displays the main title of event in large letters: \
Ramon Abad
Pickles! The Bindlestiff Kid Show
Sat-Sun, Nov 12-13 @ Bindlestiff Studio
(Originally postponed from May 21-22)
  

#USAAF2022 #GenerationsofPower

APICC STAFF

Vinay Patel, Executive Director
Melanie Elvena, Artistic Director
Diana Li, Programs & Communications Manager
TJ Basa, Programs & Communications Assistant

APICC BOARD

Janey Madamba, Board Member
Yukiya Jerry Waki, Board Member
Pamela Wu Kochiyama, Board Member


USAAF 2022 JURORS

Aureen Almario, educator, artist and Artistic Director for Bindlestiff Studio
Ravi Chandra, San Francisco based M.D. psychiatrist, writer and compassion educator
Yukiya Jerry Waki, spoken word artist, writer, creator and host of The Buffet Show podcast

USAAF 2022 Designs by ARC & TYPE

Thank you to all of APICC's partners:

             

   
                  
 
Thank you to all of APICC's funders:

       

                         

 
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