CIVIL DIS(PLACE)MENT
presented by Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center
19th Annual
United States of Asian America Festival
May-June 2016
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL Each year, the United States of Asian America Festival (USAAF) presents between 20 to 30 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. USAAF is funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission.
Civil Dis(place)ment,
is in direct reference to a recently published With this year’s theme, study that alarmingly found more than 70% of surveyed artists in San Francisco experiencing displacement. A variation on civil disobedience, with the city’s rapidly shifting demographics, we want artists to explore the issues and narratives that speak to our diverse communities. - specifically how art, culture, and placemaking has subsisted historically and what art, culture, and placemaking look like for our communities today. Most notably, we want to highlight how artists are resisting the causes and consequences of displacement and how we as community members and organizers ensure a future where arts and culture in San Francisco will thrive.
= APICC sponsored events
FESTIVAL JURORS
Lenora Lee, LENORA LEE DANCE AND ASIAN IMPROV ARTS Allan S. Manalo, BINDLESTIFF STUDIO AND HOSPITALITY HOUSE Indra Mungal, ASIAN ART MUSEUM
ABOUT APICC
: The Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center’s (APICC) mission is to support and produce multidisciplinary art reflective of the unique experiences of Asian 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.
APICC STAFF
Vinay Patel, executive director Melanie Elvena, artistic director Laura Priscilla Paule, office and communications manager YoungSun Choi, festival coordinator Den Legaspi/ARC and TYPE design, graphic design
funders:
On behalf of Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, welcome to the 19th annual United States of Asian America Festival! We are excited to support the following 20 arts events throughout the SF Bay Area, showcasing the dynamic experiences of the contemporary Asian American and Pacific Islander arts community. Our theme this year, CIVIL DIS(PLACE)MENT, is something that has been ruminating in our minds and resurfacing in daily conversations for some years now. It’s not a new concept but rather an additional piece of dialogue in reaction to gentrification, its resulting culture shift, and the effect this environment has on artists living and working in San Francisco. In light of perpetually rising costs of living in our city, we wanted to offer a space for our community to use art as a lens to learn, reflect, connect, resist, and heal. A big congratulations to our participants for bringing their stories and perspectives to the forefront. Thank you to all our funders and sponsors, especially the San Francisco Arts Commission, for their commitment and generosity as a leading organization that empowers community members through the arts. Special thanks to our dedicated festival jurors for taking time out of their own projects and busy schedules to select this year’s awardees. And, of course, thanks to our diligent staff for producing another engaging and relevant festival. Most importantly, thank you for all your continued support and dedication. We encourage you to experience all that the festival has to offer. But most of all, savor what our artists have to offer as the anchors and placemakers of our collective history and presence.
Melanie Elvena
artistic director
Vinay Patel
executive director
J.THEO
FRANCISCO TO SALUPONGAN Friday, April 29 @ 6pm
In partnership with Salupongan International, the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), and other people’s organizations. An evening showcase of multi-disciplinary arts drawing the parallels between the displacement and resilience of working-class families in San Francisco to the displacement and resistance of the indigenous communities in Mindanao. This event will feature a talk and a cultural offering by leaders from the Salupongan schools of Mindanao. The program will also feature J.Theo, Kabataan– FCC, and more cultural performances. SALUPONGAN.ORG
Hall of Culture, African-American Arts & Culture Complex 762 Fulton St, SF
Presented by APICC Curator: Pamela Ybañez
Resistance May 6 - May 26 & festival kickoff: Fri, May 6 @ 7-10 pm closing reception & artist talk: Thur, May 26 @ 6:30-8:30pm exhibition:
opening reception
FREE EVENT
APICC’s annual group exhibition featuring multidisciplinary works of 11 Asian and Pacific Islander artists from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond exploring themes of gentrification, displacement, placemaking, and the artist’s role in the community through installation, performance, video, and more. Special Opening Performances: HuiMeng Wang as part of her installation piece The Reason We Dine Tonight will be doing a live one-hour long dinner party performance. Bonnie Wai-Lee Kwong, author of book of poetry ravel, will also be doing a live reading of new work accompanied by movement.
Main Gallery, SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan St, SF
Asian American Women Artists Association
Aesthetic Blitz
May 4 - June 25 reception: TBA
exhibition: opening
An art exhibition in various mediums and writings by largely Asian American women artists who have something significant to say about the importance of female identity in our contemporary world.
Sequoias Rotunda Gallery 1400 Geary Blvd, SF
518VALENCIA.ORG Asian American Photographic Explorations
Waves of the Past exhibition: May 10 - 16 opening reception: Tues, May
10 @ 7-9pm
This exhibit is created and designed by students from Asian American Studies 516 and taught by Professor Valerie Soe. Each student chooses one Asian American person who is important to them and makes a photographic tribute to that person.
AAWAA.NET
Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics 518 Valencia St, SF
Presented by APICC
CINEMATIC SF: COMMUNITY PREVIEW
Thu, May 12 @ 7pm
$8-10 suggested donation A preview and talk with filmmakers who highlight the Bay Area’s most underserved and underrepresented communities as part of API Cultural Center’s premiere film program, Cinematic SF. APICULTURALCENTER.ORG
9th Street Independent Film Center 145 9th Street St, SF
crews of the Bay Area
M
O O B F O S N O I G E L
Oliver Wang
@ 8pm May 13 - 14 ale $12-$25
PANEL / Friday, May 13th, 8PM Author Oliver Wang moderates. Live demos from DJ luminaries of the Bay Area. Free. PARTY / Saturday, May 14th, 8PM An interactive theater experience true to the era. Music, food, dancing. $25 (admission includes food and drink) BINDLESTIFF STUDIO 185 6th Street, San Francisco Tickets: www.bindlestiffstudio.org Sponsored by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center
sliding sc
Celebrating th e Fil-Am mobile DJ crews of the Ba y Area, co-pre se by Bindlestiff nted Studio. Featuri ng a panel modera ted by author Oliver Wang with liv e demos from D J luminaries and an Interactive th eater experience and party, true to the era. Music, fo od, and danc ing. BINDLESTIFFS TUDIO.ORG
Bindlestiff S tudio 186 6th St, SF
exhibition:
May 19 - Jun 30
opening reception:
Thur, May 19 @ 6-8:30pm
$10 - $20 DONATION SUGGESTED ARTISTS’ TALK:
Tue, May 31 @ 5:30-8:30pm CLOSING RECEPTION:
Thurs, Jun 30 @ 5:30-8:30pm Co-presented by Asian American Women Artists Association. A group visual art exhibition featuring 20 assemblage artworks that showcase the vibrant dreams and hopes of women. Curator Cynthia Tom, driven by an abiding passion to spotlight issues facing Asian American women, has developed an artistic forum to heal, transform, and inform. The product of a series of workshops based on intuitive art practices and meditation that inspired the art. Audiences have the opportunity to tap into their inner wisdom and personal strengths through hands-on art-making with three intuitive, self-guided art-making workstations. APLACEOFHEROWN.ORG
I-Hotel Manilatown Center 868 Kearny St, SF
Cynthia Tom
Genny Lim
BLACK GEOMANCY AND LIMINAL Fri, May 20 @ 7pm
$20 ADVANCE $25 DOOR $25 RESERVE TABLE SEATING - ADVANCE With Marshall Trammell and Lama Pema Tenzin. A sonogram is a graph representing a sound, which shows the distribution of energy at different frequencies or a visual image produced from an ultrasound, as routinely used to monitor fetuses in pregnancies. Taking this science into the realm of music and voice, Black Geomancy and Tantric (G)hosts, explores the interaction of space and energy through the synergy of sound: music, poetry, voice, Buddhist chants and prayers in synchronicity. SFIAF.ORG/GENNY_LIM_AND_ MARSHALL_TRANNELL
Fort Mason Firehouse 2 Marina Blvd, SF
Jon Jang Quintet
CAN’T STOP CRYIN’ FOR AMERICA: BLACK LIVES MATTER! Sat, May 21 @ 7pm
$20 ADVANCE $25 DOOR $25 RESERVE TABLE SEATING - ADVANCE
A music work in progress by Jon Jang in collaboration with poet performer Amanda Kemp. Organized into seven vignettes named after each black victim group killed by the police and/or white supremacists this past year: Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, nine victims of the Emmanuel AME Church, and Sandra Bland. The final vignette, Five Young Black Men, will memorialize Emmett Till, Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, John Powell, and Mario Woods. SFIAF.ORG/JON_JANG_QUINTET
Southside Theater, Fort Mason 2 Marina Blvd, Bldg D, SF
Sun, May 22 @ 1-3pm FREE EVENT
Celebrating the enduring spirit of the African American and Japanese American communities in the face of racial discrimination, segregation, redevelopment, and gentrification. Featuring readings, music, and visual art by community writers, performers, and artists exploring the overlapping history of two communities in neighborhoods deeply eroded by the displacements of WWII, urban renewal, and gentrification. STANDINGSTRONGSF.WORDPRESS.COM
Latino Room, San Francisco Main Library 100 Larkin St, SF
Kearny Street Workshop
REVISITING OUR ROOTS: KSW PRESS Sat, May 21 @ 7-10pm
FREE EVENT
KSW revisits its roots with former Executive Director, Nancy Hom, leading a panel of KSW authors and artists from the 70s and 80s as they discuss the history of its publishing wing and the decorated roster of titles that were released by KSW Press. The home of beloved local authors like Genny Lim, the late Jeff Tagami, Jaime Jacinto, and Virginia Cerenio, KSW Press also published books of photography and literary anthologies that document a vibrant era of Asian American art in San Francisco. The panel will be followed by an intergenerational reading and performance. KEARNYSTREET.ORG
Arc Gallery & Studios, 1246 Folsom St, SF Eugenie Theater Projects
MADAME HO
Sat, May 28 @ 1pm
FREE EVENT
Chinese Historical Society of America Museum 965 Clay St, SF
A play by Eugenie Chan and directed by Jessica Heidt. Inspired by the life of the playwright’s great-grandmother, Madame Ho tells the story of a formidable Barbary Coast San Francisco brothel madam, single mother, Chinese immigrant, and ghost. A tale of of survival and complicity. In English with a Cantonese narration. CHSA.ORG/EVENT/MADAME-HO
Jason Bayani
LOCUS OF CONTROL May 27 - 28 @ 8-10pm $10 (PRE-SALE) $12 (GENERAL) $ 20 (SUPPORTER)
Internationally touring author and spoken word artist, Jason Bayani, explores the narrative of the fourth-wave Filipino immigrant through poetry, storytelling, and performance. Drawing upon nearly twenty years of work, Bayani pieces together the story of the latest and most robust wave of migrants to come from the Philippines and contemplates what this identity has become in America and what it will become in the future. JASONBAYANI.COM
Bindlestiff Studio 185 6th St, San Francisco
BAD ASIANS Fri, June 3 @ 7:30 $10 (EARLY BIRD) $15 (GENERAL)
pm
A thematic storytelling show featuring local Asian and Asian American raconteurs, performers, and comedians who will unfold narratives based on a theme! Listen in as storytellers of diverse backgrounds and upbringings find cultural commonality on stage. THECOLOSSALSHOW.COM
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts2868 Mission St, SF
Nancy Wang of Eth-Noh-Tec
WHITE RABBIT, RED RABBIT Thur, June 2 @ 8pm $15 (ADVANCE) $20 (DOOR)
Nancy Wang of Eth-Noh-Tec, kinetic storytelling theater, will wrestle the tricky but tried and true White Rabbit, Red Rabbit play written by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour as part of the SF International Performing Arts Festival 2016. SFIAF.ORG/WHITE_RABBIT_RED_RABBIT_NANCY_WANG
Chapel at Fort Mason 1100 Bay St, Suite 100, SF Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project
12TH ANNUAL QUEER WOMEN OF COLOR FILM FESTIVAL
Jun 10 -12, various times
Film screenings created through QWOCMAP’s programs and films by independent filmmakers from around the world! A theater full of friends and family who are gathering to not only watch a film together, but to experience something new, to think differently, build community, and to participate in deep, lasting social change. QWOCMAP.ORG/FESTIVAL
BRAVA Theater Center 2879 24th St, SF
Judith Ferrer
QUEER AS FUCK Sat, June 11 @ 8pm Jun 16 - June 18 @ 8pm Jun 23 - Jun 25 @ 8pm
A variety show series, kicked off by a night featuring queer API artists, as part of the National Queer Arts Festival 2016 and co-presented by Bindlestiff Studio. Artists will explore the shifting boundaries of gender, sexuality, love, and culture - utilizing art to cope with forced transitions such as gentrification, migration, and loss. BINDLESTIFFSTUDIO.ORG
Bindlestiff Studio 185 6th St, SF
Sammay Dizon
URBAN x INDIGENOUS Sun, Jun 12 @ 12-8pm
$10 (GENERAL) / $20 (SUPPORT THE ARTIST)
Bay Gallery SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan St, SF
URBAN x INDIGENOUS (UxI) is a multi-disciplinary, inter-generational convening of artists, activists, incubators, scholars, and community members to honor our ancestors and celebrate the indigenous spirit. Through performance activation, visual arts exhibition, critical cyphers, and the world premiere of “Remember Our Place?” by Sammay Dizon - UxI will uncover the state of the Pilipin@ community’s displacement in San Francisco and draw parallels to the home-based struggle of the Lumads in Mindanao, Philippines. SAMMAYDIZON.WORDPRESS.COM
Krystal Ahmadyar
CONJURING ROOTS Thur, Jun 30 @ 7:30pm $15 - 20 SLIDING SCALE QTPOC mixed heritage artists through dance, music, acrobatics and poetry reveal and embody themselves as bearers and creators of spiritual traditions and ancestral practices that empower and resist oppression. Conjuring Roots reveals these practices and honors the tools used to support and transform. FACEBOOK.COM/QTPOCSCONJURINGROOTS Roots in Resilience
YOU MATTER MOST Sat, Jun 19 @ 6:30pm FREE EVENT Geographically specific to the southeast part of San Francisco and the experiences of people of color who live there, Roots in Resilience Film Festival displays the work of youth and artists who explore intergenerational blessings in the places they call home. SF-ROOTS.COM
Bayview Opera House 4720 3rd St, SF
SOMArts Cultural Center 934 Brannan St, SF
DEN LEGASPI HIRE
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA
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CONTACT ME
sponsors:
2016 At-A-Glance Calendar Fri Apr 29
May 4-Jun 25
May 6-26
j.theo
aawaa
apicc
Aesthetic Blitz
Resistance
San francisco to Salupongan @ Hall of Culture
@ Sequoias Rotunda Gallery
@ SOMArts Cultural Center
May 11-16 AsAm
studies
516
Waves of the Past
@ Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics
Thur May 12 apicc
Cinematic SF @ 9th Street Independent Film Center
Sun May 22
Fri May 27
Sat May 28
Thur Jun 2
Fri June 3
shizue seigel
eugenie theater projects
nancy wang
Standing Strong!
jason bayani
Locus of Control
Madame Ho
Bad Asians
@ Latino Room, SFPL
@ Bindlestiff Studio
@ Chinese Historical Society of America Museum
white Rabbit, Red Rabbit
@ Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts
@ Chapel at Fort Mason
For more details & info go to API C U LT U R AL C E N T E R . O R G
United States of Asian American Festival May 19Jun 30
Fri May 20
Sat May 21
Sat May 21
oliver wang
genny lim
jon jang quintet
kearny street workshop
Legions of Boom
Black Can’t Stop A Place of Geomancy & Cryin’ For Her Own Liminal Space America
May 13-14
@ Bindlestiff Studio
Jun 10-12 qwocmap
12th Queer Women of Color Film Festival @ Brava Theater
FOLLOW US!
cynthia tom
@ I-Hotel Manilatown Center
Sat Jun 11 Jun 16-18 Jun 23 - 25 judith ferrer
QUEER as FUCK
@ Fort Mason Firehouse
@ Southside Theater, Fort Mason
Sun Jun 19
Sun Jun 12
roots in resilience
sammay dizon
You Matter Most
URBAN x INDIGENOUS
@ Bayview Opera House
@ SOMArts Cultural Center
@ Bindlestiff Studio
@APICC_SF
/APICulturalCenter
Revisiting Our Roots @ Arc Gallery & Studios
Thur Jun 30 krystal ahmadyar
Conjuring Roots @ SOMArts Cultural Center
APICC_SF
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID San Francisco, CA Permit # 1734
Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center apiculturalcenter.org 934 Brannan Street San Francisco, CA 94103