Oakland Asian Cultural Center

Closed for Memorial Day
2020-05-25 | CA

APA Heritage Month List of Community Events
2020-05-01 - 2020-05-31 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Celebrate APA Heritage Month from your home! Here are some of the larger events happening this month that can be accessed remotely. Please check in with your local arts & cultural organizations (including us!) to see what they are planning to present for APA Heritage Month!
Asian Pacific Heritage Month SF – https://apaheritage.org/
CAAMFest Online: Heritage at Home – https://caamfest.com/2020/
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival – https://watch.eventive.org/laapffvirtual/
Celebrate APA Heritage with the Poetry of J.Bayani, A.Cassinetto, M.Win (Saturday, 3pm, 5/23) – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/104488568120
Book Club: How Much of These Hills is Gold (Saturday, 2pm, 5/30) – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/103729513768

"Textures of April 30th" Traveling Exhibition: Call for Submissions
2020-04-30 - 2020-06-30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
We are proud to announce Textures of April 30th: Traveling Exhibition.
This exhibit is an extension of the “(Re-)membering” April 30th “Texture Poems” series diaCRITICS initiated last April 30th, 2019. With the collaboration of Exhibit Envoy, the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN) will curate and launch the exhibit at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center in April 2021.
With this traveling exhibit initiated, we wish to reflect on this day in terms of both the past and the present with more artistic representation in contemplation of April 30th to include in the exhibit. To help us capture this, we welcome your submissions of visual art, audio works, or audiovisual pieces. Visit https://diacritics.org/2020/04/re-membering-april-30th-a-submissions-call-2/ to learn more and submit!

Our Communities, Climate Change, and COVID-19
2020-04-19 13:00 - 14:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | CA
Missed the event? View the recording below.

Author and scholar Julie Sze will discuss how the climate crisis connects with struggles against racism, gender violence, and the exploitation of people and natural resources. In conversation with environmental justice activist Ratha Lai, Asian Pacific Environmental Network representative Shina Robinson, and the Chair and Professor of Asian American Studies at SFSU Dr. Russell Jeung, the panel will discuss how the immigrant and refugee communities are impacted by urban and rural pollution and how communities mobilize for change and justice. The panel will also explore recent questions on the COVID-19 response in our communities.
This event will be streamed live via Zoom – RSVP is required to obtain access details. A recording of the event will also be posted online afterward for further viewing.
This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-pro t partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit calhum.org.
~~~
About the author and panel:
Julie Sze is Professor of American Studies and Founding Director of the Environmental Justice Project at the University of California, Davis. She has authored and edited two other books and numerous articles on environmental justice and inequality, culture and environment, and urban and community health and activism.
Ratha Lai has worked for 10 years as an environmental justice activist with the Greenlining Institute, Greenlining Action, Sierra Club Bay Chapter, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Richmond Our Power Coalition, and the Solidarity to Solutions Week of Action in 2018. He is currently Executive Director of Critical Impact Consulting and a devoted father to his 4-year-old daughter.
Shina Robinson currently serves as the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)’s Local Policy Associate. She organizes our member leaders to pass and implement policies for community resistance and resilience in Oakland, Richmond and statewide partners.
Dr. Russell M. Jeung is Chair and Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. The author of books and articles on Asian Americans, religion, and race, he’s a community activist and church leader in East Oakland, CA.
~
Sponsored by Eastwind Books of Berkeley, Oakland Asian Cultural Center, California Humanities, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Asian Pacific American Student Development.

Community Voices to Empower Change Series
2020-04-19 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States

Closed to the public
2020-03-15 - 2020-03-31 | CA

Memory Vignettes & Poem-Paintings Series
2020-03-06 - 2020-06-30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
UPDATE: This exhibition has been extended to June 30, 2020.
“As a woman, Hindu, Muslim, artist, and mother, I work to create harmony by expressing the universality of humanity through paintings, sculpture, and calligraphy…I use my artistic voice to break down the barriers that divide in order to foster peace and understanding.” – Salma Arastu
Salma Arastu started these series in 2005 driving inspiration from her childhood memories from Rajasthan, India and stories of youth spent in Hyderabad, India, Iran and Kuwait. The paintings from these series are three dimensional, mixed media on Board. Predominantly square in shape these are smaller in size but innovative works that are driving inspiration from Indo-Persian miniature paintings and Folk art while pushing the boundaries of form, composition, and narrative to emphasize the messages visually.
After moving to San Francisco Bay area in 2007 she did several paintings of small homes in the bay Area with courtyards and Cherry Blossoms in the yards which she says were reminiscent of homes back in India. Later she adopted same soft colors palette, creating process and technique to translate Rumi’s spiritual poems in paintings. She says these works offer relaxation, meditative moods.
Press:
Los Angeles Times – With canvas and Quran, one artist aims to make Islamic calligraphy a universal language By Kimberly Winston

Reflections on Home
2020-03-01 - 2020-03-28 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
“Reflections on Home” features the work of Bay Area immigrant artists, each expressing their reflections on “home” and “belonging”. As these themes become political points in national policies, especially for people of color living in the US, the immigrant women showcased in this exhibition are firmly making their roots known through a proclamation of their “home” though the visual arts.
Co-sponsored by Oakland Asian Cultural Center, ARTogether, and Gathering All Muslim Artists (GAMA).
Image credit (detail): “Finding Home” by Patricia Rojas-Zambrano
Save-The-Date!
Check out “Tea Around The World” in support of the artists and this exhibition on Sunday, March 22nd, 2-5pm! Details TBD.

Recalling the Ancestors: Buddhism and the WWII Japanese American Internment
2020-02-22 17:30 - 19:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Nearly all Japanese Americans were subject to accusations of disloyalty during World War II, but Buddhists aroused particular suspicion. In this pathbreaking account, Duncan Ryūken Williams reveals how, even as they were stripped of their homes and imprisoned in camps, Japanese American Buddhists launched one of the most inspiring defenses of religious freedom in our nation’s history, insisting that they could be both Buddhist and American.
About Duncan Ryuken Williams
An ordained Buddhist priest in the Soto Zen tradition, Duncan Ryūken Williams has spent years piecing together the story of the Japanese American community during World War II. A renowned scholar of Buddhism, he is now the Director of the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California.
In honor of Day of Remembrance, Buddhist priest and scholar Duncan Ryuken Williams will be leading a reading and discussion of his book American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War.
This event is free with a $3-5 suggested donation. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

An Orphan For You Conference
2020-02-22 - 2020-02-23 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
OACC is proud to host Day 2 of “An Orphan for You”: The Rise of Korean Adoption in the 1970s and 80s, a free conference in Berkeley and Oakland, CA. The conference will take place over two days, from February 22-23, 2020.During the 1970s and 80s, South Korea sent the largest number of children overseas for adoption – over 112,000 out of an estimated 200,000 globally – leading some to refer to the country as “the land of orphans.” But many Korean children, perhaps the majority, who were sent overseas for adoption were social orphans who had at least one living parent and, in some cases, an intact family.
What were the factors in South Korea that resulted in so many children being sent overseas at a time of rapid industrialization and rising wealth? What fueled interest in adopting Korean children among parents in the U.S.?
Co-presented by Me & Korea, Mu Films, Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies (U.C. Berkeley), and the Oakland Asian Cultural Center.
Visit https://meandkorea.org/conference to learn more.

Bojagi Wrapping Workshop
2020-02-19 17:30 - 19:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Learn how to tie bojagi into a wine carrier, purse, basket liner, tissue box cover and much more.
“Bojagi” is a general term in Korean for wrapping cloths. Bojagi have many functions, and have an important role in Korean culture. Koreans like to use bojagi to wrap gifts, carry and store objects, wedding ceremonies, and Buddhist rituals.
Bojagi wrapping is an eco-friendly way to wrap gifts without creating waste. It replaces countless disposable bags when used as a groceries and wine bags.
Participants will receive several bojagi to take home after the workshop.

Gish Jen's The Resisters Book Talk with Helen Zia
2020-02-16 15:00 - 17:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
A moving and important story of an America that seems ever more possible, The Resisters is also the story of one family struggling to maintain its humanity and normalcy in circumstances that threaten their every value–as well as their very existence.
“The Resisters is palpably loving, smart, funny, and desperately unsettling. The novel should be required reading for the country both as a cautionary tale and because it is a stone-cold masterpiece. This is Gish Jen’s moment. She has pitched a perfect game.” –Ann Patchett
GISH JEN is the author of four previous novels, a story collection, and two works of nonfiction, the latest of which was The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap. Her honors include the Lannan Literary Award for fiction and the Mildred and Harold Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Free, $3-5 suggested donation (no one turned away for lack of funds).
Co-presented by Oakland Asian Cultural Center, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Asian Health Services, and Eastwind Books of Berkeley.

Community Input Session for a New Mural
2020-02-12 18:00 - 20:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
In collaboration with The Greenlining Institute, the Community Rejuvenation Project (CRP) is creating a new mural located at the Greenlining building at 360 14th St. in Oakland.
Through the production process, CRP is reaching out to the community to broaden the conversation around arts and culture, public art, cultural equity, and cultural preservation – including opportunities for direct input into the mural design process from community members like YOU!
Come out to OACC and share your thoughts on this new mural.
For more information:
www.CRPBayArea.org
Greenlining.org
@CRPBayArea
@WithoutMyEgo

Tsuru Fold-In & Film Screening
2020-02-07 18:30 - 20:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Never again is NOW. Join OACC and Tsuru for Solidarity for a “Tsuru Fold In,” to fold cranes that will join the “National Pilgrimage to Close the Camps” in June 2020. This movement plans to bring 125,000 paper cranes, or tsuru, as expressions of solidarity with immigrant and refugee communities that are under attack today. The 125,000 cranes represent the members of the community who were rounded up and incarcerated in U.S. concentration camps during World War II, including both Japanese Americans and Japanese Latin Americans. Learn more at tsuruforsolidarity.org.
Accompanying this fold in will be a screening of “And Then They Came For Us.” Watch the trailer:
https://vimeo.com/210002629
Co-presented by Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Tsuru for Solidarity, and Oakland Public Library.
This event is free with a $3-5 suggested donation. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Portraits of Oakland Chinatown
2020-02-03 - 2020-02-28 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
A special exhibition celebrating Black History Month.
See Oakland Chinatown through Leon Kennedy’s distinctive artistic style.
“My dream is to connect to all the people’s dreams.”
Leon Kennedy’s Art lies somewhere between the struggles of his community and the faith that guides them. When viewed, the observer is directed away from the struggle and toward salvation along a path Mr. Kennedy has constructed. Considered one of the top self-taught artists in the country, Leon’s inspiration and ability is achieved through divine intervention. “My gift is not natural, it’s spiritual. Like Moses; my ideas come from God.”
Regardless of the year, the subject, the medium, or the material; each work is undeniably his own. Perhaps no other artist has a more recognizable style than Leon Kennedy. Learn more about Leon at leonkennedy.com.

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 8th from 6-8pm.

Co-sponsored by Oakland Asian Cultural Center and Oakland Public Library.
Enjoy live painting sessions with Leon Kennedy at Oakland Public Libraries:
http://oaklandlibrary.org/events/main-library/live-painting-sessions-artist-leon-kennedy

Lunar New Year 2020
2020-02-02 11:00 - 15:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
OACC is celebrating the Year of the Rat with live performances and fun activities for the whole family in the heart of Oakland Chinatown! Enjoy our Youth Showcase featuring students performing guzheng (Chinese zither), various Chinese dances and more. Join interactive workshops on Japanese taiko drumming, relaxing Taichi exercises, and children’s story time with a free book giveaway!
Our celebration also features a special appearance by Emmy Award-winning Vietnamese artist, Vanessa Van-Anh Vo.
EVENT SCHEDULE (updated as of 1/16/20):
Main Stage Program (Auditorium)
10:45AM Lion Dance Performance by Toi Shan Family Association
11:10AM~12:30PM OACC Youth Showcase
1:30PM~2:00PM Vanessa Van-Anh Vo Recital
2:00PM~2:30PM Vietnamese Music & Dance Workshop with Vanessa
Activities for All Ages (Location: see Room #)
10:30AM~2:30PM Arts & Crafts Corner (Room 2)
11:15AM~12:15PM Taiko Drumming Workshop with Emeryville Taiko (Room 4)
Limited space; RSVP recommended. No experience necessary.
12:15PM~12:45PM Kids Storytime with Oliver Chin [English] (Room 3)
Limited space; RSVP recommended. **Signups are FULL! Please note that space is not guaranteed.**
12:15PM~2:45PM Children’s Book Station & Giveaway* with Eastwind Books (Room 3)
*Sponsored by Oakland Literacy Coalition Reading Celebration.
Books available on first come-first serve basis. 1 voucher per child.
12:45PM~1:45PM Qi Gong with Sifu Liu (Room 4 & 5)
Limited space; RSVP recommended. No experience necessary.
1:30PM~2:00PM Kids Storytime with Kids Go! Mandarin [Mandarin] (Room 6)
Limited space; RSVP recommended.
2:00PM~2:30PM Kids Storytime with Kids Go! Mandarin [Mandarin] (Room 6)
Limited space; RSVP recommended.
2:00PM~3:00PM Taichi Session with Sifu Dere (Room 4 & 5)
Limited space; RSVP recommended. No experience necessary.
Community Resources Vendor Showcase (Lobby)
(due to limited lobby space, we are no longer taking vendor/table requests)
Amtrak San Joaquins
Alameda County CASA
Alameda Health Alliance
Anthem, Inc. Medicare
Clean Vehicle Rebate Project
Diversity in Healthcare Training Institute
Oakland Public Works
Swinerton
OACC Raffle Drawing Prizes

Grand prize: Instant Pot – 6 Quart 9-in-1 Multi-Use Pressure Cooker with Easy Seal Lid and Sous Vide Program (valued at $120)
Small prizes:
One PIER 39 Fun Pack
California’s Great Adventure Two Single Day Pass
Oakland Zoo Family Day Pass
Namaste Yoga Class Pass Gift Card & Facial Mask
Lululemon Gift Card
Food Scale & Rapid Egg Cooker
Ceramic tea pot + Year of the Rat Paintings
Enter to win!
Raffle prices: $2 for 1; $5 for 3; $10 for 6; $15 for 10; $20 for 20
Lunar New Year Event Sponsors

Matson
Amtrak San Joaquins

Creative Mornings
2020-01-31 08:30 - 10:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
OACC is excited to host CreativeMornings! The event is free and RSVP tickets become available Monday, January 27th.
This month’s theme is Roots. We’ll have chef Tu David Phu speaking at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center on Jan. 31st. Join us for free breakfast, free coffee and tea, and—of course—stimulating discussion that’ll start your 2020 off right!
CreativeMornings is the world’s largest face-to-face creative community — a global breakfast lecture series serving local creative communities in over 200 cities. For more information, visit: www.creativemornings.com.

The Art of Survival: Enduring the Turmoil of Tule Lake
2020-01-31 - 2020-03-01 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
This exhibit explores the experiences and events at Tule Lake, the only Japanese American Segregation Center of WWII. The traveling exhibition probes the complexity of this unique Japanese American confinement site, which was located in Newell, CA.
Art of Survival is being supported in part by a Preservation of Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.
Further support provided by The Oregon Community Foundation, Fred W. Fields Fund; Klamath Tourism Grant; Klamath Arts Council Grant; and generous donations by Denshō Digital Archives, Japanese American Museum of San Jose, Tule Lake Committee members Jimi Yamaichi and Hiroshi Shimizu, and Hiroshi Watanabe. This traveling exhibition was made in cooperation with the Tule Lake Unit of WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument, Lava Beds National Monument, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Exhibition content provided by Exhibit Envoy (www.exhibitenvoy.org).

Quiz For Cause to Benefit the Oakland Asian Cultural Center
2020-01-28 19:30 - 21:30 | Paulista Brazilian Kitchen and Taproom, 4239 Park Boulevard, Oakland, CA, 94602, United States
Join the Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) for a night of trivia with Geeks Who Drink “Quiz for a Cause”! For a small suggested entry fee of $5, you can join the evening’s quiz. The winning team will get a prize and the rest will go to helping OACC continue to serve our community through free and low-cost arts and cultural programming. We want to continue making our programs accessible and empower diverse voices in our community including refugees, immigrants, and communities of color around urgent social justice issues that aim to connect different generations, cultures, and identities.
Participant Info:

Suggested $5 per person entry. The winning team will receive $5 for each team that donated! Our typical per person donation is $5.00. Each participant on a team is asked to contribute $5.00. A team consists of as few as 1 participant and can be up to 6 players. $5 per team is added into the pot for the cash prize offered to the first place team at the end of the night.

Important note:

A team is only eligible for the cash prize if a) they win 1st place, and b) the entire team contributed to the fundraising effort.

Chicken of the Sea: A Children's Book Reading
2020-01-19 14:00 - 15:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Enjoy a live reading by the authors of Chicken of the Sea, a collaborative children’s book from Viet Thanh Nguyen and Thi Bui, and their children Ellison Nguyen and Hien Bui-Stafford.
A band of intrepid chickens leave behind the boredom of farm life, joining the crew of the pirate ship Pitiless to seek fortune and glory on the high seas. Led by a grizzled captain into the territory of the Dog Knights, they soon learn what it means to be courageous, merciful, and not seasick quite so much of the time.
A whimsical and unexpected adventure tale, Chicken of the Sea originated in the five-year-old mind of Ellison Nguyen, son of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen; father and son committed the story to the page, then enlisted the artistic talents of Caldecott Honor winner Thi Bui and her thirteen-year-old son, Hien Bui-Stafford, to illustrate it. This unique collaboration between two generations of artists and storytellers invites you aboard for adventure, even if you’re chicken. Maybe especially if you’re chicken.
Co-sponsored by Oakland Asian Cultural Center and Eastwind Books of Berkeley.

OACC Movie Nights: Nailed It!
2020-01-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
In virtually every city, state and strip mall across the U.S., women get their nails done in salons likely owned by Vietnamese entrepreneurs. How did this community come to dominate an $8 billion nail economy? “Nailed It” takes viewers from Los Angeles to the Bronx to meet the diverse people and relationships behind this booming and enigmatic trade. The documentary premiered on PBS in May 2019, and is the highest streamed film of the America Reframed series. Uncover the real history of the Vietnamese nail salon!
After the screening, stay for a special Q&A session with filmmaker Adele Free Pham.
This event is free with a $3-5 suggested donation. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
This event is co-sponsored by Oakland Asian Cultural Center and Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN).

Closed for Holidays
2019-12-24 00:00 - 2020-01-01 23:59 | CA

The Southeast Asian Diaspora
2019-12-20 18:30 - 20:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Join us for a reading that brings together the work of Laotian poet and dancer Krysada Phounsiri and Cambodian writer Sieu Sean Do.
Krysada Phounsiri’s debut book of poetry, Dance Among Elephants, is at turns intimate and interrogative, interested in unpacking the many layers of his family’s journey from Laos to the United States and around the world. Phounsiri is a Lao American professional dancer who has performed with the acclaimed group Jabbawockeez in Las Vegas, award winning poet, engineer, and avid photographer.
Sieu Sean Do’s memoir, A Cloak of Good Fortune, traces his coming of age from the idyllic, peaceful years of childhood in rural Cambodia through his family’s forced exile by the Khmer Rouge. Sieu Sean was born in 1963 and grew up in Kampong Speu, a rural town about fifty kilometers outside Phnom Penh.
Co-presented by Oakland Asian Cultural Center and Eastwind Books of Berkeley.

Everybody, Everybody: A community dance workshop
2019-12-06 19:00 - 20:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
An intergenerational celebration of the moving body. All ages, all bodies, all levels are invited to experiment with everyday, pedestrian movement as dance, exploring the notion that we are already always dancing. Inspired by house, jazz, modern, hip-hop, and West African dance styles, we’ll practice responding to rhythm and sound with smooth grooves and big freedom. For beginning to experienced movers, we’re movin with joy – with the collective goal of embodying our most playful, expressive selves in our lives, on and off the dance floor.
The workshop comprises a series of exercises/prompts/games that facilitate individual exploration of movement, as well as judgment-free open floor movement.
Join the Everybody, Everybody WhatsApp group here.
Reach out to Alexx at alexxtemena@gmail.com with questions.

Wherever There's A Fight: 10th Anniversary Reading
2019-12-06 18:30 - 20:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Come celebrate the 10th Anniversary Edition of Wherever There’s a Fight, Elaine Elinson and Stan Yogi’s sweeping story of the social movements and activists who have changed California and made ripples beyond.
Elaine Elinson was the communications director of the ACLU of Northern California and editor of the ACLU News for more than two decades. She is a coauthor of Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines, which was banned by the Marcos regime.
Stan Yogi is the coauthor, with Laura Atkins, of the children’s book Fred Korematsu Speaks Up. He managed development programs for the ACLU of Northern California for fourteen years and is the coeditor of two books, Highway 99: A Literary Journey through California’s Great Central Valley and Asian American Literature: An Annotated Bibliography.

Closed for Thanksgiving
2019-11-28 00:00 - 2019-12-01 23:59 | CA

Body, Mind, Spirit: Healing Through Martial Arts
2019-11-23 14:00 - 16:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Three masters of Wushu “Chinese Martial Arts”—Sifu Bryant Fong, Sifu Johnny Jang, and Sifu Steven Chan—will discuss how Wushu nourishes the mind, body and spirit in terms of Traditional Chinese Medicine. They will demonstrate internal and external styles in clear terms so that you can decide which forms may suit you. These three masters have generously shared their love of Wushu with generations of students. Learn from them how the correct body form, intention, and natural movement can improve your health.
Featuring thrilling demonstrations by members of the nationally-ranked Cal Wushu Team and San Francisco TaiChi group practitioners.
Sifu Bryant Fong, head coach of the UC Berkeley Wushu program and founder of the Cal Chinese Martial Arts Tournament, has immersed himself in traditional Chinese martial arts beginning in the 1980’s. He will describe the health benefits of different styles and how he has chosen the forms he practices today.
Sifu Johnny Jang has taught Wing Chun and a wide range of internal forms, including weapons, in the Bay Area since the 1980’s. He was national TaiChi champion in the late 1980’s. Like Sifu Fong, he has traveled extensively in. China to learn directly from traditional masters.
Sifu Steve Chan has distilled his longtime practice of Bagua and Chen TaiChi into the essence of Wushu, that is, the gathering and circulation of life force through the body. His practice is focused on the very basics of Dai Xinyiquan, Che Xingyiquan and Chen Taijiquan – almost exclusively on basic physical health and strength training from collecting and circulating qi in basic moving exercises (neigong). He will present “Neigong: A direct path to training strength and vitality from Chinese internal martial arts. ”

Martial Arts for Health — Seminar with Instruction

Here is the final program for this Saturday’s event. In addition to lectures and demonstrations of martial arts, the masters will offer instruction to the audience so that you can take your knowledge home.

2:05 Introduction to Yang Style Taichi
2:15 Steve Chan

How martial arts training enables you to improve your life force
Audience instruction: Harnessing energy through intention
2:45 Sifu Bryant Fong
The various forms of martial arts and how you may benefit regardless of your age
Wushu demonstration by members of the Cal Martial Arts team
3:30 Sifu Johnny Jang
Water Boxing — a form that synthesizes the principles of martial arts by integrating four disciplines
Yang sword demonstration
Audience instruction: Eight Pieces of Brocade

Co-presented by Oakland Asian Cultural Center, UC Martial Arts Program, and Cal Wushu Team.

Calligraphies in Conversation: Wisdom of the East
2019-11-23 - 2020-01-31 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Curated by Arash Shirinbab
NOTE: A GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign is currently running to support this exhibition. Deadline is November 25th. Click here to view the full details and consider donating today!
“Calligraphies in Conversation” intends to bring diverse communities of the Bay Area together to share their culture and stories through the art of writing and calligraphy. In a diverse region such as the Bay Area, there are ever more and more communities who wish to explore the way another culture thinks, speaks, prays, reads, and writes. This multicultural exhibition explores how the word of wisdom is expressed via the art of calligraphy through the Asia continent, from Far East to Central Asia, South Asia, and Near East.
Opening Reception: November 23, 2019, 6 – 8 p.m.
Featuring calligraphy demos with master calligraphers
Free and Open to the Public
Participating Artists: Arash Shirinbab & Forrest Lesch Middelton, Debra Self, Ema Kubo, Feng Jin, Kristian Kabuay, Liza Dalby, Mok Kam Cheung, Pamela Rickard, Ronald Y. Nakasone, and Rutu Palav.
For more information about the exhibition, visit www.calligraphies.org or contact calligraphies.conversation@gmail.com

OACC Friendsgiving
2019-11-22 17:30 - 20:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
In the spirit of sharing and community, join the Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) for a Friendsgiving Potluck! This event is free and open to the public. Bring your friends, family, and a dish to share at OACC for some fun and games including arts and crafts activities, mahjong games, and much more!
We also invite you to bring canned food or a toy for our holiday giving drive.

Transgressions on Humanity Reception
2019-11-20 18:00 - 20:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
A reception celebrating the photographers who contributed works to the “Transgression on Humanity” exhibition. This is your opportunity to hear from the artists and learn more about conscious photography.
