Bandung To The Bay: Intersections of Solidarity
2022-07-15 - 2022-08-28
Part of OACC’s Open E.A.R.S. for Change series
In partnership with the EastSide Arts Alliance and the Joyce Gordon Gallery, the Oakland Asian Cultural Center presents “Bandung To The Bay,” a showcase of the history of Black and Asian solidarity across various movements. This exhibition consists of historical, archival documents connected to the international Bandung Conference and Bay Area Asian & Black activist solidarity movements including the Black Panther Party of Self-Defense. Up to 10 local artists’ works will be selected by a jury panel to join this exhibition.
Thank you to everyone who submitted artworks to OACC’s Artist Call!

The Artist Call is now closed. Deadline for submissions was May 31, 2022 at 5pm.
If your work is selected, you will receive an email by June 24th with drop-off information for physical works.
Selected artworks will need to remain at OACC for the duration of the exhibition until August 28th.
All artworks must be picked up the week of August 28th.

Pick-up hours: Tue-Fri 12pm-4pm. Email programs@oacc.cc if additional coordination is needed.

Artists retain 100% commission of artwork sold and are responsible for handling all transactions.
OACC is unable to provide insurance coverage for artworks, but has hi-def security cameras and onsite security personnel monitoring the facility at all times. OACC staff will take the following precautions to ensure safety of artworks while onsite: a) provide dedicated onsite storage space before installation and b) onsite staff presence during exhibit hours.

Timeline

March 1: Artist call opens
May 31: Artist call closes at 5pm Pacific
By June 17: Jury panel selects artworks
By June 24: Artists notified of jury results
Early July: Install exhibition at OACC
July 15: Exhibit reception at OACC
August 28: OACC Exhibition closes
Week of August 28: Pickup all artworks from OACC

For additional questions, please email programs@oacc.cc.

Confirmed Artist Call Jurors (alphabetical, subject to change)
Ellen Bepp is a mixed media and textile artist and taiko (Japanese drum) musician. For over 40 years she has endeavored to give voice to her Japanese cultural roots, to honor nature and to address political concerns through visual expression and the language of the drum. She began taiko training in 1974 under Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka, founder of the San Francisco Taiko Dojo, and went on to become an original performing member of San Jose Taiko and founding member of Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble. Ellen has exhibited her art nationally and internationally since 1980 and in 1988 she co-founded 9-11 Studios, a live/work artist complex in Oakland, CA. Her work has spanned a range of media from painting to wearable art, installations, theatrical costume and set design, collage and hand cut paper. Her interest in the arts of Asia and Latin America led to her involvement in humanitarian projects and textile research in indigenous communities of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Peru and Mexico. She continues to explore the connection between art and culture of these civilizations as they inform her identity as an Asian American woman artist. (Source: https://members.aawaa.net/artists/ellen-bepp)
Eric Murphy is a photographer, graphic design artist, independent curator and art collector. He has been supporting the Oakland arts since 1999. He was a long time former staff of Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland for over 10 years and represented bay area artists during that time. He has supported bay area galleries such as Slate Contemporary, Firehouse Art Center & Harrington Gallery, Evolve the Gallery. In 2012, he was Project Manager and Curator for the Oakland-Fukuoka Artist Exchange, a traveling exhibition of works by Oakland artist, James Gayles and Fukuoka artist, Hiroko To in celebration with Oakland and Fukuoka, Japan’s 50th anniversary as sister cities with collaborative public art projects permanently installed in Fukuoka, Japan’s sister city gardens and Oakland City Hall. Murphy is currently the Gallery Curator of Joyce Gordon Gallery, Curatorial Advisor for Tea Roots organization based in Oakland and San Francisco, Ca and current member of the Oakland Public Art Advisory Committee (PAAC). He also successfully completed two terms (2012 – 2018) as a re-appointed member of the Alameda County Arts Commission and currently sits on its board.
Pallavi Sharma is a multidisciplinary artist, and her research interest concerns Asian American women’s cultural production and activism. She is a board member of the Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) and founder and director of ‘Inner Eye Arts,’ a nonprofit arts organization working for the visibility of Asian American Artists in the SF Bay area. Her work has been exhibited in the US and abroad, including at the Queens Museum of the Arts, the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, and Aicon Gallery in New York, the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, and the Taubman Museum of Art in Virginia, among others. Her works explore the theme of marginalization, patriarchy, misogyny, and examines the notions of memory. Pallavi received her BFA and MFA (Art History) from the Faculty of Fine Arts Baroda, and Ph.D. from the National Museum Institute of History of Art, Museology, and Conservation, New Delhi, India. She presently lives and works in San Ramon, CA. (Source: https://www.pallavisharma.com/)
Tomye Neal Madison has obtained her BFA, MFA, and many life skills. Since 1972, her Graphics and Fine Art have been commissioned, published in magazines, have become creations of public art, and collected. Her Artworks as she speaks of them “are on a scale of lighthearted to puncturing comfort zones”. Her artistic prowess includes calligraphy, framing, ink rendering, mold making, painting, stained glass, and fused slumped glass. Tomye has ventured into experimental approaches with combining upcycled glass- including wine bottles, beer bottles, stained glass and bulls-eye glass. This unique combination emerges as ‘what-nots’ for interior objects to adorn windows, sculptural portraits, wearable art, and more. She has received several Municipal and Individual grants along the way. As a Visual Arts Specialist she teaches youth and adults, especially teachers. What Tomye shares as an exceptionally talented Visual Artist, Arts Program Administrator, Exhibition Curator, and Workshop Facilitator are distinctive viewpoints that enrich the universal lexicon. She continues contributing to the community as a member of various art organizations, as an Advisory Committee Member assisting non-profits and a Mentor of Artists (Source: https://sfwomenartists.org/artist/tomye-neal-madison/).

Minhwa Family Workshop
2022-07-16 14:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Korean Traditional Folk Art, Minhwa, is a type of painting that became popular during the Joseon era. It was painted by unknown artisans, who used symbolism to express their feelings of happiness, anger, and love in everyday life. Minhwa paintings are typically used to decorate palaces and homes and to celebrate joyful family occasions. Minhwa artist and Korean Center, Inc’s Executive Director Kate Nam will lead the Minhwa Family Workshops. Participants will learn how to paint the peony, typically a symbol of wealth. Once finished, participants will have their own Minhwa work to decorate their homes with!
This workshop will be held twice, the first at Oakland Asian Cultural Center on July 16 at 2pm. The second workshop will be held at the Korean Center on July 23 at 2pm. The workshop is geared towards participants ages 7 and up. Click here to view KCI’s workshop event registration page.
WORKSHOP FEE* (includes all workshop materials)

$25 – Regular Admission (all ages)

This event is presented in partnership with the Korean Center, Inc.
Refund Policy: For a full refund, please request at least 5 days prior to the workshop date. Cancellations made less than 5 days before the workshop date are non-refundable.
*Fees and donations help cover program expenses and sustain OACC’s capacity to bring high-quality workshops to our audiences.

"Lil Tokyo Reporter" 10th Anniversary Screening
2022-07-30 15:00 - 17:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of “Lil Tokyo Reporter,” OACC presents a special screening followed by a film talk with director Jeffrey Chin. He will be joined by Chris Tashima who plays Sei Fujii in the film and others. Lil Tokyo Reporter is a film inspired by the True Story of Civil Rights Leader Sei Fujii, a man who protected the livelihood of the Japanese American people from 1903-1954. It has been screened at U.S. Consulate in Seoul, Beijing, and Tokyo.
More speakers to be confirmed.

About the Speakers

Jeffery Chin

Jeffrey directs narratives on early immigrant communities in the United States. He is best known for his award-winning dramatic short LIL TOKYO REPORTER, which received over 21 film awards and screened internationally at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, Beijing, and Tokyo. He was mentored by late Director John Singleton. Jeffrey also has been featured on Good Morning America and at the Walt Disney Family Museum, edited an Emmy-Nominated SFGovTV Programs, VFX Supervised Student Academy Award Finalist Drone. He directed heist film in India “Mosagallu” starring actors Suniel Shetty and Kajal Aggarawal, and also published his first award-winning book A REBEL’S OUTCRY.

Chris Tashima

Chris Tashima has been an actor and director for over 35 years. His projects have primarily focused on the history and experience of Japanese American community and family. Award-winning independent films he has starred in include Lily Mariye’s Model Minorty, Under the Blood Red Sun from producer Dana Satler Hankins, and Stacey Hayashi’s Go For Broke. He can soon be seen in No No Girl from writer/director Paul Goodman. He was honored to play Sei Fujii in Jeffrey Gee Chin’s historical short film, Lil Tokyo Reporter, and is excited to now see Fujii’s full life-story being told with Chin’s publication of “A Rebel’s Outcry” from the Little Tokyo Historical Society. Tashima won an Academy Award® for Visas and Virtue, a short film he directed and stars in as Holocaust rescuer Chiune Sugihara. In 2006 he was the recipient of the Japanese American of the Biennium, awarded by the National JACL.

"Painting The Streets" Book Talk [POSTPONED]
2022-08-06 15:00 - 16:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Painting the Streets: Oakland Uprising in the Time of Rebellion expresses solidarity with the national and international protests against the police brutality/murder of Black people and systemic-institutional racism in the US with Oakland murals as a local reflection of this historic moment.
This oversized art book will impress this through an introduction by Alicia Garza; essays by Robin D. G, Kelley, Mizan Alkebulan and the Black Cultural Zone team, Greg Morozumi and Leslie Lopez, and Cat Brooks; an interview with Emory Douglas by Tongo Eisen-Martin, mural art (full list of participating artists coming soon!), photos by myriad photographers (including JJ Harris and Rohan DaCosta), and poetry expressing self-determination and the continuum of the Black liberation struggle by Umar Bin Hassan, from The Last Poets, Tureeda Mikell, Ayodele Nzinga (Oakland’s first Poet Laureate), James Cagney, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Arnoldo Garcia, Sizwe, Miasha Quint, Nia McAllister, and Amiri Baraka.
PURCHASE THE BOOK.
All proceeds from the book will go into a separate bank account overseen by 5 community members and proceeds will go toward visual arts programs in Oakland flatlands’ schools.
Black Lives Matter! Black Power Matters!

Information about event speakers and artists to come.

Stories From My Mother's House
2022-09-01 - 2022-09-25 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Growing up in East Oakland influenced Stan Chan’s art. Stories From My Mother’s House is a curated show featuring artifacts, drawings, and writings on his childhood memories, family gossips, and everyday stories. His parents were able to buy a house in the 1950’s and each plexiglass-wooden box contains items that had been accumulating in the nooks and crannies of their house. Enjoy a reflection of a lived experience through the art of Stan Chan.

Stop the Violence - Solidarity Now! Forum 1
2022-09-10 10:30 - 12:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
The “Stop the Violence – Solidarity Now!” project is a BAMC social action initiative launched in response to the violence against the Asian community, particularly those attacked by African American males in Oakland’s Chinatown.
The way these incidents have been covered in the media has created a divide among African Americans and Asians throughout Oakland, particularly in Chinatown and surrounding communities. In an effort to take positive strategic action to address the severed relationship between African Americans and Asians in Oakland, BAMC is dedicated to leading efforts that build positive relations between these two racial groups.

Forum 1 – Continuing the discussion regarding the need for Black and Asian Solidarity
Join us Saturday, September 10, 2022 from 10:30 – 12:30p in-person at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Forum 1 will feature spoken word/poetry from Oakland Youth Poet Laureates, a panel discussion, and an open forum.

Press Play: Exhibition - Raising Mental Health Awareness
2022-10-01 - 2022-10-31 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
In honor of Mental Illness Awareness Week (Oct 3-9) and World Mental Health Day (Oct 10), Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) is exhibiting award-winning mental health comic Press Play to spark meaningful conversations and combat stigmas around mental health.
Co-presented by ARTogether and Asian Health Services, in collaboration with community partners NAMI San Francisco Mental Illness (NAMI) San Francisco, Justice Murals, and Lincoln Summer Nights, the month-long event will feature a family-friendly collaborative painting activity and panel discussions with mental health professionals and local Bay Area writers who engage in mental health topics in their work. Local organizations offering mental health services are also tabling during key event dates to share resources and information.
Written by Edward Gunawan and illustrated by Elbert Lim, the comic is created especially to address the stigma of mental health in the Asian/Asian American as well as immigrant/refugee communities. Through a first-person narrative and evocative hand-drawn black-and-white illustrations, the comic follows an individual’s mental health journey in overcoming anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation.

A recipient of “Speaking Out” Mind HK Media Award for challenging negative narratives around mental health and a mini-grant from ARTogether, the comic was also nominated for a Shorty Social Good Award and two Webby Awards. Translated into 6 languages including Chinese and Spanish, and later published as a chapbook by Sweet Lit, the comic has now been viewed by over 10,000 readers across 100 countries.
Exhibition is open from Oct 1st to 31st during OACC’s regular office hours, Wednesday – Saturday from 12pm to 5pm, or by appointment. Visit projectpressplay.com/exhibition for more information and RSVP below for these special events:

Oct 1, Sat @ 4:00 pm at Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Opening Reception (in-person / hybrid)
with a special reading by Bay Area writers Dawn Angelicca Barcelona and Hannah Wastyk

Oct 8, Sat @ 2:00 pm at Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Mental Health Professionals Discussion Panel (in-person / hybrid)
Featuring representatives from Asian Health Services and NAMI San Francisco

Oct 13, Thu @ 5:00 pm at Lincoln Square Park
Collaborative Painting with Justice Murals at Lincoln Summer Nights (in-person)
A fun family-friendly collaborative painting activity — supplies and materials provided, no experience necessary
Oct 29, Sat @ 2:00 pm at Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Writers Discussion Panel (in-person / hybrid)
Featuring Bay Area poets Michelle Lin and Christine No

26th Anniversary Gala — Celebrate Asian Love
2022-10-15 17:30 | Pacific Renaissance Plaza, 388 Ninth Street, Suite 290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States

OACC Gala 2022
2022-10-15 18:00 - 20:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
More details coming soon…

Community Ofrenda Building 2022: Celebrating Día De Los Muertos with OMCA
2022-10-21 11:00 - 2022-10-22 16:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
OACC is inviting you, our neighbors, to join in creating our 2022 Community Ofrenda! We are participating in the Oakland Museum of California’s Día De Los Muertos celebration and we want to include our friends and family in our collaborative ofrenda build.
OACC’s ofrenda is dedicated to those who have passed during the pandemic and those who had been victimized by anti-Asian hate. Those whose lives and deaths were politicized and propagandized. Those who had violence enacted upon them by a healthcare system, a social system, that saw humans as statistics. We center their personhood and acknowledge who they were in life. Our neighbors, our friends, our family.

To participate, please bring a small framed photo of your loved one and/or commemorative objects. We will also be holding a tissue paper flower making activity during the building time. OACC will provide the ofrenda structure and fresh flowers, we’d love to see you there! Here is some more info on how to build an ofrenda to give you some ideas of what to bring!
This ofrenda will be displayed at the OMCA Día De Los Muertos celebration on October 23, 2022. For more info on that, click here.

Distant Journeys of Cultural Exchange
2022-11-04 - 2022-12-18 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
This exhibit highlights journeys of cultural exchange the indigenous people of Taiwan embarked on in the distant past and more contemporary times. Through object storytelling, viewers will begin by retracing prehistoric canoe-based trade networks that once flourished between peoples of Taiwan and Southeast Asia, and how Southeast Asian artist & curator Anthonie Tumpag draws upon these cultural connections through contemporary art.
This ancient spirit for cultural exchange continues today through the ATAYAL organization’s Indigenous Bridges Youth Ambassador Program.
Over several years, indigenous delegates from Taiwan participated in the “Tribal Canoe Journeys” in the US, an annual event that also retraces traditional migration and trade routes of Pacific Northwest tribal groups. The exhibit concludes with photographs highlighting these past events from 2018-2019. They capture the partnership and camaraderie that grew between the Taiwan delegates, their Native American host canoe family from the Nisqually Tribe of Olympia, Washington, and other fellow participants.
The exhibit was curated by Anthonie Tumpag in collaboration with members and friends of ATAYAL.

There will be a Cultural Bazaar and a special panel discussion on Saturday, November 12, 2022. The Bazaar will be held from 12pm – 4pm and the panel will be from 2 pm – 3pm. Registration not required but appreciated!

Special thanks to Gerald Santos for coordinating the exhibit’s interactive and cross-cultural opening reception.

Uncommon Ground: Write Now! SF Bay's New Anthology
2022-11-05 14:00 - 16:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
READINGS • VISUAL ART • WRITING WORKSHOP
Featuring readings by Avotcja, C. K. Itamura, Tureeda Mikell, Shizue Seigel, Kimi Sugioka, and Janice Hom. Artwork by Adrian Arias, Salma Arastu, Lorraine Bonner, Mark Harris, Wanda Sabir, Josué Rojas, Twin Walls Mural Company. Followed by an interactive creative writing workshop with the audience.
Co-sponsored by Eastwind Books of Berkeley and by UC Berkeley’s Public Service Center and the Asian American and Asian Diasporic Studies Department.
Writers (l-r): Avotcja, C. K. Itamura, Tureeda Mikell, Shizue Seigel, Kimi Sugioka, and Janice Hom.

Book Cover
Uncommon Ground:
BIPOC Journeys to Creative Activism
Edited by Shizue Seigel
285 pages (including 114 pages of color artwork) • Pease Press $22.95
More about the book: www.writenowsf.com/uncommon-ground
Prose, poetry and visual art by 22 leading Bay Area writers and artists of color responding to these questions:
• What inspired you to pursue art, creative writing, and activism?
• What are your cultural, spiritual, and community values?
• What sustains your creative practice in turbulent times?
Avotcja, an award-winning poet with Puerto Rican roots, is a multi-instrumentalist and FM radio DJ airing weekly on KPFA and KPOO. She has featured at AfroSolo, San Francisco’s Carnival, Asian-American Jazz Festival, and more. She has been widely published in English and Spanish in the USA, Mexico, and Europe. www.avotcja.org
C. K. Itamura is a fourth-generation Japanese American whose conceptual, visual, performance, and community art is fused with cultural traditions of observation, contemplation, and expressive imagination. She is a recipient of the 2019 Discovered Award for Emerging Artists from Sonoma Creative and multiple Artist-in-Residencies. www.peachfarmstudio.net
Tureeda Mikell, author of Synchronicity: The Oracle of Sun Medicine, is a Berkeley native and foster care survivor. Deeply engaged with community, she volunteered at the Black Panther Clinic and later produced more than 70 classroom anthologies by at-risk students. A UC Bay Area Writing Project Fellow, she is currently Poet-in-Residence at the Museum of the African Diaspora. https://treeoflifefound.com/
Shizue Seigel, Japanese American poet, memoirist, and visual artist, has contributed poetry, prose, and art to many anthologies and journals Her seven books, including the Write Now! anthologies, have been supported by the California Arts Council, California State Library, San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Foundation and others. www.shizueseigel.com
Kimi Sugioka is the poet laureate of Alameda, California, whose work appears in numerous anthologies. A mother, educator, and poet with an MFA from Naropa University in Boulder, she has published two books of poetry; the newest of which is Wile & Wing, published by Manic D Press. Sugioka believes that creating community through art is a revolutionary act.
Janice Hom, born and raised in San Francisco, has been writing for a number of Bay Area publications, including the East West Journal, the San Francisco Journal, North Beach Now, and Asian Week. In addition, she has been a community volunteer for a number of non-profit organizations.

CRESCENCIANA Book Talk: Connecting with our Ancestors’ Narratives
2022-12-03 14:00 - 15:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Back in San Jose, Lola and I started drawing and painting together. I’d read somewhere that art was a form of therapy with seniors, so we gave it a try. Lola made watercolor paintings, and when they dried I drew her memories on top of them. We called ourselves The Lola x Kenneth Collaboration. When Lola passed in 2016, she left me with the rest of her paintings, and in doing so, she left me with a purpose. I would finish everything she started. I promised.
When Kenneth Tan started this oral history project for his Asian American Studies class at UC Berkeley, he had no idea he would ultimately create a memoir and art book with his grandmother, Crescenciana Tan. In Crescenciana, Kenneth weaves together their artwork, conversations, and memoirs to tell his grandmother’s life story. With heart and humor, he recounts Crescenciana’s childhood antics in the Philippines, her fall on black ice outside of a church in Canada, and her show-stopping civics test performance that earned her citizenship in the United States. At the same time, he revisits her memories as a survivor of World War II and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, and he reflects on his own continuing grief since her passing. Crescenciana is an art book and memoir about carrying and commemorating your family’s stories. It’s a book about moving forward without leaving your loved ones behind.
Join us for this event celebrating intergenerational connection and ancestral narratives with author Kenneth Tan, an author Q&A moderated by East Wind Books’ Harvey Dong, and a musical performance from fellow author Conrad J. Benedicto and his Kulintang band, Kulintang Dialect. This event is brought to you in partnership with Eastwind Books of Berkeley, Asian American and Asian Diaspora Studies Department at UC Berkeley, and Asian Pacific American Student Development Office at UC Berkeley.

Author Bios:
Kenneth Tan is a second-generation Filipino American living in his hometown of San Jose. He has shared stories about his grandmother, Crescenciana Tan, on NPR and StoryCorps, and he is a recipient of the Leigh Weimers Emerging Artists Award. Kenneth enjoys boba, board games, and three-item lists. Crescenciana is his first book.
Conrad J. Benedicto a teacher, author, and kulintang musician who was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the United States at age thirteen. He studied with kulintang master artist Danongan Kalanduyan from 1997 until his passing in 2016, including as his apprentice through the Alliance for California Traditional Arts’ apprenticeship program in 2007 and again in 2013. In 2018, Conrad received an individual artist grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to compose original kulintang music for his project, “Kulintang Dialect.” He teaches social studies, environmental education, and kulintang music at Balboa High School in San Francisco. Musalaya’s Gift, Conrad’s first novel, was published by KulArts in 2021. Kulintang Dialect is a traditional five instrument kulintang band that performs the traditional kulintang music passed down by the late Master Danongan Kalanduyan with fidelity, while also exploring with joy and courage how this music can express itself through new ways that are nourished by our own specific context on this American soil.

Bandung To The Bay: Intersections of Solidarity
2023-01-17 - 2023-02-24
Part of OACC’s Open E.A.R.S. for Change series
In partnership with the EastSide Arts Alliance and the Joyce Gordon Gallery, the Oakland Asian Cultural Center presents the reinstallation of “Bandung To The Bay,” a showcase of the history of Black and Asian solidarity across various movements. This exhibition consists of historical, archival documents connected to the International Bandung Conference and Bay Area Asian & Black activist solidarity movements like the Black Panther Party of Self-Defense, as well as artwork from 12 jury selected local artists, including additional works from the community.

Lunar New Year x Black History Month: Celebration of Black & Asian Solidarity
2023-02-04 11:00 - 16:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
You can livestream this event by clicking here.
LANGUAGE AND ACCESSIBILITY
We will have interpreters for ASL translation during the performances in the auditorium. There will be accessible seating for any wheelchair users. If you have any accessibility needs, please email programs@oacc.cc or let an OACC staff member know at the event.
Volunteering
Interested in volunteering for the event? Sign up here!

PEONY AMOUR - Sultry Ecstasy and Frosty Agony: Book Talk with Raymond Chong
2023-02-11 13:30 - 15:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Raymond Douglas Chong (Zhang Weiming) was born and raised in Los Angeles, and is sixth generation Chinese American. His family roots in America extend back to California Gold Rush (1849 to 1855), First Transcontinental Railroad (1865 to 1869), Boston Chinatown (1891 to 1926), Imperial Restaurant at Central Square in Cambridge (1923 to 1936), Kubla Khan Theater Restaurant at San Francisco Chinatown (1946 to 1950), Far East Café at Little Tokyo in Los Angeles (1950 to 1974). He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Southern California and a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from San Jose State University. His prolific career has transcended the norm and speaks to his many talents, from being a distinguished professor to staff writer for AsAmNews, an Asian American news company. As President of Generations, LLC, in the creative realm, Raymond tells stories, pens poems, composes lyrics, makes films, and drafts articles.
Join us in this book talk that will embody his family history and poetic journey, while celebrating his latest release, PEONY AMOUR: Sultry Ecstasy and Frosty Agony. This poetic tale takes audiences along on an enthusiastic voyage between a Chinese lady, the peony, and an American Chinese gentleman, the dragon, during the Year of Horse. It is an anthology of eighty-eight love poems that vividly describe true amour in the dragon’s mind, soul, and heart. The myriad moods of love range: from the illusion of budding love; through the passion of blooming love; to the delusion of withering love. Among these love poems, Raymond applies love motifs in Chinese culture. He craves the peony as a beautiful flower with sensuality. His love poems are the synthesis of Sun and Moon, East and West, China and America.
Parental advisory: adult themes discussed.

MY BOYFRIEND APOCALYPSE: Chapbook Reading and Writing Workshop with antmen pimentel mendoza
2023-02-17 17:00 - 19:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
To celebrate Valentine’s Day and the release of antmen pimentel mendoza’s chapbook MY BOYFRIEND APOCALYPSE, join the poet in an evening of queer and trans love poetry. antmen will host a writing exercise and workshop including time to share your newly written work! Arrive with a notebook and an open mind and heart. The writing workshop will be followed by a feature set performance by antmen.
Artist Bio: antmen pimentel mendoza (she, he) is the author of the chapbook MY BOYFRIEND APOCALYPSE (Nomadic Press, 2023). antmen is a writer, the Acting Co-Director of the Multicultural Community Center at UC Berkeley, and a student at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. His poetry is published or forthcoming in Underblong, Peach Mag, A Velvet Giant, and Gigantic Sequins. Find antmen online at @antmenismagic and antmenpm.com or riding her bike in Oakland, CA.
This event is co-sponsored by Eastwind Books of Berkeley and Kearny Street Workshop.

Day of Remembrance Community Map Project (Ongoing)
2023-02-18 12:00 - 2023-05-01 12:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Day of Remembrance Community Map Project by Yoko Oji Kikuchi:
This project is in honor of Day of Remembrance on February 19th, which marks the day in 1942 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, giving the U.S. Army the authority to forcibly remove and incarcerate Americans of Japanese ancestry residing on the West Coast during WWII. Every February, the Japanese American community commemorates Executive Order 9066 as a reminder of the impact the incarceration experience has had on their families, community, and our country. It is an opportunity to educate others on the fragility of civil liberties in times of crisis, and the importance of remaining vigilant in protecting the rights and freedoms of all.
OACC has commissioned Yoko Oji Kikuchi to create a map of Oakland that highlights the vibrant pre-WWII Japanese American community residing in Oakland prior to their detention, including Japanese American businesses, art and cultural sites, and community centers. Be sure to pick up a copy of the community map at OACC during our business hours!

Day of Remembrance Community Map Opening Reception:
On Saturday, February 18th, 12pm-2pm PT, OACC held an opening reception of our Day of Remembrance Community Map Project featuring a performance from Emeryville Taiko and a community panel with Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo, Jun Hamamoto, and Yoko Oji Kikuchi about the role of art, memory, and place in the movement for civil rights.

About the Panelists:

Stay tuned for more information about accompanying public programs. If you have any interest in contributing to the project, email programs@oacc.cc.
This project is funded through the California State Library Civil Liberties Grant.

Current Exhibition: Li Ching World
2023-03-03 17:00 - 2023-04-22 21:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Li Ching World can be viewed at OACC during OACC’s business hours (Wednesday – Saturday, 12 PM-5 PM) starting March 1st, 2023 through April 22nd, 2023.

As an immigrant Asian–American woman artist, Li Ching Accurso wants her art to be an encouraging message to the Asian American community and beyond. Her work elevates the voices and perspectives of the community, showcasing the creativity and resilience of Asian Americans. While Li Ching works in the western traditional medium of oil on canvas, one can see the Asian sense of beauty in the subject of landscape, floral compositions, and poetic representations of moonlight. These oil paintings, ceramics, and watercolors serve as a celebration of the Asian community’s history and a testament to its perseverance, inspiring others to take pride in their cultural roots and to keep their traditions alive. Further, her life as an Asian–American woman artist has been a faith journey; her identity is in Christ. Beauty, hope, joy, wonder, and curiosity are the aims in my art and everyday life. Li Ching’s art work not only adds to the broader cultural discourse but also provides a platform for underrepresented voices to be heard.

More about Li Ching:
Li Ching Accurso was born in Taiwan in 1962.  Her family immigrated to the United States when she was fourteen years old.  She attended UC Berkeley for both a BA in Fine Art and an MFA in Painting.  She was awarded the prestigious Eisner Price in Painting at Berkeley when she received her Master’s degree and soon after was a Fulbright Scholar, 1991-1992.  She has been an Art Professor at Columbia College in Sonora, CA since 1995.
She desires to share her joy and passion in Art.  Li wishes to celebrate life and bring beauty to all who encounter her art works.
For inquiry please contact (209)588-1530 or accursol@yosemite.edu

2023 Virtual Community Night Market
2023-03-15 12:00 - 2023-04-30 15:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
The Oakland Asian Cultural Center invites local business and organizations to take part in our upcoming Virtual Community Night Market. The Night Market will be a virtual “one-stop-shop” marketplace featuring Oakland/Bay Area-based and Oakland values-inspired businesses, including BIPOC businesses and artists. We aim to engage a wide consumer audience of individuals interested in API and/or other cultural communities from around the Bay and across the country. The Virtual Community Night Market will serve as an online directory, which will be active from early March 2023, to April 30, 2023, spanning the length of time between our Lunar New Year Programming and Asian Pacific New Year in April.
The Night Market will be widely marketed through our website and social media platforms and will be shared amongst our 4,000+ contacts, community partners, and followers.
If you are interested in participating in the virtual night market, please fill out this form. Note that there is a vendor acceptance fee as detailed on the form. We will be reviewing and accepting vendors on a rolling basis once we begin receiving applications, with the site going live in early March.
Please email christophernakatsuka@oacc.cc if you have any questions. Thank you!

Dancing Moons Festival with Oakland Ballet Company
2023-03-16 19:30 - 2023-03-18 21:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Celebrate AAPI Choreographers With Us!
This year’s Dancing Moons Festival features the world premiere of Exquisite Corpse – a new ballet co-choreographed by Phil Chan, Seyong Kim, and Elaine Kudo. Based on a Surrealist parlor game invented in 1925 in which players collaboratively create a figure by taking turns drawing sections of a body on a sheet of paper, folded to hide each individual contribution. Playing off this concept, each choreographer will create a solo (head), group (torso), and duet (legs) and the nine sections will be woven together to create an “Exquisite Corpse.”
Also featuring Amber Waves by Phil Chan (2022); Layer Upon Layer by Caili Quan (2022); and Ballet des Porcelaines or The Teapot Prince by Phil Chan (original 1739; reimagined 2021).
Tickets starting at $40.
Dancing Moons Festival is co-presented by Oakland Ballet Company.

SOLD OUT: 48 Years After the End of the Vietnam War: A Continued Conversation About Empathy & Healing
2023-03-17 18:00 - 20:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT! Our apologies for the inconvenience.

Book Talk and Discussion with Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and Thi Bui
Join us at OACC for a powerful author talk and reading with author Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and her new novel, Dust Child. Author Thi Bui will moderate a discussion with Quế Mai about intergenerational trauma, racism, the cost of war, and healing and reconciliation among the Vietnamese community and between Vietnam and the United States.
“Scenes of past and present Việt Nam come alive in these pages, drawing you into the lives of a handful of characters who become like your family, and in whose stories lies the heartbreaking story of Việt Nam’s complicated relationship with America. With her generous heart and unmatched ability to write across languages and cultures, Quế Mai is the perfect guide for the wounded who search for home and healing.” -Thi Bui, American Book Award-winning author of The Best We Could Do and illustrator of Finding Papa.
Eastwind Books of Berkeley will be vending at the event and will have copies of Quế Mai and Thi’s books available for purchase. The authors will be available to sign and personalize books for readers at the end of the event. Pre-order Dust Child using the code DVAN10, and Eastwind Books will generously donate 10% of title books sales to DVAN’s publishing series to publish books about the Vietnamese experience in order to fight against invisibility and misrepresentation.

About Dust Child

From the internationally bestselling author of The Mountains Sing, a suspenseful and moving saga about family secrets, hidden trauma, and the overriding power of forgiveness. Told in the voices of two Vietnamese sisters, an American veteran, as well as the child of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese woman, Dust Child tells an unforgettable and immersive story of how those who inherited tragedy can redefine their destinies through love, hard-earned wisdom, compassion, courage, and joy.
Praised by the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen as “Another triumph! Powerful and deeply empathetic” and by Library Journal as “achingly honest and ultimately hopeful; essential reading”, Dust Child has been voted a best book of December by Library Journal and a most anticipated book of the year by many publications including BookPage, Salon Magazine, San Diego Union Tribune, Orange County Register, Zibby Magazine, Trenzle Magazine, She Reads, Beyond the Bookends and We Are Bookish.

About Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Born and raised in Việt Nam, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is the author of the international bestseller The Mountains Sing, runner-up for the 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the 2020 Book Browse Best Debut Award, the 2021 International Book Awards, the 2021 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and the 2020 Lannan Literary Award Fellowship for Fiction. She has published twelve books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in Vietnamese and English and has received some of the top literary prizes in Việt Nam. She is an advocate for the rights of disadvantaged groups in Việt Nam and has founded several scholarship programs, and she was named by Forbes Vietnam as one of twenty inspiring women of 2021. Dust Child is her second novel. For more information, visit www.nguyenphanquemai.com.

About Thi Bui
Thi Bui was born in Vietnam and came to the United States in 1978 as part of the “boat people” wave of refugees fleeing Southeast Asia at the end of the Vietnam War. Her debut graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do (Abrams ComicArts, 2017) won an American Book Award and been selected as an NEA Big Reads book, a Common Book for UCLA and other colleges and universities, an all-city read by Seattle and San Francisco public libraries, a National Book Critics Circle finalist in autobiography, and an Eisner Award finalist in reality-based comics. It made over thirty best of 2017 book lists, including Bill Gates’ top five picks. She illustrated the picture book, A Different Pond, written by the poet Bao Phi (Capstone, 2017), for which she won a Caldecott Honor. With her son, Hien, she co-illustrated the children’s book, Chicken of the Sea (McSweeney’s, 2019), written by Pulitzer winner Viet Thanh Nguyen and his son, Ellison. Her short comics can be found online at Reveal, The Nib, PEN America, and BOOM California. She is currently researching and drawing a work of graphic nonfiction about immigrant detention and deportation, to be published by One World, Random House. For more information, visit www.thibui.com.

This event is brought to you by the Oakland Asian Cultural Center in partnership with Eastwind Books of Berkeley, Algonquin Books, Pacific Links Foundation, English Department of UC Berkeley, PIVOT, Stories of Vietnam, and Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network.

Singles Oakferno: 21+ Singles Mixer for Young Professionals
2023-03-24 18:00 - 19:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Attention all singletons! It is time to emerge from the frosty shells of your lonely, wintry heart and find new love this spring. Whether you’re looking for that special someone or to just make new friends, join us at Singles Oakferno for an electrifying night of fun, flirting, and new connections.
Held at the luxurious Oakferno Lounge at OACC, our event promises to be a night you won’t forget. Featuring a comedy set, drinks, and plenty of opportunities to mingle, you’ll have the perfect setting to find your new spring fling and make some new friends along the way.
So what can you expect from Singles Oakferno? How about:
– Live comedy
– Exciting ice-breaker games and activities to get the conversation flowing
– A chance to win fun prizes including date night bundles from local businesses
– Delicious drinks and desserts
– The opportunity to meet and chat with other young professionals based in the Bay Area
So what are you waiting for? Grab your tickets now and join us for a night of sizzling singles mingling!
Meet Our Emcee & Featured Comedian for Singles Oakferno

EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT:
For Singles Admission, use the promo code SINGLE by 3/19 for $5 off.
For General Admission, use the promo code OAKFERNO by 3/19 for $5 off.
This 21+ social mixer for young professionals is also a fundraiser for our Lotus Link-Up series. Tickets and bundles available on Liveimpact and Eventbrite. Every ticket purchased supports OACC’s work to uplift AAPI arts and culture in Oakland.

Have You Eaten Yet? A Conversation with Cheuk Kwan & Martin Yan on Food and the Chinese Diaspora
2023-04-02 14:00 - 16:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT
From Cape Town, South Africa, to small-town Saskatchewan, family-run Chinese restaurants are global icons of immigration, community, and delicious food. The cultural outposts of far-flung settlers, bringers of dim sum, Peking duck and creative culinary hybrids, Chinese restaurants are a microcosm of greater social forces. They are an insight into time, history, and place.
Author and film-maker Cheuk Kwan, a self-described “card-carrying member of the Chinese diaspora,” weaves a global narrative by linking the myriad personal stories of chefs, entrepreneurs, labourers, and dreamers who populate Chinese kitchens worldwide. Have You Eaten Yet? Stories from Chinese Restaurants Around the World is an eye-opening and soul-nourishing journey through Chinese food around the world.
Cheuk Kwan will be joined by legendary television icon Chef Martin Yan, who has hosted more than 3,500 cooking shows around the world and is an accomplished chef, a respected culinary educator, commentator, and food and hospitality consultant. He has authored a library of 30 plus titles, among which include the award-winning Martin Yan’s Feast and Martin Yan’s Chinatown (with intro by Julia Child).
Yan will host a conversation with Cheuk Kwan on Have You Eaten Yet? Stories from Chinese Restaurants Around the World. Together they will discuss the stories of the Chinese Diaspora and its food, how politics, culture, family and food merge together to create a most unique global phenomenon that shapes cultural identity. Additionally, there will be a surprise cooking demonstration by Chef Martin Yan.
This event is co-sponsored by Eastwind Books of Berkeley. Copies of Have You Eaten Yet? Stories from Chinese Restaurants Around the World are available for in-store purchase at Eastwind Books of Berkeley and online at www.asiabookcenter.com.
This event will be conducted in English.

More About Cheuk Kwan
Cheuk Kwan was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. He has also lived in the US, Saudi Arabia and Canada, and speaks English, Japanese, French and several Chinese dialects. Kwan is the co–founder of The Asianadian, a magazine dedicated to promoting Asian Canadian arts, culture and politics, and a film production company, Tissa Films. His cinematic works from the Chinese Restaurants documentary series—Song of the Exile, Latin Passions and Beyond Frontiers—braid his personal experiences with his love of travel and appreciation for Chinese culture worldwide. He now resides in Toronto.

More About Martin Yan
In 1978, Martin Yan launched the now classic, “Yan Can Cook” series, infusing cooking lessons with his brand of humor and skill. For close to a quarter of a century, the “Yan Can Cook Show” has been a fixture on the television screen (PBS) in North America and around the world. Generations of audiences have grown up watching and learning the joy and wonders of Chinese and Asian cuisines.
Chef Yan is also a successful restaurateur. His latest ventures are M.Y. Asia in Las Vegas, a joint effort with Caesars Resorts, USA and M.Y. China in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown. As a culinary professional, Chef Yan is a true ambassador for the food and hospitality industry.

Celebrating Our HeART-filled Heritage: Joe Kye, SURRIJA, and Nikbo
2023-04-22 19:30 - 21:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
What does it feel like to be Asian American in 2023? How do we express the depth and nuance of our identities? Join us on Earth Day for this special performance featuring Asian-American soul-pop band Joe Kye & the Givers (Portland), electro-pop singer-songwriter SURRIJA (LA), and “third culture pop” musician Nikbo (SF), whose music and storytelling explore the Asian-American soul with vulnerability and personal perspective. A part of Celebrating Our HeART-filled Heritage Series, this evening will hold and heal you, unearthing your joy that you may root with intention and self-love.

FEATURED ARTISTS

Joe Kye
Portland-based musician and storyteller Joe Kye discharges worlds of emotion with his lush violin loops and eclectic style. From viral TikTok jingles skewering microaggressions to delivering keynote speeches about creativity and community, Joe’s work taps into an inner core, inspiring audiences to compassion and empathy. His band, Joe Kye & the Givers, is a unique blend of soul, pop, hip-hop, and Korean traditional music–distinctly original yet familiar, like blasting through outer space only to arrive at your childhood home. The project blurs genres and geographies, arriving at a transnational sound that grooves as hard as it pushes against boundaries. Kye has opened for Yo-Yo Ma, recorded a Tedx Talk, and been featured on NPR. He is an Oregon Arts Commission 2023 Arts Fellow.
joekye.com
instagram.com/joekye
youtube.com/joekye

SURRIJA
SURRIJA (sur–Rye–ya) is an electro art pop project by Jane Lui that plays with asymmetry, glitch, and electronic treatment of classical training. The album features drummer Matt Chamberlain (David Bowie, Fiona Apple, Perfume Genius), produced by Surrija, Sophocles, and Maxwell Gualtieri. The new sound is a departure from Jane’s singer–songwriter roots, exploring lure and feral tendencies. “I’m a little addicted to change. I think – my love for playing tactilely plus a need for newness – lands me squarely in these micro electronic textures.” This album is about finding voice.
SURRIJA (album) was Kickstarter funded ($40K) while she traveled as an arranger, actor, and multi–instrumentalist in Cambodian Rock Band (Lauren Yee) to Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, and NYC Off–Broadway Signature Theatre. She was composer and music director for Secret In The Wings (Mary Zimmerman), a production by Coeurage Theatre (Los Angeles). She has been named YouTube’s Unsigned Pick, her music video Southern Winds earned Best Music Video in Dublin Web Fest 2017, and multiple works have been featured on Virgin America, Huffington Post, Jezebel, MAKE:Mag. Her song “How Do I” is currently nominated for Best Pop Song at San Diego Music Awards 2022. She has worked with Matt Chamberlain, Jason Mraz, Felicia Day, CDZA, Son Lux.
youtube.com/luieland
facebook.com/surrija
instagram.com/surrija

Nikbo
Nikbo (she/they/siya) is a Filipinx and Third Culture artist who makes music for deep-feelers and collective freedom-seekers. Blending elements of art pop and neo-soul with sounds from their childhood living in Morocco, Malawi, and Kazakhstan, Nikbo shares stories from the diaspora and provides sonic refuge to process the highs and lows of living in these times.
Their music video for “Be A Little Lonely” won an Independent Music Award in 2020 as an audience favorite, and their 2021 song, “We Need Each Other,” was featured in Smithsonian Magazine, and included in the “We Rise” Spotify Playlist featuring revolutionary voices in Asian-American music.
For their latest project, Breathe Underwater, Nikbo collaborated with family in the Philippines and Canada. “Making this EP was a way to feel close to them during the pandemic,” they explain. “And I wanted to do something to tend to the grief that has been building up over the last couple of years. While our society views grief as something to hide, making Breathe Underwater was a way to for me to experience grief as love. Something that wants to be shared. Something to embrace, listen to, and learn from.”
nikbomusic.com
patreon.com/nikbomusic
instagram.com/nikbomusic

ABOUT THE SERIES
“Celebrating Our HeART-filled Heritage” champions local Asian and Asian Pacific Islander performing artists, with the goal of providing a platform for accomplished local performing artists and exposing our diverse community in the East Bay to compelling, culturally relevant artists and performances that inspire intergenerational and cross-cultural exchange. The performing arts series is supported in part by the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.
Donations are appreciated and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Unsigned, Unsealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)
2023-05-10 12:00 - 2023-07-30 17:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Poinciana Hung-Haas is a Chinese-American arts activist who grew up in Oakland Chinatown. She uses arts as a medium to share stories of growing up in a town engulfed by a rich culture, one that is filled with a diversity of people, music, food, and street art. Her upcoming exhibition, Unsigned, Unsealed, Delivered (I’m Yours), featuring poetry from spoken word poet, Ellis Chhourn, shines light on Asian American youth and how their experiences influence what they portray through a variety of art forms. The exhibition title draws inspiration from Stevie Wonder’s song, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)”, but here, “unsigned” represents those who are undocumented, “unsealed” represents open wounds and trauma, and “delivered” represents arriving in America. Finally, “I’m yours” represents belonging here and taking up space with pride.
Unsigned, Unsealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) can be viewed at OACC during OACC’s business hours (Wednesday – Saturday, 12 PM-5 PM) starting May 10th, 2023.

Featured Artists

Poinciana Hung-Haas
For the past seven years, Poinciana has developed her fine art and fashion design skills through her education at Oakland School for the Arts. Her work has been exhibited at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and throughout Downtown Oakland. Poinciana also created the Dragon Power design representing Oakland Chinatown, which is currently being sold by Oaklandish. Outside of school, Poinciana advocates for her community as an intern for AYPAL. She also works at the Lincoln Recreation Center, where she strives to introduce kids to her own passions. Poinciana plans to major in Urban Studies at UC Berkeley next Fall, where she can continue strengthening her voice and power.

Ellis Chhourn
Ellis Chhourn is a Cambodian and Lao-American spoken word poet from the Dubbs in East Oakland California. He is a Social Justice advocate and uses his writing to speak for himself and his community by expressing his struggles in a beautifully poetic way. He shares his stories not to seek pity but for the sole purpose of telling his story for others to hear and possibly relate to. He finds freedom in his writting being able to have no restrictions on what he has to say or how he says it.

Celebrating Our HeART-filled Heritage: Son of Paper
2023-05-13 18:00 - 20:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
Where are you from? Where are you really from? Join us for this special performance featuring Son of Paper at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, as we come together to celebrate our complex lineage and deep histories as Asian Americans. This event is a unique opportunity to connect with our cultural roots, from San Francisco to Oakland, traditional and contemporary, through the vibrant sounds of Son of Paper’s music.
A part of Celebrating Our HeART-filled Heritage Series, this will be an unforgettable evening of music, culture, food, and community as we discover where we really come from, and how we are connected as a community from Chinatown to Chinatown. This event will feature guest performances from Guzheng player, Winnie Wong, DRAGON OF THE WEST, DJ Dailo Mac, and Bianca Brown, as well as other fun activities like:
? Free 5 minute photo sessions for registered guests for “Generations of Joy”, a project by Annie’s T Cakes, Oakland Fortune Factory, and Sasha’s House Oakland
? Free snacks and light food provided for the community
? Local vendors
? And a dance party!
Parental Advisory: Please be advised that the performances may contain explicit language alluding to violence and racism. Listener discretion is advised.

ABOUT Son of Paper
A native of San Francisco, Son of Paper (SOP) (he/him) is a songwriter and performing artist that blends Conscious Hip-Hop flows with R&B grooves and East Asian influences, reflecting the rich and diverse cultural heritage of our community.
Son of Paper is a great grandson of a Paper Daughter, a term that describes Chinese people who immigrated to the U.S. by falsely claiming to be the child of Chinese-American citizen, one of the only ways for Asian immigrants to enter the United States during the 83 year period of Chinese Exclusions. Son of Paper makes use of this history and seeks to reckon with Anti-Asian sentiment and racism both towards and within the Asian community. Looking inward, Son of Paper knows he is a product of generations, of combinations and of contradictions. He doesn’t reject this — instead, he embraces it.

FEATURING
Winnie Wong
Winnie Wong was born in Hong Kong and raised in San Francisco, CA. She started her training on the guzheng in 1982 at the age of four under the expertise of guzheng virtuoso, Ms. Weishan Liu. Being from a Chinese immigrant family, guzheng allowed her to stay connected to her roots, but more importantly, share with the community the beauty and importance of diversity.
In 2003, she founded the “China’s Spirit Music Ensemble” to give her growing population of guzheng disciples a “home” to share and develop their skills and understanding for the guzheng, its culture, as well as an outlet to share their musical achievements. On March 28, 2016, “Listen for Life” presented Ms. Wong with the “Musician of the Heart” award for her performances, achievements, and her dedication towards bridging cultures through music and encouraging a new generation of cultural musicians!

DRAGON OF THE WEST
Jason Wu, also known as “Dragon of the West,” is a rapper and producer from San Francisco, California.
Through his intricate rhymes and meticulously crafted instrumentals, he documents his experience as an Asian American immigrant growing up in the United States. He’s been making music since he was in middle school, and uses his music to influence and inspire the future generation of Asian American youth. He draws his inspiration from anime and video games, being that “Dragon of the West” is a reference to Uncle Iroh, a character from the very popular TV series “Avatar: the Last Airbender”.

DJ Dailo Mac
Mackenzee aka DJ Dailo Mac (she/her) has been djing in the Bay Area for over 20+ years and has performed at many venues all over the Bay Area.

Bianca Brown
A graduate of Oakland School for the Arts, Bianca (BB) Brown has grown up surrounded by music. While at OSA, she was vocally trained in various genres including R&B, musical theater, jazz, and classical music. She took what she learned there and combined it with her natural ear for music to teach herself piano.
BB has performed at various venues around the Bay Area, including Oakland City Hall, The Fox Theater, and at the top of Salesforce Tower. She is currently doing shows with community based organizations around the Bay Area, private events, and Sofar Sounds.
Whether she is singing published music or something she has written herself, BB believes in the power of music to heal and relate to her listeners and uses her music to communicate to the world around her.

ABOUT THE SERIES
“Celebrating Our HeART-filled Heritage” champions local Asian and Asian Pacific Islander performing artists, with the goal of providing a platform for accomplished local performing artists and exposing our diverse community in the East Bay to compelling, culturally relevant artists and performances that inspire intergenerational and cross-cultural exchange. The performing arts series is supported in part by the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.
Donations are appreciated and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Find Your Crew: Connecting Bay Area Filmmakers and Content Creators
2023-05-19 18:00 - 20:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
The future of filmmaking is in the Bay Area! In 2023, the film industry is finally recognizing that diversity in representation has a huge impact in the stories we tell and the audiences we connect with. From Black Panther to Shang-Chi, the Bay Area has contributed incredible talent and storytelling to the film industry. At the same time, content creation through social media influencer culture has democratized communication and storytelling, giving everyone a platform to speak to the world (for better or for worse). When the film industry reflects the diversity of our communities both on-screen and behind the camera, we get to be seen in our complexity and humanity, and pass down our sacred stories, something that audiences have been demanding for far too long.
Join us for a keynote from Pixar creative Theo Hollingsworth, followed by a short film screening and mixer as we bring together the Bay Area’s brightest minds in the filmmaking and content creation industry. “Find Your Crew” is an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and build meaningful relationships that can take your career to the next level. We will feature short films from REEL, an immersive film program that allows students to produce short films together as a crew. We invite local filmmakers at all levels of the industry to connect with us, from seasoned professionals to those just starting out. Through this event, we hope to empower and amplify our voices, shaping tomorrow’s leaders one camera at a time.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Bio: Theo Hollingsworth is video creative with over 15 years of experience helping to produce videos, TV, and Film productions. He studied film production at Howard University. He’s been in Oakland for the past 8 years and has worked on a variety of projects including web series, documentaries, feature length films and more. He loves to tell the stories of black people and has an affinity for comedy and sci-fi. Now at Pixar he’s mission bound to help make the next great black animated feature length film! When he’s not working he can be found biking around the town or shopping at his favorite grocery store, Mandela Grocery Cooperative.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS
Jason Wu is a rapper, producer, and filmmaker from San Francisco, California. His journey with media production began in high school when he started writing his own music, and has since then expanded his skill set into video production as well. In addition to doing work for local businesses, he also regularly works with local hip-hop artists and dance studios to help push the Bay Area’s hip-hop scene, as well as creating social media content for his own music.

Jordon Briggs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Sacramento, CA. He is a writer, filmmaker and musician. Jordon writes across genres and forms and has had writing published in the disciplines of short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, film criticism, personal essay, and others. His first documentary Her Hair was a finalist for SF3 Smartfone Flickfest’s Best Feature Film category. He graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Saint Mary’s College of California and holds a BA in Film from CSU-Sacramento. He currently lives in Oakland, CA.

Emily Yamauchi is a second-generation Japanese American writer and multidisciplinary artist based in Oakland, CA. She writes fiction, essays, hybrid work, graphic novel/memoir and comics. Her work has been supported by fellowships and residencies from Kundiman, Hedgebrook, VONA, Real Time & Space, A Place of Her Own and others, and has been featured in various readings and exhibitions. She received her MFA in Creative Writing at Saint Mary’s College of California and BA from Brown University. Emily’s work disrupts the silent agreements that hold together historically engrained or ancestral patterns of behavior, and insists that new patterns are possible, playing with memory, ambiguity, form and nonlinear storytelling to uncover and understand our private and communal lives.

ABOUT REEL
Founded in 2016, REEL is an immersive film program that allows students to produce short films together as a crew. They provide media education like cinema theory, camera training, professional development, and more.
REEL is taught by Teaching Artists who are successful Bay Area filmmakers and multifaceted artists. Over the years, students’ films have tackled topics such as racial political issues, mental illness, health, and wellness. Ultimately, REEL has created a creative and safe space for students to explore their own personal journeys while expressing it through multimedia.

Strong Like Bamboo: Stories of Resilience for Healing in the Era of Anti-AAPI Violence
2023-05-28 14:00 - 17:00 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
On Sunday, May 28th, from 2pm to 5pm, six professional Asian American storytellers, co-hosted by Eth-Noh-Tec and Oakland Asian Cultural Center, will share their stories of discrimination and the outcomes that can strengthen our own ability to not only survive, but thrive in this continuing era of anti-Asian hate.
About the Program
A panel will follow facilitated by Russell Jeung, Phd, Professor at Ethnic Studies, SF State and co-founder of StopAAPIHate!
Participants will gather in small groups with the opportunity to share their own stories with compassionate and supportive listening. Counselors will be present in the room.
Finally, there will be a training on how to be a safe witness to support a victim of racial violence. Please join us! A recording will be made for those who are unable to attend in person.
Featured Storytellers:

Eth-Noh-Tec: Since 1981, award-winning Co-Directors Nancy Wang, dancer, choreographer, performer and playwright, and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo, musician, composer, performer and playwright, have created and staged original performances and conducted workshops in the Bay Area, across the nation and oceans in libraries, festivals, conferences, museums, and schools reaching audiences exceeding a million people, including at the presidential inaugurations of Bill Clinton in 1993 and of Barack Obama in 2009. They also organized storytelling tours to Asia.

Alton Takiyama-Chung is a Japanese-Korean storyteller who grew up with the superstitions and the magic of the Hawaiian Islands. He tells stories from Hawaii, Asian folktales, ghost stories, and historical tales like those of the Japanese-Americans in WWII. He performs across the USA and internationally.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning columnist and social wit, hosting his own podcast ‘Emil Amok’, and writing essays on Asian American life that have appeared for mainstream and ethnic newspapers around the country. Since 2017, he has written and performed his “Amok Monologues” on American Filipino history.

M.J. KANG is a Korean American playwright, actor, director, and storyteller based in Los Angeles and Montreal. As an actor, she has appeared in film, television, and acted on stages across the US, Canada, and London, England. As a storyteller, she has won 5 Moth story slams and has been featured on PBS, USA Today and NPR.

Linda Yemoto, a Japanese American, was an award-winning Park Naturalist with the East Bay Regional Park for 33 years. She produced the Bay Area Storytelling Festival for over 30 years, served on the National Storytelling Network Board of Directors for six, and volunteers as a storyteller and docent at the SF Asian Art Museum. She has been regularly performing at conferences, libraries and festivals.

Panel Facilitator:

Dr Russel Jeung will facilitate the post-performance panel discussion exploring anti-AAPI racism. He has authored many articles and books about the Asian American experience and has taught as SF State university for the last 21 years. He is the co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and specializes in the Sociology of Race, of Religion and Social Movements.

Sponsors
This event is sponsored by the California Arts Council.
This event is FREE to attend. We welcome donations. To donate to Eth-Noh-Tec, please visit http://www.ethnohtec.org

Celebrating Our HeART-filled Heritage: Pasifika Futurism, the SPULU Experience
2023-06-02 19:30 - 21:30 | Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 9th St. #290, Oakland, CA, 94607, United States
What does the world of Pasifika Futurism look like? How do we express our native traditions, immigrant culture, and queerness in one body? Join us for the final event in our Celebrating Our HeART-filled Heritage series by Oakland native, SPULU.
Through the lens of SPULU (a creative entrepreneur, storyteller, and multidisciplinary performing artist), the audience is guided through a ninety-minute experience of dance, movement, fashion, and film. SPULU will share stories highlighting the juxtaposition between preserving Native Tongan traditions by way of immigrant parents and finding balance with the reality of life for Tongan Americans in Oakland. As first generation, he will explore what it means to act as a bridge to honor the past while embracing the challenge of establishing roots in the melting pot.
“Pasifika Futurism: The SPULU Experience” will showcase customs and traditions through various art forms to express the impact social issues has on the relationship one has with self, their family, their community and the world around them. By inviting you to see the world as SPULU sees it, our hope is that people walk away with an awareness of embracing our connection to one another, embracing the uniqueness and individuality of each story, and embracing the call to action to use these two things to bring about change through what was, what is, and what’s to come.
The event will feature a marketplace of vendors and community resources as well as snacks and beverages before the show. Arrive early to snag a seat!
FEATURED ARTISTS
By way of Tongan South Pacific Roots, Ohlone Territory (Oakland, CA), and proud immigrant parents, SPULU is a creative entrepreneur, storyteller and multidisciplinary performing artist whose work has been showcased all over the world via social media in response to social issues facing Pasifika communities throughout the diaspora.
SPULU uses several mediums of art and movement as a form of resistance and protest while building community. Some of the recent work and involvements which celebrate SPULU include: earning a Bachelor of Arts in Dance with a focus in Race and Resistance studies from San Francisco State University, being featured at Oakland’s 2022 Life is Living Festival, participated in the Levi’s Pride 2019 International campaign, co-created a custom NIKE shoe (AirMax 95s), invited as a featured designer for custom pieces in a body positivity fashion show formerly known as MyBodyUTAH but now called MyBodyInclusive, and last, has had work featured in 2016 Pacific Worlds Display at Oakland Museum of California, a display in De Young Museum, San Francisco HipHop International Festival, Queer Rebel Festival and 2020 Black Joy Parade.
SPULU’s work stems from his early active engagement in the community as a youth advocate in programs like AYPAL Oakland, Californians For Justice, Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company, Culture Shock Oakland, EBAYC, and Mosaic Project. Programs like these have provided a platform and space that allowed artists/activists like SPULU to discover the impact and power their voice has had as a proud representative in their respective communities. In an effort to share their vision for change, SPULU’s ultimate goal is to share their talent and story to celebrate the parts of us that often go unseen/unheard in hopes of inspiring others to find their own voice and to go and do the same.

OPENING PERFORMANCE
Akhil Joondeph (he/they) is a dancer, dance teacher, student, and choreographer from the San Francisco Bay Area. He has trained extensively in Odissi and other indigenous South Asian dance forms, as well as various other disciplines, including contemporary, modern, and hip hop. In his work, he strives to find connections between the various artistic disciplines he has studied, while opening and embodying questions and stories pertinent to today’s world. He is particularly interested in exploring critical and diverse perspectives on modern South Asia, and conjuring these critiques through modes of whole-body practice like dance. He is currently performs and collaborates with the Ishami Dance Company in the San Francisco Bay Area. Akhil is currently an undergraduate student at Wesleyan University studying Anthropology and Dance.
A special thank you to our program partner Parivar, and our marketing sponsor Ethnic Media Services.
ABOUT THE SERIES
“Celebrating Our HeART-filled Heritage” champions local Asian and Asian Pacific Islander performing artists, with the goal of providing a platform for accomplished local performing artists and exposing our diverse community in the East Bay to compelling, culturally relevant artists and performances that inspire intergenerational and cross-cultural exchange. The performing arts series is supported in part by the Walter and Elise Haas Fund.
Donations are appreciated and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
