Photos by Bob Hsiang, Erina Alejo, Michael Nicer, Astra Kim, Czarina Garcia and Anthony Bongco.

“DECLARE is an acknowledgement of both the legacies of our past and the legacies we'll establish in the future.”

With 20 years now under its belt, Kearny Street Workshop’s APAture continues to create a platform for emerging Asian Pacific American creatives, organizers and community members to thrive in the San Francisco Bay Area. From October 4-27, APAture 2019: DECLARE brought in artists showcasing work to declare and acknowledge the legacies of the past and the legacies to be established in the future. With six showcases in visual arts, music, book arts, literary arts, film and performing arts, each program highlighted the unique stories and experiences of artists across a wide array of creative expression.

The 20th Anniversary Festival kicked off at Arc Gallery with the opening to BOUNDLESS, this year’s visual arts showcase. The opening reception featured APAture’s annual Focus Award ceremony, this time, congratulating the original planning committee of APAture 1999. This included pioneers like Claire Light, who led the project as the first APAture festival coordinator; Jean Chen, who is credited to have come up with the idea for APAture along with a few others after attending and getting inspired by a zine event; and Robynn Takayama, current Vice President of KSW’s Board of Directors. The list also includes film directors like Jim Choi (Defender and Changing Season: On the Masumoto Family Farm) and Matthew Abaya (Vampariah), writer Russell Gonzaga (Lake County Poet Laureate) and academics like Wei Ming Dariotis, who teaches in Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. Nancy Hom, former KSW Executive Director at the time APAture was conceived, presented the award to all of the honorees, who then shared a collective speech on the inaugural festival and the impact it has had on them and the community at large. Watch and read the speeches made that night on our blog!

In addition to declaring the legacy APAture has brought forth, many artists in the festival continue to make strides in the local arts scene and beyond. With press garnered from NBC Bay Area’s Asian Pacific America, Robert Handa interviewed featured artists, Jennifer S. Cheng and Versoul. Versoul was also able to perform in a segment on the show! Kearny Street Workshop and many other APA arts organizations also made national news on NBC Asian America: “From Hasan Minhaj to Ali Wong, how Asian American arts groups are fostering stars,” an article in which featured artist, Alexandra “Alle” Hsu offered her thoughts on the exciting time we’re in with films like Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell rising up in Hollywood within the past few years. Right before the festival opened, Character Media also pointed to APAture as the place to find the next Ali Wong or Hasan Minhaj.

“But APAture’s greatest success stories extend beyond celebrity names.”

Kearny Street Workshop also made it front and center of the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook, which dove into the organization’s “cornerstone” history in local and national activism. This kind of history continues to impact artists highlighted in APAture, such as BOUNDLESS featured artist, Anh Bui, who reflects upon his own practice and sense of belonging in a couple video interviews he did with Jade Verdeflor on East Wind eZine.

We owe much of our appreciation to Paloma Concordia of PapaLoDown Agency, who’s outstanding team started pitching and strategizing these kinds of stories to press two years ago, when we first recognized celebrities, Ali Wong and Hasan Minhaj as APAture alum. This year, Paloma also trained APAture Festival Coordinator, Diana Li, through PapaLoDown’s PR for the People Workshop, a new program offering marketing and PR experience to folks in the community.

APAture 2019: DECLARE would not have been possible without the incredible support and dedication of the curators in this year’s General Planning Committee, who planned the line up and programming for each showcase. Before the festival began, established community members, Kimberley Arteche and Dan Lau, offered them tips on curating in a workshop that gave them the skills to put on an exhibition and produce an amazing event. Participating artists this year were also provided with skill-building and networking opportunities through workshops guided by Truong Tran and Art of Hustle’s Anthem Salgado, along with a public panel including Weston Teruya, Terisa Siagatonu and DJ Umami, moderated by KSW’s Artistic Director, Jason Bayani. A HUGE thanks to all of the consultants for providing these additional resources and supporting the emerging artists and organizers of this year’s festival!

The festival was off to a great start, with the visual arts showcase, BOUNDLESS over at Arc Gallery, featuring 16 artists, followed by soft alt, math rock and head banging hip hop at LIFE IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT the next night at Hotel Utah. The weekend after that, EMBODY, the book arts showcase, took over American Bookbinders Museum for a day, where featured artist, Anand Vedawala shared a moving reading from some of his zines on childhood, family and Hot Chachas. Poetic hauntings and sci-fi dystopia followed with PROCLAIM, featuring chilling folkloric meditations from the writing of Jennifer S. Cheng. The narrative suspense in Alle Hsu’s two films also kept audience members at the edge of their seats at OPEN DOORS, in a short film screening at Roxie Theater. In the last weekend, Hien Huynh gave an electrifying performance, breaking the 4th wall with the audience and paying homage to Vietnam and the Day of the Dead exhibit at SOMArts Cultural Center. The festival also closed off with an intimate artist talk from a few of the visual artists back at BOUNDLESS. Gratitude to ALL participating artists of APAture 2019: DECLARE and the amazing work they showcased!

We were also able to gather a number of volunteers for each event, some coming from Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Project by Project and Valerie Soe’s Asian American Studies class, along with many more within the community. With our festival sponsors and community co-presenters, the festival attracted over 1100 attendees. Thank you to those who continue to show up and support APAture each and ever year and welcome to those who were just introduced to it!

If you’re looking to get involved as a GPC member, participating artist, or volunteer, be on the lookout for announcements early next year for APAture 2020! Until then, much energy and gratitude to everyone who celebrated APAture’s 20th Anniversary Festival with us!

Signing out from APAture 2019: DECLARE
— Diana Li, Festival Coordinator

IN THE PRESS

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS

* Indicates Featured Artist

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