Looking back at a beautiful year!
The arts are and will always be central to how we come to celebrate as well as how we articulate and imagine community. Thank you all for supporting KSW! We wanted to take a moment to reflect on what make KSW a place of connection, art, and possibility.
Here are some of the incredible programs from 2025:
2025 kicked off with Future Ancestors by Art 25: Art in the 25th Century - a dynamic collective including artists Lisa Jarrett, Lehua M. Taitano (KSW Program & Community Manager), and Jocelyn Kapumealani Ng. Future Ancestors is an archive of queer familial intimacy; a photo exhibit with an accompanying sound installation and interpretive captions.
photo by Claire Burke (click to see more)
TWIN WINDOWS, an exhibition curated by Christine Wong Yap which brought together contemporary papercuts by an internationally exhibiting Mexican American artist, Beatriz Vasquez, from Indianapolis, with papercuts rich with traditional symbolism by emerging Chinese American artist, Xiaoqing Shi, from Folsom. Check out their beautiful work on our Flickr.
photo by Claire Burke (click to see more)
photo by Claire Burke (click to see more)
Our literary reading series, KSW Presents, featured the book launch of We the Gathered Heat, Haymarket Books’s comprehensive Asian American and Pacific Islander contemporary poetry compilation, celebrated the release of the award winning memoir, The Hollow Half by Palestinian American writer and journalist, Sarah Aziza, and held a joint reading and discussion with acclaimed writer, Elaine Castillo, and KSW co-executive director, Jason Bayani, to commemorate the release of their newest books Moderation and Everyone I Love Alive. KSW also entered into a new partnership with Samar to host their Swana and Friends quarterly reading series at KSW!
There’s still time to give…
During the summer, our annual master class for BIPOC writers: Interdisciplinary Writer’s Lab was led by Erica Lewis (poetry), Meng Jin (fiction), and Amanda Machado (creative non-fiction. KSW’s three month multi-genre master class took a cohort of 15 BIPOC writers through a one-of-a-kind educational experience. And we kicked off IWL Winter and Summer Sessions, to bring the IWL experience to wider audience! Registration is currently open for our two 4-week sessions during January-March. Check out our upcoming classes with Lehua Taitano (poetry) and Jill Damatac (creative non-fiction)!
We hosted our second Asian American Visual Artists Lab (AVA Lab), a learning cohort led by Kim Acebo Arteche culminating in the exhibition “Infinite Exchange,” with cohort members: Nicki Aquino, Ginger Yifan Chen, Vida Kuang, Bianca Levan, Joanna Malpica, Karin Hạnh Nguyễn, Bréana Parks, Tanza Solis, Tracy Jones, and Mariel Paat. This program ended the year in a unique, restful “Unwinding into Winter” retreat on the Mendocino coast. More information on 2026 applications coming soon!
photo by Claire Burke (click to see more)
APAture Festival “(UN)BECOMING” launched our 26th year supporting emerging AAPI artists from across the Bay Area! From October 18th to November 8th, we presented four showcases and an art fair in venues across the city, including Arc Gallery, SOMArts, and Roxie Theater! Read our APAture 2025 Recap here! Reach out to lehua@kearnystreet.org if you want to get involved in APAture next year.
photo by Claire Burke (click to see more)
photo by Claire Burke (click to see more)
If you are in a position to give, we are asking you to support us. We have raised $12,000 of our much needed goal to raise $35,000!
Your support goes directly to programs in the year ahead, including visual artist, poet, professor, community gem and former KSW Executive Director Truong Tran’s upcoming show “100 Nights of The Pandemic/100 Days of Yearning” RSVP for the Opening on January 17th! This exhibition will display sculptures of light made from found objects and mixed media. Tran spent 100 nights working in complete darkness, using touch and sense to craft the forms he had gathered from his hours-long walks through SF during the height of the pandemic. We hope to see you in January!
For half a century, KSW has helped AAPI artists document our stories, fight erasure, and imagine more just worlds. This year, we uplifted inclusive stories, gave platforms to incredible voices, and made space for people to gather around art. Because of you, our precious community, KSW can provide this space for another year to come. We hope you will join us, and support KSW with a meaningful gift, or by showing up to our events, and also, by making more amazing art.
Sincerely,
Mihee & Jason
Co-Executive Directors
Kearny Street Workshop