May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and there’s many things you can do with your family to mark the occasion!
If you’re in the Washington D.C. area, you can be a guest at the official 2014 AAPI Heritage Month Opening Ceremony on Tuesday, May 6. This year’s theme is “I Am Beyond”. As the White House website describes it, “the phrase captures the aspirations of the American spirit and how Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent have always sought to excel beyond the challenges that have limited equal opportunity in America.” You can RSVP online for the event here.
Also check out more events and exhibits in the capitol on the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month website.
San Francisco Bay Area Events for Asian American Heritage Month 2014
AAWAA Eating Cultures
May 1-30
SOMArts Cultural Center, Main Gallery
934 Brannan Street, San Francisco.
Closing Reception, Community Potluck and “Sausage Homie”
Friday, May 30
6-9 p.m.
For the Eating Cultures Art Exhibition’s final event, community members of all ethnicities are invited to bring a potluck dish to share with the artists, curators, and other audience members of Eating Cultures. Come celebrate the closing of APA Heritage Month and the Eating Cultures exhibition with good food and good company. In her performance “Sausage Homage” Genevieve Erin O’Brien will prepare and serves sausages inspired by stories of the artists’ father’s life. One sausage “Pyongyang Ain’t No Picnic” details his journey to oversee the dismantling of North Korea’s Nuclear Reactor and his failed attempts to buy a local rotisserie chicken. The sausage is made with ground chicken, garlic, garlic chives, Korean gojujiang chilies, soju and oven crisped chicken skin.
This event is presented by Asian American Women Artist Association (AAWAA), Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) and Community Health for Asian Americans, and takes place among the art in the group exhibition Eating Cultures.
See the AAWAA website for hours and more details on readings, receptions and other events!
Taiwanese American Cultural Festival
Saturday, May 10
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Union Square, San Francisco
The Bay Area’s biggest Taiwanese American celebration features food booths (bah tzang, anyone?), music and dance performances, and even crafts for kids. This is a very family friendly activity, right in the heart of San Francisco.
Asian Heritage Street Celebration
Saturday, May 17
11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Larkin Street, between Grove and Ellis
San Francisco
The 10th annual event takes place in San Francisco’s Civic Center neighborhood. It kicks off with a cultural procession at 11 am, and performances, exhibits and food trucks continuing throughout the day.
Pacific Pathways: A Celebration of Dance
Saturday, May 17
7 p.m.
Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC)
388 Ninth Street, Suite 290, Oakland, CA 94607
The Oakland Asian Cultural Center presents a night of dance featuring many Asian and Pacific Islander traditions, including Okinawa, Korea, China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines.
Online, you can also check out the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s gorgeous graphic novel I Want the Wide American Earth depicting Asian American history in a wide variety of styles.
Thanks Grace for these resources – especially the graphic novel.