April 2018 Cultural Work Roundup

/// April 2018 ///

Spring has arrived! Enjoy the sunshine and support support social justice and local artists of color by checking out some of the opportunities below!

EVENTS

• Friday, 4/6 - Saturday, 4/28: Japanese Currents – This year’s 11th annual Japanese Currents series highlights recent noteworthy Nipponese films, ranging from anime to jidaigeki, documentary to comedy, all while exploring issues important to contemporary Japanese society. Collectively, these selections offer a fresh take on Japanese culture and showcase the wealth of creative invention at work in Japan today. Various dates and times. Northwest Film Center.
• Sunday, 4/8: QTPOC Draw and Craft Night – Come to the IPRC every first Sunday of the month for drawing and crafting, by and for for queer and trans people of color!6pm-10pm. Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC).
• Sunday, 4/1 - Sunday, 4/29: The Thanksgiving Play – A group of mismatched teachers and actors have been charged by the school district to devise an ethnically sensitive play to somehow celebrate both Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Month. In order to be as respectful and accurate as possible, the three white actors defer to the only Native American in the room for guidance and find their expectations of her insights are wildly misguided. In this wickedly funny satire, this foursome must find their way through a hilarious thicket of assumptions, historical perspectives and school district policies as the absurd pageant must go on! Morrison Stage.
• Thursday 4/5: Night Lights: Amy Chiao & Chloe Cooper – Night Lights' final showcase of the 2017-2018 season will be a screening of work from artists in residence Amy Chiao and Chloe Cooper. Since this season of Night Lights began last summer, Amy and Chloe have been building a life-size puppet made from plastic waste and filming its trips through public places in Portland. 8pm-10pm. Open Signal, Portland Community Media Center.
• Friday, 4/6: Friday Night Lecture: Immigrant Stories – Erik Brakstad shares Scandinavian immigration letters and stories describing the extraordinary experience of ordinary people in their attempt to build a life in North America. These stories provide a poignant glimpse into immigrant ambitions, tragedies and successes. 7:30pm. PSU.
• Friday, 4/6: Jason Chu: Rapper, Poet and Human Being – Based in LA, hip-hop artist/poet/activist Jason Chu is on a mission to speak hope, healing, and justice in a broken world. He tells stories about friends and families wrestling with fear and joy, greed and hope, hurt and healing. Jason has performed at over 170 colleges (NYU, UMass, Wisconsin, Dartmouth, Williams, Yale, etc.), conferences (Urbana, NYCAASC, ITASA, etc.), and community organizations across the country, including a 2015 Asia mini-tour to Hong Kong and Beijing. 12pm-1pm. Warner Pacific University Library.
• Monday, 4/9 - Thursday, 4/12: Stolen Angels: Black Lives Matter Exhibit –Stolen Angels is a space where the families of children murdered by police and violence of White Supremacy can remember, represent, and depict their family members' memories with love, honor, and positivity. Please take advantage of this opportunity. Be the change in your communities, learn ways to get involved and organize for social justice. Various times. 17705 NW Springville Rd.
• Tuesday, 4/10: Indigenous Women Playwrights Panel – Join Larissa FastHorse, Mary Kathryn Nagle and DeLanna Studi as they discuss the state of the stage and what it's like to be an Indigenous female writer in the theater. 5:30pm-6:30pm. 128 NW 11th Ave.
• Saturday, 4/14: GAMBATTE BE STRONG – The immigrant journey of the Japanese in Oregon is paved with stories of perseverance and courage. Gambatte Be Strong is the rallying cry for an original reading of the little known stories of the return of Japanese Americans to Oregon after their incarceration during WWII.Seventy-five years ago, the signing of Executive Order 9066 led to incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, the majority of whom were American citizens. Looking like the “enemy” led to denial of their human rights and violation of their civil rights by their own country. 6pm-7:30pm. Lewis and Clark College.
• Sunday, 4/15: Tender Birthday Bash! – Celebrate Tender Table’s 1st birthday w/ a dance party + tres leches + pins/swag! This event will feature curated sounds by DJs Black Daria (Jené Etheridge), Cay Horiuchi, and Mami Miami (Emilly Prado). 7pm-11pm. Holocene Portland.
• Friday, 4/20 - Sunday, 4/22: 2018 QSoCC- Re/Claimation: Breaking Space to Make Space – Join us for the eighth Queer Students of Color Conference, organized by QTPoC students across Oregon as a means to create intentional communities around the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, culture, and nationality. Reclamation is the act of taking back that which has been stolen. We pushback against the mainstream, normative Queer culture because we cannot find ourselves in it, we have been purposely left out of it, we have been told not to exist in it. In response, we seek to reclaim spaces, identities, terms, as a way to create physical, personal, and temporal spaces for ourselves. Various times. Portland State University.
• Friday, 4/27: An Evening with Sonya Renee Taylor – We’re beyond excited to be hosting an evening of inspiration and community with the world-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor. Through compelling poetry and readings from her new book, The Body Is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love, Sonya will discuss how the notion of “radical” demands that we deal with the intersections of our social, political and economic lives in relationship to our bodies. 6:30pm-8:30pm. Q Center.
• Friday, 4/27 - Sunday, 4/29: Rejoice! Presents UPRISE at IFCC – Rejoice! Diaspora Dance Theater presents UPRISE an evening of choreographic premiers by Oluyinka Akinjiola, Michael Galen and Jamie Minkus. UPRISE features a body of choreographic works addressing power, oppression, and community. Inspired by Angela Davis’ desire to see liberation movements become intersectional, we are bringing expression to the many ways race, class, culture, and history influence power. Various times. The Firehouse at IFCC.

OPPORTUNITIES

• Emilly Prado's Activating Seeds Writing Workshop: Emilly Prado will lead a workshop exploring the roots of resistance writing to help students produce works in a safe, positive, and encouraging space. In times of political uncertainty, voices from the margins are vital, and this writing workshop will guide students on how to most effectively to respond to political strife with words. All workshops will be held at the Attic Institute.
• Submit to The Immigrant Story: To highlight the diversity and strength of our community, “The Immigrant Story” is hosting a photography contest to address an issue that is prevalent in our country today: xenophobia. The contest, open from February 1 through April 30, 2018, welcomes submissions of photographs that depict the stories of immigrants who have added to our diverse cultural landscape. Submissions due April 30. Learn more and submit here.

/// More on the Cultural Work Roundup ///

The Cultural Work Roundup is a monthly spotlight on arts and cultural events and opportunities that:

• Directly relate to APANO's cultural work strategies to impact beliefs, actions and policies through centering the voices of those most impacted and silenced, resisting and shifting harmful narratives and ideas, and moving beyond defensive strategies to envisioning alternatives.
• Centralize the voices of Oregon-based Asian and Pacific Islander artists and/or artists of color.

Events may include readings, exhibitions, festivals, openings, and performances. Opportunities may include calls for artistic submissions, grant and funding opportunities, and volunteer opportunities. The deadline for submissions is the third Monday of each month for events and opportunities that fall into the following month. For example, events and opportunities that take place in June are due to APANO by the third Monday in May.

The Cultural Work Roundup will be posted on APANO's website and shared via APANO's digital communications platforms. Events and opportunities will be posted at APANO's discretion based on alignment with our cultural work values. You may submit to the Cultural Work Roundup by filling out our Google Form at bit.ly/culturalworkroundup.

If you have any questions, please contact Cultural Work & Development Coordinator Candace Kita at candace@apano.org. Enjoy!

This programming message is brought to you by APANO Communities United Fund, a 501c3 nonprofit organization.