June 2018 Cultural Work Roundup

/// June 2018 ///

The sun is shining and summer is almost here! Support local artists of color and social justice by checking out some of the opportunities below!

EVENTS

• Friday, 6/1: SPACE - prose & poetry by Robert Lashley, Janice Lee, Cari Luna – Robert Lashley is the author of the poetry collections The Homeboy Songs and Up South. He is a 2016 Jack Straw Fellow, Artist Trust Fellow, and nominee for a Stranger Genius Award. Janice Lee is the author of KEROTAKIS and Daughter, two experimental novels; Damnation, a book-length meditation on the films of Hungarian director Béla Tarr; and The Sky Isn’t Blue, a collection of travel essays inspired by Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space. CARI LUNA is the author of The Revolution of Every Day, which won the Oregon Book Award for Fiction. 7:30pm-9:30pm. Mother Foucault’s Bookshop. 
• Sunday, 6/3: Planet Earf — A Video Series – In a time of gentrification and privatization of previously public spaces, making art public is a radical idea. Through a grant from the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO), we produced a series of creative placemaking videos in Portland, OR. We took familiar, everyday places and transformed them into stages. Each piece is in a different public space, and our goal is to deepen the connection between people and the places they share. We will be doing a full showing of the project followed by a discussion panel with our artistic director, camera crew, and dancers. 3pm-5:30pm. 5321 SE 28th Ave. 
• Sunday, 6/3: QTIPOC Draw Night – Draw, craft, chat with other Queer/Trans/Inter* People of Color! The venue has free parking, and light snacks and tea will be provided. 6pm-10pm. IPRC. 
• Sunday, 6/3: Queerceañera: A Q Center 15th Anniversary Celebration – Q Center was founded June 3, 2003. In honor of Q Center's 15th year anniversary, you are invited to celebrate our queerceañera. Come meet our new Executive Director and kick off pride month events with us. Like in Quinceañera traditions, this is a time for familia to come together and celebrate a new chapter in life. Our Q Center is all grown up and will continue providing space for Queers living at multiple intersections of struggle. 12pm-2pm. Q Center. 
• Wednesday, 6/6: Queer APIs + Mental Health Roundtable – This panel and roundtable discussion will invite guest speakers to share thoughts on contemporary issues facing people who identify as queer and API. How do we navigate API spaces as queer people? How do we navigate queer spaces as API people? What areas present conflict or othering, and how do they impact health and approaches to self-care? Participants will be encouraged to listen, reflect, and share experiences and resources as they are comfortable. 6pm-8pm. Taborspace. 
• Saturday, 6/9: Wakily | Kúkátónón 2018 Showcase – Join us for this end of the year performance by the Kúkátónón dancers and drummers that will feature West African dance and drumming, a special ballet presentation, and guest performances by Habiba Addo [Ghanaian storytelling and vocals], Habib Iddrisu [Ghanaian drumming], and Obo Addy Legacy Project [Ghanaian drumming and dancing]. 6:30pm-8pm. Jefferson High School. 
• Friday, 6/15: Whitenoise Project 14: Svay / Do / Alluri / Tolentino – This June the Whitenoise project for our second event in the De-Canon Residency and Pop Up Library is excited to host powerhouse out of town poets Sokunthary Svay, Do Ngyuen Mai and Hari Alluri as they visit our fair city, as well as local favorite Armin Tolentino! The Whitenoise Project is a reading and discussion series aiming to center voices from underrepresented communities (PoC, Queer, Femme, WoC and people with disabilities), and is supported by a Jade-Midway Placemaking Grant from APANO. 7pm-9pm. Milepost 5. 
• Monday, 6/18: Invisible Spectrum Stories - Belonging - A Pride Special – Invisible Spectrum Stories is back for 4 shows this year! We kick off our first show of 2018 in Pride month, featuring storytellers from our community workshop and LGBTQ storytellers. Invisible Spectrum stories features storytellers of color in Portland, and our theme is IDENTITY. Claiming it back. Finding it. Discovering it. Seeing it from the other side. Seeing someone else's identity. Who are we. And choosing who I am. 8pm-11pm. 116 NE Russell St. 
• Saturday, 6/23: Healing the Fractures: Writing from Deep Experience – How do we overcome cultural silences around mental health in communities of color? How do we move away from the perception that we are broken and in need of fixing? Using generative writing exercises, we will mine memory, family history, and fractured narratives of the self to build writing practices rooted in compassion and imagination. Open to all levels of writers. 11:30am-3pm. Milepost 5. 
• Sunday, 6/24: Good in the Hood Multicultural Music, Arts & Food Festival – Come join us for the 26th annual celebration of Good in the Hood and meet our sensational R&B, Soul, and Jazz headliner, Howard Hewett. 5pm. King School Park. 
• Saturday, 6/30: My People's Market – Bring your friends and family to explore the diverse entrepreneurial talent of Portland at this FREE annual event. Support the community and shop at over 80 local multicultural businesses, talk with vendors, and network with local business owners of color. There will be live music, art, performances, and of course, plenty to eat and drink from some of Portland's best eateries. 12pm-8pm. 300 N Winning Way.

OPPORTUNITIES

• Discounted workshops for artists at the Regional Arts & Culture Council: APANO affiliates receive a $5 discount for professional development workshops using the code APANO2017. Link: RACC 2017 workshops.

• Low cost creative work spaces available at Broad Space, a co-working collective for artists who identify as female or non-binary and prioritizing POCs. Spaces start at $185/month for a dedicated desk! Larger spots for $325. Email: JeanettePDX@gmail.com for more details.

/// 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 Manager Candace Kita at candace@apano.org. Enjoy!