March 2022 Cultural Work Roundup

/// March 2022 ///

Here’s your monthly dose of BIPOC makers, radical thinkers, and resources featuring recommendations by Cultural Work Coordinator, Roshani Thakore to help you heal and stay inspired. If you would like to include an item to a future Cultural Work Roundup, email Roshani at roshani@apano.org by the 20th of that month.

PRACTICE

• (UN) BELONGING by AMP Artist Sabina Haque! – This exhibition navigates the cycles of inclusion and exclusion experienced by members new to a community. Included in this exhibit are fifteen suspended life-size ink drawings of silhouetted bodies and borderland landscapes. Viewers move between these drawings - to experience the liminal space between borders, between being known and unknown, seen and unseen, belonging and not belonging. First Thursday Opening, March 3, 5:00 - 8 pm. Artist Talk: Sunday, March 13, 2 pm at Waterstone Gallery in conversation with Hana Layson, Head of Art Educator Programs, Portland Art Museum. Waterstone Gallery, 124 NW 9th Avenue.
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• Caged and Locked: Trapped In Circumstantial Depression – Have you been feeling down, depressed, or hopeless? Do you have little interest or pleasure in doing things? Have you been feeling bad about yourself – or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down? Have you been feeling tired, have little energy, have trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much? If you have experienced any of this or just want to know more about Circumstantial Depression, then this workshop may be for you. Saturdays, March 5 - May 14, from 10 am - 10:30 am. More info here.
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• Everybody Reads 2022: Mira Jacob – In partnership with Multnomah County Library and The Library Foundation, Literary Arts is proud to present a lecture by author Mira Jacob as the culminating event of Everybody Reads 2022. This year’s programming will center on Jacob’s graphic novel memoir, Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations. Literary Arts is a proud participant of RACC’s Arts for All program which provides $5 tickets to important cultural events around the city to those who hold an Oregon Trail Card. Thursday, March 10, 7:30 - 9 pm. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway.
• Consider This with Robin Wall Kimmerer – Join this online conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass and Gathering Moss. Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. This program will be streamed live on YouTube. Thursday, March 10 at 5 pm. RSVP for this free program.
• Community Remembrance Day by Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Join us in remembrance and solidarity as we mark the one year anniversary of the Atlanta spa shootings that occurred on March 16, 2021. As the organization that led rapid response efforts to directly support victims, survivors, and their families last year, we thank you for surrounding us with care. We invite you to observe, organize, and join solidarity events on March 12. You can also follow and share our art collaboration online that will begin on March 12. More info can be found here.
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• Online Taiko 101 Workshop for the Asian American Community – This is a safe space for AAPI community members to come together, connect, have fun, and learn to play taiko. Taiko has long been a source of culture, pride, and resistance in the Japanese and Asian American communities. Through taiko, we hope to bring a space to heal and connect with other AAPI community members. Learn the basics of taiko (rhythms, stances, and hitting techniques) in this fun-filled, therapeutic, and accessible Taiko 101 Workshop. Instructors will guide participants through a variety of physical and musical activities and introduce background information on the tradition of taiko in Japan and North America. No experience is necessary. This event is free of charge. Registration is required. Wednesday, March 30, 7 - 8:30 pm.
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LISTEN

• Belonging in Oakland – In this episode of the Who Belongs podcast, we speak with Roberto Bedoya. Roberto is the Cultural Affairs Manager for the City of Oakland in California. He developed the City’s Cultural Plan, titled, Belonging in Oakland. Throughout his career Roberto has consistently advocated for inclusion and belonging in the cultural sector. In our conversation, Roberto shares how he’s utilized belonging in his city planning work through intentional grant giving, and encouraging city departments to re-think how Oakland residents interact with each other and with physical spaces around the city.
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• The Trojan Horse Affair – A strange letter appears on a city councilor’s desk in Birmingham, England, laying out an elaborate plot by Islamic extremists to infiltrate the city’s schools. The plot has a code name: Operation Trojan Horse. The story soon explodes in the news and kicks off a national panic. By the time it all dies down, the government has launched multiple investigations, beefed up the country’s counterterrorism policy, revamped schools and banned people from education for the rest of their lives. From Serial Productions and The New York Times comes the podcast, The Trojan Horse Affair: a mystery in eight parts. This podcast is a testament about the power of narratives in our culture.
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READ

• The Structural Racism Remedies Repository – This a repository of policy-based recommendations for addressing structural and systemic racism or advancing racial equity drawn from a vast array of published material. An overview of this project, including selection criteria and main findings is available here.
• “No One Is Coming to Save Us”: Forging Paths to Native Financial Sovereignty – It is not too late. This article is written by two women—a Native American woman and a white woman—who have been working together for more than 10 years. They have seen so many things that once seemed impossible occur: obtaining their first large-scale unrestricted grants from funders who trust them, partners coming to view the Native leadership of their organization as the asset that it truly is, and now, finally having enough access to capital to say, “Wow! What else can we do for our communities?”
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• Wealth Building for Business Owners of Color: A Whole-Person Approach – Wealth building usually revolves around an increase in income and net worth primarily from real estate or investment transactions. These traditional wealth building strategies are not creating equitable wealth for people in BIPOC communities, as we see the racial wealth gap continuing to widen. Targeted Universalism, as developed by john a. powell and his colleagues, provides a pivotal framework for closing the wealth gap.
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LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES

APANO is hiring! – APANO is currently looking for a Communications Director, a Community Space Coordinator, and a Finance Assistant! For a complete listing go to https://apano.org/join-us/jobs-at-apano/

This programming content brought to you by APANO Communities United Fund, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.