Immerse Yourself in Asian Culture Stories Performances
San Francisco APA Heritage Month Kickoff Celebration
Saturday, May 1, 2021
2:00 PM – 2:40 PM
Japantown, San Francisco
Category: Special Event
Official kickoff event to launch the month-long celebration of APA Heritage Month.
Congratulations to our 2021 APA Heritage Awards
Significant Milestones Honorees:
Special Recognitions honorees:
Learn more: https://apasf.org/awards/
Event in compliance with San Francisco’s Health Order has limited capacity for in-person attendance.
Live Music: Noontime Concert
Saturday, May 01, 2021
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
2 Waverly Place, SF Chinatown
Category: Music & Performances
Clarion celebrates APA Heritage Month and its Grand Reopening on May 1 with four hours of indoor and outdoor activities. Music, Poetry, Open Mic and Film Social.
Ultra World X-Tet World Fusion Jazz with Sax/ flute, guzheng, bass and drums. Noon to 1 pm on 2 Waverly Place. This is an outdoor concert.
Children’s Program: Awesome Asian Americans
Saturday, May 01, 2021
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Category: Youth & Family
Learn about Asian Americans trailblazers who deserve more recognition in history textbooks with authors Oliver Chin and Phil Amara and illustrator Juan Calle.
Live: Lion Dance Performance
Saturday, May 01, 2021
3:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Category: Music & Performances
See Lion Dance Me, a Runner up winner on America’s Got Talent, will perform lion dancing with an acrobatic flair every Saturday on car free Grant between Sacramento and Clay.
Film Social: Chinatown Shorts
Saturday, May 01, 2021
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Category: Films
Clarion celebrates APA Heritage Month and its Grand Reopening on May 1 with four hours of indoor and outdoor activities. Music, Poetry, Open Mic and Film Social.
Chinatown Shorts: You Are Here, is a new documentary series by James Q Chan. Season One (Fall/Winter 2020) roots in themes of individual and collective transformation during times of crisis, struggle, and hope.
Angel Island: More Important to Remember Now Than Ever
Thursday, May 06, 2021
5:00 PM -6:00 PM
Category: Other Special Events
Anti-Asian racism and xenophobia are not new. Learn more about the history and current day significance of the former US Immigration Station at Angel Island.
Taiwanese American Cultural Festival
Saturday, May 08, 2021
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Category: Other Special Events
Tune in for the annual Taiwanese American Cultural Festival, a celebration of Taiwanese American music, authors, food, and culture.
Chinatown: Photo Exhibit
May 8-9, 2021
11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Portsmouth Square (map)
Chinatown, San Francisco
This photo exhibit chronicles the Chinese American experience from January 2020 to the present, celebrating the community’s resilience through the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the resultant economic challenges and anti-Asian hate.
Film Social: Coby and Stephen are in Love
Saturday, May 08, 2021
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Category: Films
A film by Yuanyuan Luka Yang and Carlo Nasisse. It is a love story of Coby, a 92 year old retired nightclub dancer and a man 20 years her junior.
Chinatown: Asian Pacific Heritage Month Celebration
Sunday, May 09, 2021
12:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Category: Music & Performances
The San Francisco Chinatown Visitor Information Center is proud to join other communities by showcasing several talented local artists and performers at the Walkway Weekends in Chinatown on May 9th between noon and 3 pm. Come join us and support our local businesses as well.
Preserving and Uplifting Trans and Queer API Stories: An interactive zine making workshop
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
Category: Arts & Crafts
Join CCC and APIENC’s Dragon Fruit Project for an interactive zine-making workshop where you’ll learn more about zine-making as a transformative tool.
Queer API Stories Zine Making Workshop uplifts LGBTQ API voices and creativity, using transformative tools to advocate feminist and queer experiences.
No experience needed! All you’ll need is some paper, something to write with, and any other art materials you want to bring–no need for anything fancy!
Special Tour of “WOMEN我們: From Her to Here”
Friday, May 14-28, 2021
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
41ROSS Alley, San Francisco Chinatown
Category: Art Exhibits
“By Youth, For You x QWOCMAP” is a programming of “WOMEN: From Her to Here,” an exhibition at the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco exploring local and universal experiences of queer belonging and agency.
In celebration of APA heritage, CCC will provide special exhibition tours to celebrate the APA LGBTQ communities.
Film Social: Dancing Through Life: The Dorothy Toy Story
Saturday, May 15, 2021
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Category: Films
A film by Rick Quan documented Dorothy Toy, dance legend, from her childhood to her celebrating a century of life devoted to dance.
Chinatown: Asian Pacific Heritage Month Celebration
Sunday, May 16, 2021
12:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Category: Music & Performances
The San Francisco Chinatown Visitor Information Center is proud to join other communities by showcasing several talented local artists and performers at the Walkway Weekends in Grant Avenue in Chinatown on Sunday, May 16th between noon and 3 pm. Come join us and support our local businesses as well.
Book Talk: Grande Lum–America’s Peacemakers: The Community Relations Service and Civil Rights
Sunday, May 16, 2021
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Category: Other Special Events
A conversation with Grande Lum on his book, “America’s Peacemakers:The Community Relations Service and Civil Rights.” Hosted by Clara Hsu.
InspirASIAN Northern California Finding Your Inner Warrior
Thursday, May 20, 2021
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Category: Other Special Events
InspirASIAN is celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month by honoring the teachings of Bruce Lee and awakening the Inner Warrior within ourselves with Shannon Lee, Producer, Writer and Daughter of Bruce Lee.
Talk: How Do Chinese Americans Fit In? The Outlook for Civil Rights
Saturday, May 22, 2021
12:00 PM
Category: Other Special Events
Join CHSA and Frank Wu, Queens College, City University of New York, for a conversation about Frank’s work at Queen College and academic writing.
Queer and Transgender Asian Pacific Islanders (QTAPI) Week in SF
May 22-29, 2021
QTAPI Week is presented by the Bay Area QTAPI Coalition: GAPA, Prism Foundation, APIENC, The Connection, Rice Rockettes, Parivar Bay Area, APIQWTC, and Red Envelope Giving Circle.
- May 22 – Kick Off – Press Conference at Jane Warner Plaza at 11am in the Castro
- May 22 – GAPA Chats: Combating AAPI Hate Crimes & The Power of Ally Ship with Communities of Color 5-7pm (Online)
- May 23 – APIENC – Queer Asian & Pacific Islander Cis Allies Project (QAPICAP) – Kick Off 12-2pm (Online)
- May 24 – GAPA Member Meetup (Open to new folks) – 7:30-9pm (Online)
- May 25 – The Commonwealth Club and The Transgender District present Black, API and Trans Solidarity Roundtable 5pm (Online)
- May 26 – Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area (AABA) LGBTQ Committee Presents QTAPI PRIDE! In Conversation with Community Activists (Drag Activist Juicy Liu and Harvard Professor and LGBTQ+ Scholar Alexander Chen) 6-7:30pm (Online)
- May 26 – San Francisco Community Health Center (SFCHC) – The ATE Program – Asian & Pacific Islander Transgender Empowerment Group 5-6:30pm (Online)
- May 27 – SFCHC – The Connection Presents Gaysian Gaymer Night 7-9pm (Online)
- May 29 – QTAPI Week – Closing Party @Castro – 18th & Collingwood Parking Lot 11am-4pm
- May 29 – Rice Rockettes present ‘Sh*n Y*n Strikes Back!’ — A Digital Drag Show 6:30-8pm (Online) ($5 Cover)
Cultural Showcase 2021
Friday, May 28, 2021
6:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Category: Music & Performances
Time for some lighthearted entertainment. Join us for a virtual show of cultural performances that spotlight some amazingly talented performers in the AAPI community.
Larkin Street AAPI month Festival
Saturday, May 29, 2021
12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Larkin street between Eddy and O’farrell
A food and culture festival to celebrate AAPI month in partnership with APA Heritage Foundation.
USAAF 2021: YUGTO
Saturday, May 29, 2021
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Category: Music & Performances
A presentation of the 24th Annual United States of Asian America Festival, YUGTO will showcase choreography using Filipino folkloric movements to tell contemporary stories that are absent from traditional Philippine folkloric dance.
United States of Asian America Festival 2021: Forging Our Futures – Portsmouth Square, Chinatown
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Category: Music & Performances
Join APICC in a day of outdoor art, performances and music at Portsmouth Square, featuring presentations by Jon Jang, Macro Waves, Audrey Thao Berger and Noah Wang, Megan Lowe Dances, Erina Alejo and TNT SideCaraoke, as part of USAAF 2021: Forging Our Futures – SoMa & Chinatown
Cultural Educational Special Exhibits
United States of Asian America Festival 2021: Sowing Agency
April 30-May 23, 2021
12:00 PM
SOMArts Cultural Center
Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center presents the 24th annual United States of Asian America Festival, featuring multidisciplinary art events under the theme “Forging Our Futures – SoMa & Chinatown.” USAAF 2021 kicks off with Sowing Agency, a visual arts exhibition May 1-23 at SOMArts Cultural Center, co-presented by the Asian American Women Artists Association.
“WOMEN我們: From Her to Here”
May 2021
Gallery Hours:
Appointment recommended/Walk-in Welcomed
Wed – Fri: 10 – 4 pm
From femme sensibilities to a queer state of mind, “WOMEN我們: From Her to Here” brings together artistic works that embodies feelings and experiences rooted in the non-binary—an awareness, a liminal space, and a source of power to be and be seen.
Between and beyond this exhibition are local and universal expressions of queer and feminist liberation, cultivation, and imaginations.
Centered on Asian diasporic perspectives, the exhibition features video and film works, mixed media installation, photography, paintings and publications by artists of diverse gender & sexual identities across the Bay Area, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, and more.
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