Applications are now open!
This year marks APAture’s 25th anniversary! The only festival to put the focus on emerging Asian Pacific American artists is returning to San Francisco from Oct 12th to Nov. 9th. We are now accepting applications for the following showcases: Comics, Zines, & Illustrations, Film, Literary Arts, Music, Performing Arts, and Visual Arts.
The theme for this year is RETURN. We're thinking about the idea of return in its many forms from the right to return and Indigenous Peoples' call for land back to our migrant histories and personal struggles. What does the idea of return mean to you? Where and to whom are we returning?
We don’t expect your work to fit perfectly with this year’s theme but we invite you to consider how it resonates with you and your work as an artist. Please refer to our FAQ before applying and if you have further questions contact apature@kearnystreet.org
2024 Featured Artists
Since 1999 APAture’s list of featured artists have included some of the most groundbreaking and influential Asian Pacific American artists to come out of the Bay Area including Gene Luen Yang, Michael Arcega, Barbara Jane Reyes, Kristina Wong, Thi Bui, Goh Nakamura and so many more.
This year’s class of featured artists are sure to follow suit! Let’s meet them now!
Ian Santillano (pronounced “San-Till-Yeah-Know") is a Fil-Am singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer from Hayward, CA. As an alternative/indie, singer-songwriter, Ian draws upon his foundations in jazz, soul, folk, rock, and funk. Ian released his debut EP, "1856," in 2019 and the full length “Intropy” in 2022 which has garnered more than 285k streams on Spotify since its release. Ian has also joined Bolo Music Group in which he plans on disrupting what it means to be a Filipino-American artist. His latest release, "Layers On Layers," Ian blends indie, soul, and jazz. As 2024 unfolds, Ian continues to thrive with fresh songs, upcoming shows, and exciting projects slated throughout the year.
Minnie Phan is an award winning illustrator based in Oakland, CA. Her past clients include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Chronicle Books, and the San Francisco Public Library, with which she illustrated a citywide reading campaign in 2022. As a multidisciplinary artist, she has illustrated over 10 music posters for The Fillmore and Civic Center Auditorium, a 250 square foot mural on site at Google headquarters, and a statewide ad campaign for the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services. With skills ranging from editorial illustrations to comics, animation, and picture books, she has been recognized by the The New York Times, Society of Illustrators, and Eisner Awards. She is the illustrator of The Yellow Áo Dài, written by Hanh Bui, and Simone, written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen.
Jalena Keane-Lee is a filmmaker who explores intergenerational healing through narrative change. She is a recipient of the Gotham Documentary Fellowship, Creative Culture Woman Filmmaker Fellowship, Wyncote Fellowship, NeXt Doc Fellowship and named one of Adobe x Sundance’s 2023 Women to Watch. She has won Tribeca Through Her Lens 2020 and DocPitch 2022. Her short films have played at over 50 film festivals, winning best short at LA Asian Film Festival in 2020 and the Jury Award at Sundance in 2023. Jalena co-founded Breaktide Productions, an all women of color production company that has won two Cannes Lion awards for branded content. She is currently working on her first feature documentary which participated in the 2022 Sundance Edit and Story Lab.
Maw Shein Win’s most recent poetry collection is Storage Unit for the Spirit House (Omnidawn) which was nominated for the Northern California Book Award in Poetry, longlisted for the PEN America Open Book Award, and shortlisted for CALIBA’s Golden Poppy Award for Poetry. She is the inaugural poet laureate of El Cerrito, CA. Win’s previous collections include Invisible Gifts and two chapbooks, Ruins of a glittering palace and Score and Bone. Win often collaborates with visual artists, musicians, and other writers and her Process Note Series features poets on their process. She teaches poetry in the MFA Program at the University of San Francisco. Along with Dawn Angelicca Barcelona and Mary Volmer, she is a co-founder of Maker, Mentor, Muse, a new literary community. Win’s full-length collection Percussing the Thinking Jar (Omnidawn) is forthcoming in October, 2024. photo by Mary Kalin-Casey
Kim Requesto is a Philippine born, Mission District raised Cultural Worker and Interdisciplinary Artist based in unceded Ramaytush Ohlone Territory also recognized as San Francisco, California. With an artistic foundation in Philippine folk dance, Requesto has dedicated herself to cultural expression and advocacy through movement, photography, and community outreach. Requesto has been part of the Philippine Folk Dance community since 2005 and is currently with Parangal Dance as part of their Artistic Team.
Houyee (she/her) is a first generation, queer, biracial, multidisciplinary artist, and educator from San José, CA. She earned her bachelor’s degree at San Francisco State University in Studio Art with a minor in Philosophy. During the day, she works at a non-profit managing a free arts and multimedia program for youth. She uses painting, mixed media, and public art to depict themes of culture/ancestry, queer experiences, and the exploration of oneself. Houyee makes art to heal from her life and to grow into a better person. She invites you to reflect, explore, and feel connectivity with her work.