Building Legacies

45 Years of Art and Resistance

ATTN: Tickets are now sold out but it’s not too late to help, donate $45 at kearnystreet.org/donate for each of KSW’s years or share your own #mykswstory on social media! Also, this Saturday (3/17) the 45th anniversary celebration comes to the East Bay with Kearny Street Workshop: Evolving Legacy

KEARNY STREET WORKSHOP CELEBRATES 45 YEARS OF COMMUNITY, ART, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

VIP DINNER | WINE + DESSERT | A CONVERSATION WITH JESSICA HAGEDORN |45 YEARS OF COMMUNITY & ART
Come celebrate 45 years of radical history with the Kearny Street Workshop (KSW), the oldest Asian Pacific American (APA) multidisciplinary arts organization in the country.

Building Legacies: 45 Years of Art and Resistance will include a VIP dinner, a reception where all attendees can enjoy dessert and a conversation between renowned novelist and playwright Jessica Hagedorn and award-winning journalist Bernice Yeung, plus a special performance by Bay Area rising star, rapper and poet, Ruby Ibarra. During the evening, we will also be honoring a contemporary APA artist who has contributed to KSW and exemplifies our core values rooted in social justice and cultural activism. This unique evening event is hosted by the Chinese Culture Foundation 750 Kearny Street, just a block away from the International Hotel, where KSW started.

During these politically charged times, KSW’s work remains more critical than ever. We continue to support a diverse range of powerful voices within the APA community. Over the years, we have supported emerging and established artists, including MacArthur-award-winning musician Vijay Iyer, San Francisco Poet Laureate Janice Mirikitani, and celebrated comedian Ali Wong. KSW’s history is rooted in the post-civil rights, women’s, counter-culture, and Third World liberation movements of the 1960s and ‘70s. Come support and just us for this special evening, and help us shape what the next 45 years will look like for KSW.

Biographies of Artists

Born and raised in the Philippines, Jessica Hagedorn is the author of Toxicology, Dream Jungle, The Gangster Of Love, Danger And Beauty, and Dogeaters, which won the American Book Award and was a fiction finalist for the National Book Award. She is the editor of two groundbreaking literary anthologies: Manila Noir and Charlie Chan Is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian American Fiction. Her work as a playwright includes the stage adaptations of Dogeaters and The Gangster Of Love.

Bernice Yeung is an award-winning reporter for Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting whose work examines issues related to violence against women, labor and employment, immigration and environmental health. Her work has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian and PBS Frontline, and she is the author of In a Day's Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America's Most Vulnerable Workers (The New Press 2018). A cofounder of Hyphen magazine, Bernice has also been a proud volunteer for Kearny Street Workshop and the Center for Asian American Media.

Ruby Ibarra is a rapper, spoken word artist, and music producer from the Bay Area. Her first album, Circa 91, was recently released on Beatrock Records to critical acclaim. She’s been featured on Buzzfeed, NPR, and Huffington Post, and has performed at Rock the Bells Festival, Paid Dues Festival, and Araneta Coliseum. She was recently featured in the short documentary “Can’t Judge a Book” with SZA.

Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik is an artist, chef, writer, and educator who tells the stories of our migration through food. Sita has worked with institutions such as the Smithsonian APA Center, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The San Jose Museum of Art, SomArts, 826 Valencia, Southern Exposure, Stanford University, Shankhill Castle in Ireland, and the Future Food House in Holland. She has taught at Rayko Photo Center, University of California at Merced, and CCA. Committed to diversity in the arts, Sita has been the art features editor for Hyphen magazine and is a programming advisor for Kearny Street Workshop.