Artist Testimonials: #WeGotUs
The artists are at the heart of KSW and we’ve featured some truly incredible talent over the years. Let’s hear some of their stories about the impact KSW has had on them.
Video Testimonials:
Monica Sok: Poet, author of “A Nail the Evening Hangs On” (Copper Canyon Press). NEA fellow. KSW Presents featured artist 2020.
Chen Chen: Poet, Author of “When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017), winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. KSW Presents feature in 2017.
Ploi Pirapokin: Fiction writer. APAture 2016 showcase artist. KSW Presents featured artist 2018.
Robynn Takayama: APAture co-founder. KSW Board member.
Vilaska Nguyen: SF Public Defender, Stand-Up Comedian, APAture 2018 showcase artist.
More Testimonials…
Muriel Leung
Poet, Author of Bone Confetti (Noemi Press, 2015), which won the Noemi Press Poetry Award. KSW Presents featured artist in 2017 .
There is no other space like Kearny Street Workshop, an organization that not only cares about the representational value of Asian Americans in the arts but increasingly determined to forge important socially and politically rich connections with other communities aimed at transforming systems of injustices. As someone who has benefited immensely from KSW support as a performer, writer, workshop leader, and more, I find my artistic career and political life deeply altered by the values that shape this space, how each participation asks me to think more deeply about how my art can make the world better. I am inspired to make this commitment everyday when I consider the example that KSW has set.
Arhm Choi Wild
Poet, author of “Cut to Bloom” (Write Bloody Publishing). KSW Presents featured artist in 2020.
It can be hard to find spaces that support marginalized narratives, making the work of KSW so vitally important. Through their programming, social media presence, and the integrity through which they support Asian American voices, they not only create homes for our nuanced and varied stories but also help us believe that our stories belong in the landscape of American literature. KSW sets the stage for us to create literature that is true to all that we are, and helps us to imagine what all we could become.
Jennifer S. Cheng
Poet, Author of MOON: Letters, Maps, Poems, winner of the Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize and House A, winner of the Omnidawn Poetry Book Prize. APAture Literary Arts feature in 2019.
Growing up, I did not know that Asian American artists existed; it wasn’t until I moved to San Francisco in adulthood and attended my first Kearny Street Workshop APAture event that I even encountered a formal gathering of Asian American artists. This discovery changed my life. KSW has been a home for me—it’s provided a community where before I assumed I was alone; it’s given me a sense of lineage and ancestry as an artist, where before there was emptiness; it’s fortified my work, supporting and emboldening my endeavors. Before KSW, I didn’t know how much an artist needs a place of safety and belonging in order to summon their own voice, how much we need to be in conversation with others who understand where we come from, what we’ve experienced. The history of KSW is a history of Asian American art and activism—ever evolving and ever essential.
Kin (Nikki Bonsol)
APAture 2018 showcase artist. Baysia featured artist.
As an artist, I've met collaborators, friends, and new fans through Kearny Street Workshop. I was just starting out when I applied for the APAture festival—I got the chance to play for the largest and most supportive audiences of my life at that point. I'm so grateful for KSW's ability to connect artists and community members who vibe with and uplift each other. These relationships inspire me, support my livelihood, and encourage me to keep going. Thank you, KSW!
Aria Aber
Poet, author of “Hard Damage”(University of Nebraska Press 2019) winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry. KSW Presents featured artist 2020.
My experience with KSW was one of a kind––Michelle and Kazumi curated a beautiful reading for the beautiful Monica Sok and I. They put us in conversation about kinship, refuge, solidarity with BLM, and community-building at a time when I needed it the most. KSW offered a sacred alcove within the literary community where I felt safe, respected, and held. As a newcomer to the Bay Area and an international poet myself, I felt so welcomed by the group, and I remember it as my favorite reading of the year. The work KSW does is rigorous, politically radical, and most of all, much needed: there are very few creative organizations focused on Asian American literature, especially on the West Coast, where the population of artists and writers is hungry for representation and a creative outlet. Donations to KSW are vital in order to keep this blessed space running.
Malaya Tuyay
2018 APAture Feature Visual Artist . 2019 APAture General Planning Committee.
KSW opened doors for me personally as an artist and community member. The spaces KSW creates are such vital ones for Asian American visibility, joy and community. I would have never met the folks I resonate so heavily with now if KSW didn't connect me with folks through events like APAture and help me start my path in the arts in the Bay. Having spaces like this that represent the fullness and diversity of the Asian-American identity is so important for future generations. If I had had access to these events when I was in high school I would have learned how to fully let myself be free in my identity as a mixed queer Asian-American. I would have learned to be more loving of my skin, my culture, our arts and community practices. Thank you KSW for providing this learning and space to all generations now.
Sammay
Dancer, Musician, APAture 2016 Featured Artist
Being a part of the KSW family helped me to situate myself more clearly in the multidisciplinarity that the API arts community thrives upon. Growing up Pinay in Carson, CA but not having had a sociopolitical grounding to root from made growing into my artistry in San Francisco vital. In 2015, I performed my first ever multimedia dance theatre solo performance at APAture Performing Arts showcase. In 2016, I was invited to perform as the Featured Artist. When I began to explore my voice through songwriting, KSW celebrated this by giving me the honor of closing out the 2018 APAture Music showcase! I would not be where I am today without the love, support, and true faith KSW has shown me throughout the years. KSW is such a necessary space in the greater Bay Area arts ecosystem - held by giants whose shoulders we stand and dance and sing upon!
Cristiana Baik
Poet, KSW Board Member
When I moved to the Bay Area seven years ago,Truong Tran, a wonderful poet and visual artist based in San Francisco (and someone who has been involved with KSW for many years), encouraged me to go to a reading Kearny Street Workshop was hosting. I remember going and feeling so lucky that as an AA/PI writer, an organization like KSW even existed; it felt comforting to be immersed in a physical space packed with other AA/PI artists and writers. I had moved to Oakland from the Twin Cities, where there was such a dearth of resources and community spaces that supported AA/PI writers and artists. A couple of years later, when I was the director of development of a local API-based mental health and wellness agency, I partnered up with KSW on an event that showcased AA/PI poets, academics and artists who had collectively worked together to create a unique tarot card project called, 'Asian American Tarot: A Mental Health Project.' I knew KSW was the right partner, and of course, it turned out to be a really fun, meaningful evening that also really lifted up the mental health issues that are often too taboo to discuss within our different AA/PI communities. During this giving season, KSW deserves our support, and I hope that KSW continues to thrive and expand for another 50 years.
Gemma Datuin
Musician, APAture Showcase Artist 2018, APAture GPC
I was a volunteer on the APAture General Planning Committee in 2018 & 2019, and it was without a doubt one of the most fulfilling projects I’ve ever been a part of. From this experience, I didn’t only learn about how to organize an arts festival—at the heart of it, I was able to meet other APA artists and build meaningful connections. I was able to build community. KSW is community to me and I truly believe their work is essential. This organization continues to nurture, inspire, heal and empower me as a Queer Pilipinx artist, and through all of the various KSW roles I’ve been in—as a volunteer, performer, and audience member—I realized how special and sacred these spaces are and that it is up to us to continue to create those spaces for our APA community to thrive. I hope you will consider donating to this extraordinary organization.