APAture 2024 Recap

APAture 2024 explored the ways in which we Return

photos by Claire Burke, Anth Bongco, and Athena Chow

This year, APAture celebrated 25 years of supporting emerging Asian and Pacific Islander artists from across the Bay Area! The APAture General Planning Committee–all volunteers–helped curate, organize, and produce another amazing multidisciplinary arts festival, which featured over 50 artists. Central to the festival was the theme of RETURN. Considering the Palestinian right to return, the call for Indigenous Land Back, the various migrant histories and struggle for justice in our Pacific Islander and Asian communities, and the returns we face in our own personal lives, artists were asked: What does the idea of return mean to you? Where and to whom are you returning?

APAture 2024 took place from October 13th through November 9th, and featured six showcases and seven events. This year’s festival kicked off with our Music Showcase at DNA Lounge, featuring rising star and headliner, Ian Santillano, alongside an amazing line-up of emerging MCs, singer-songwriters, and electronic music artists. APAture’s Visual Arts Opening Reception was held on October 18th at Arc Gallery and Studios and highlighted the art of San Jose-based Houyee Chow-Jiménez, whose work spans from murals and exhibition walls to pride month designs for local sports teams. Chow-Jiménez also provided more insight into her vision via her artist talk. Included in the Visual Arts showcase were an incredible ensemble of emerging artists, who demonstrated a wide range of talent in both 2D and 3D works, including large scale paintings and drawings, a mock-grocery mart installation, and a fixture dedicated to collective weaving. This year’s Film Showcase on October 22nd saw record breaking APAture ticket sales at the Mission’s Roxie Theater and included a special full length viewing of the award-winning film Standing Above the Clouds by featured filmmaker Jalena Keane-Lee, whose accolades include being named a 2023 Adobe x Sundance Woman to Watch. A stellar lineup of accompanying short films in this showcase included music videos, an indigenous language-learning children’s show, and documentaries of familial ceremonies. That same week, on October 25th, our Literary Arts showcase featured Maw Shein-Win, inaugural poet laureate of El Cerrito and author of multiple books of poetry, the most recent of which is Percussing the Thinking Jar (Omnidawn). Maw was accompanied by seven other emerging writers who shared an incredible range of poetry, personal essay, and fiction. Our Comics, Zines, & Illustration showcase included eight artists who were able to interact directly with attendees at Arc Gallery and present and sell their work, which variously spoke to the theme of return, including highly praised illustrator Minnie Phan. As the feature for this showcase, Minnie spoke about her journey as an artist, whose work ranges from editorial illustrations to comics, animation, and picture books, including The Yellow Áo Dài, written by Hanh Bui, and Simone, written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen. Our Performing Arts showcase boasted a sold-out show at Joe Goode Annex on November 3rd and featured Kim Requesto, whose artistic foundation in Philippine folk dance informed her moving performance, which was accompanied by live music on traditional Filipino instruments. Other showcase artists brought an outstanding variety of contemporary dance, spoken word, poetry, and jazz to the stage that explored queer identity, belonging, and decolonial practices.

The APAture Closing Reception and Artist Talk took place at Arc Gallery on November 9th and was a beautiful culmination of the events leading up to it. One of the most important aspects of APAture is the community the festival builds and the friendships that form from the shared collective goal of creating a more autonomous Asian Pacific American Arts community.

We would like to thank everyone involved with APAture, each committee member, each artist, each volunteer, and, of course, all the audience members. APAture is a festival committed to the community and without each person’s collective efforts the events would not have been the same. If you would like to get involved with Kearny Street Workshop or future APAture events, please sign up here. 

As the year comes to a close, we kindly ask you to consider Kearny Street Workshop for your end of year giving.Thank you to everyone’s ongoing support of APAture and Kearny Street Workshop! We can’t wait to keep working and supporting emerging Asian Pacific American artists! 

With gratitude and in community,

Lehua Taiano, APAture 2024 Coordinator

Participating Artists

Visual Arts
*Houyee Chow-Jiménez 
Jang Lee
Joanna Kao
Laura Ming Wong
Lisa Juachon
Madi Reyes
Bhumikorn Kongtaveelert
Grace Jin
Brianna Cheng 
Jackie Liu
Kea Kahoilua-Clebsch
Michelle Lin
Mehr Kumar
Marisa Goudie

Performing Arts
*Kim Requesto
Teo Lin-Bianco
Tatyana Topasna
Maya Rau-Murthy
Alder & the Kindred
Lily Gee
Taneesh Kaur
D. Kaur

Literary Arts
*Maw Shein Win
Sam Javellana Hill
Christine Huang
Jennifer Ng
Megan Jade Mock Noble
Noelani Piters
Danielle Shi
Eden Julia Sugay

Comics, Zines, & Illustrations
*Minnie Phan
Cesar Cueva
Jake Gavino
Kathy Huang
Nhien Lee
Lauren Miller
Ipsheeta Furtado
Alexis Peneda

Music
*Ian Santillano
Yuka Yu of Nu Tekno Sounds
Karinyo
Jaeya Bayani
Steven Cong
Doublegoat

Film
*Jalena Keane-Lee aka productions
Joyce Keokham
Elaine Nguyen
Sophia E. Perez
Teao Sense

GENERAL PLANNING COMMITTEE
Lehua Taitano (Festival Coordinator)
David Cao
Matthew Choi
Diana Fu
Isalina Chow
Ngân Vū
Stephen Cheung
Tanza Solis
Suzanne Tay-Kelley
Mark Flores

KSW STAFF
Jason Bayani, Co-Director
Mihee Kim, Co-Director
Lehua Taitano, Programs and Community Manager

KSW Board
Paul Ocampo
Cristiana Baik
Lawrence Liu
Jenny Ton
Irene Gutierrez
Joshua Wheeler
Terri Le
Ploi Pirapokin
Trina De Joya

PHOTO & VIDEOGRAPHY
Claire Burke
Anth Bongco
Athena Chow
Diana Li
John Warfield Harrison

CO-PRESENTERS
Arc Gallery & Studios
ARTogether
Balay Kreative
Chinese Culture Center
Litquake
Oakland Asian Cultural Center
SOMArts

FUNDERS
San Francisco Arts Commission
Zellerbach Family Foundation
Grants for the Arts
Fleishhacker Foundation

SPECIAL THANKS
Tito’s Handmade Vodka
Joe Goode Annex
Roxie Theater
DNA Lounge
Rich Lomi
Julie Villanueva
Eric Cheng
Zixuan Liu
Benjamin Blonder
Andrew Rogge
ada zhang
Isabel Li
Bianca Datta
Caitilin Damacion
Wayne Chin
Erin Woo
Zixuan Liu
Lark Chang Yeh