Francis Wong
Check us out this Spring!
I hope you are having a great Spring season! We have some great events coming your way with ImprovisAsians 2008 at San Francisco State April 14-18 Back for a second year, this weeklong series of performances and public discussion explores hybridity, tradition, community building and art-making. As part of the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, the Jon Jang Seven and special guest Min Xiao-Fen will give an encore performance of Jang's latest work Unbound Chinatown, which premiered last Fall at the Great American Music Hall as part of the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Stay tuned for more events and hope to see you this spring.
The California Arts Council has done a tremendous job in working it's way back to what it was. Please help all Californian's by supporting the arts by puchasing an California Arts License plate! Proceeds from the sales go the California Arts Council which support individual artists and organizations up and down this wonderful state! Click on the logo below for more information:
When: May 17, 2008
Time: 1-2:30pm
Cost: FREE
Where: Yerba Buena Gardens: Esplanade (map) - San Francisco
Composer/pianist Jon Jang's musical language re-contextualizes Chinese folk songs within a contemporary music framework, a metaphor for the changing face of Chinese America. Unbound Chinatown pays homage to Alice Fong Yu, the first Chinese American teacher hired by the San Francisco School District. With his stellar ensemble, including saxophonist Francis Wong and trombonist/music director Wayne Wallace, and guest vocalist Min Xiao Fen, Jang paints musical portraits of Yu’s life as a community and political leader during the 1930s.
Asian Improv aRts is proud to continue our arts education programming. We are currently supporting after school art enrichment at the Chinatown Beacon Center and we are also providing technical support to Gen Taiko, a premiere taiko school in San Francisco.
Asian Improv aRts is a proud co-director of the California Asian and Pacific Islander Arts Network. Along with Visual Communications, Asian Improv aRts works to develop the arts infrastructure of the APA community in California and beyond. Please join the CAAPIAN listserv at: http://www.caapian.org. CAAPIAN is supported by the California Arts Council to help strengthen communities in California.
Asian Improv aRts encourages the public of San Francisco and California to participate in the civic activities of your communities. We have seen statewide what has happened to the California Arts Council. The now almost defuct California Arts Council has left a huge void in support for artists and communities benefiting from the cultural enrichment and economic activity the arts brings.
Asian Improv aRts is proud to announce the completion of the San Francisco Arts Task Force report. It can be downloaded on the San Francisco Arts Commission website.
Prop H Community Advisory Committee. Prop H was passed in the City and County of San Francisco back in 2004 and was to provide funding from the city to the school district for the purposes of supporting arts, libraries, and sports.
We encourage all to come and attend the public meetings and voice your opinions. Vinay Patel of Asian Improv aRts sits on both of these boards and is available to hear your suggestions. Please call him at: 415-908-3636.