About

APIDA Arts’ Mission

To amplify and unify Asian, Pacific Island, and Desi/South Asian American artists in Chicago

by showcasing their work at premier cultural institutions, providing greater representation, equity, and opportunity.

By showcasing and bringing together the creativity and imagination of APIDA Americans, we envision a strong and sustainable APIDA arts community that is an integral presence in Chicago’s culture – evocative of our past, declarative of our present, and innovative towards our future.

Our programming includes

Asians are the fastest growing population in Chicago

and have become an integral part of Chicago’s cultural fiber. Due to the vast diversity in the countries defined as Asian, it is difficult to truly represent the breadth and depth of the diaspora under one “race”. There is still a lack of consensus on which acronym best describes us in America: APA, APIA, AAPI, APIDA, and APISAA are all popularly used terms. As Asian, Pacific Island, and Desi/South Asian American living in Chicago, we can be unified through our creativity and imagination.

It’s been said that…

“In creating art, consciously or not, artists are attempting to communicate at a powerful emotional level to those within their own culture. The best work transcends its cultural matrix and speaks directly to our common humanity.” Living as a minority in the Midwest, APIDA artists define our own culture through our passion for creative expression.

As a collective of Chicago based Asian, Pacific Island, and Desi/South Asian American leaders and artists, the APIDA Arts Festival brings together local art makers and administrators to work toward our shared values of artistic diversity, cultural inclusion, and unity. Our first festival is in May, 2023 and we will reach out to as wide a range of APIDA in Chicago populations as possible. We will form alliances with other creative Asian American groups to advance our mutual goals cooperatively and to exchange ideas and strategies across artistic disciplines. We are a diverse alliance who believe that working together as a pan-ethnic, multidisciplinary community is essential to nurturing the development of APIDA artists in Chicago. The APIDA Arts Festival strives to serve as a thoughtful space where APIDA artists can express issues of race, identity, and artmaking.

APIDA Arts is the first art group of its kind in Chicago

Hello, we're the APIDA Arts team

Cameron Cai

Producer

Marian Chen

Board Member

Lina George

Board Member

Mia Park

ED. AD.
Board Member

Caro Uy

Board Member

Emily Zhang

Social Media Manager

Extended family

Thavary Krouch

Producer

Maaz Shahid

Research & Bookkeeping

Veramarie Baldoza

ASL Interpreter

Shilpa Gadhok

Consultant

Christine Lee

Event Planner: Closing Reception

Alicia Senior-Saywell

MCA Stage Manager

Nicole Sumida

Volunteer/Intern Coordinator

Susanna Kim Vitayaudom

Graphic Design

Jeanne Wang

UX/Web Designer

Wenke Coco Huang

Eventbrite Manager