San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
APAture arts festival back for 20th edition
Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest Asian American multidisciplinary arts group in the world, continues to celebrate its 50th year with the full-scale return of APAture, its signature event. After pausing for the pandemic in 2020 and doing a soft relaunch last year, the monthlong visual arts, music, film and comedy festival returns for its 20th edition with receptions and showcases every weekend through Oct. 30.
The first APAture took place in 1999, with the goal of presenting artists from across the Asian Pacific American diaspora who were still rising in their field. (Previous comedy participants who have gone on to wider recognition include Hasan Minhaj, Irene Tu and Sheng Wang.) There’s also an energized sense of camaraderie shared among the audience members.
APAture 2022’s theme is Autonomy, with the San Francisco-based nonprofit organization asking emerging local artists to consider: “What does it mean for our communities to find autonomy in our art, in our practices, in our lived experience? How do we ensure our autonomy in spaces that continue to limit, disrupt, and minimize our existence?”
“Kearny Street was the first Asian American organization I was exposed to,” said singersongwriter and composer Goh Nakamura, who participated in the 2007 edition of APAture and went on to score the 2020 Bruce Lee narrative documentary “Be Water.” “I’ve met just so many people through there who I still collaborate with to this day, including (pianist/ keyboardist) Art Hirahara and (drummer) Tim Bulkley. Ali Wong and my high school classmate Gene Yang sprung up from that scene too.”
Where is it, and how do I get there?
This year’s APAture will take place in three different locations. The opening and closing receptions, along with the Literary Arts Showcase on Friday, Oct. 28, are set to be hosted at Arc Gallery & Studios, which also houses the KSW offices. It’s located on 1246 Folsom St. between Eighth and Ninth streets, about three blocks from Civic Center BART Station and near Muni’s 19 and 27 lines.
Arc Gallery & Studios requires visitors to be masked while indoors.
The Film Showcase Screening & Talk, set for Sunday, Oct. 23, is scheduled at San Francisco’s Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., between Valencia and Guerrero streets. The Roxie is two blocks from the 16th Street BART Station; three blocks from the J-Church line; and serviced by 14, 22, 33 and 49 Muni lines.
The Multi-Arts Showcase on Saturday, Oct. 15, was hosted at Kapwa Gardens, 967 Mission St. between Fifth and Sixth streets.
A look at the program
“Grounding, a Film Showcase”: Documentary filmmaker Pallavi Somusetty is the featured artist for “Grounding, a Film Showcase,” which also includes works by AnQi Yu & Mel Guo, Katie Mansfield, Safa Doost, Michelle Cai and Mirrored Fatality.
Growing up in Fremont — “with two years in India as a teenager for being bad” — and currently residing in Oakland, Somusetty is a first-time APAture participant. “In the last three years, art is the thing that has kept me going, art that people have created or that I’ve created myself,” she said. “As BIPOC artists, our challenges are that much greater. And I think it’s just nice to have a little bit more support, especially from within our own communities.”
12:30-3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23. $10 general admission, $25 reserved seat with Kearny Street Workshop 50th anniversary Tshirt. Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., S.F. https://bit.ly/3Ci3iH9 “Voice, a Literary Arts Showcase”: Poet, writer and filmmaker Christine No is a veteran of the 2017 and 2019 APAture festivals and will be the featured artist for “Voice, a Literary Arts Showcase.” The event also includes poet Antmen Pimentel Mendoza, poet Keana Aguila Labra, writer
Diana Fu, Susan Calvillo, Aaron Fai and memoirist/writer Jen Soong.
Christine No was raised in Los Angeles’ Koreatown neighborhood and enrolled in KSW’s three-month Interdisciplinary Writers Lab in 2017 after moving to the Bay Area. “I got really excited because I had never been part of a community like that,” she said.
“I remember feeling a lot of anxiety about my first one,” she replied, when asked about her APAture debut in 2017. “But after a couple of years and getting to know the creative family at Kearny Street and the community, I feel a lot less self-conscious and share what autonomy has meant to me.”
7-9 p.m. Oct. 28. $5 live-stream ticket, $10 general admission, $25 reserved seat with Kearny Street Workshop 50th anniversary Tshirt and two drink tickets. Arc Gallery & Studios, 1246 Folsom St., S.F. https://bit.ly/3CEVBMx “Generosity, APAture 2022 Closing Reception” The closing reception and visual artists talk features a performance by writer Sarah K Matsui and a scheduled discussion by exhibited artists, including Kwon.
1-4 p.m. Oct. 30. Free with registration. Arc Gallery & Studios, 1246 Folsom St., S.F. https:// bit.ly/3Cfl79M
How do I get tickets?
The opening and closing receptions, as well as the MultiArts Showcase, are all free with registration. Tickets for the Film Showcase Screening & Talk and Literary Arts Showcase run from $10-$25, and there’s also a $50 all-access option that includes a Kearny Street Workshop 50th anniversary T-shirt and two drink tickets. Registration, ticket purchases and donations can all be done through www.kearnystreet.org/apature.