Immigrant Voices: CW + YMCA Chinatown
As part of our flagship Bay Area storytelling production Chinese Whispers: Golden GateSM we are excited to collaborate with the Chinatown YMCA on a series of transgenerational workshops about contemporary immigrant experiences. Together with the Y, we created workshops over the summer and fall for young adults as well as recent and longer-term Chinatown immigrants.
In the bright, comfortable environment of the Y’s beautifully renovated Julia Morgan building, participants shared compelling stories about their memories, hopes, and challenges as immigrants to America, and community elders shared their insights about older-generation immigrant experiences.
Long-time Y stakeholder and CW story-contributor Ford Lee and his wife Pat, who together captivated the audience in our April event, The Legacy of Exclusion event, wowed everyone again, this time as chefs serving up delicious meals to workshop participants.
The stories from these workshops will be incorporated into the full production of Chinese Whispers: Golden GateSM, to connect the historical and contemporary immigrant experiences. Stay tuned for developments on the full theater production!
These intimate workshop gatherings were powerful, healing and community-building experiences, and we are deeply touched by and salute the community’s courage, perseverance and resourcefulness. Many thanks to the Y staff, workshop participants, community elders, and to Y and CW volunteers, for making these workshops such a meaningful and continued success.
On the Horizon: San José Museum of Art
CW Director Rene Yung has been commissioned by the SJMA to create a site-specific installation for the upcoming exhibition Around the Table, Stage Three: Talk Around the Table. Located in the Museum’s Historic Wing, overlooking the site of San Jose’s former Market Street Chinatown, Rene’s installation Cauldron reflects on community and cultural sustenance through the terse dialogue between a 12 ft. by 9 ft. charcoal drawing of a single, iconic bowl of rice, and a historic rice bowl excavated from the Chinatown site. An interactive element will incorporate community dialogue on the meaning of rice and of sustenance. The installation opens on December 19th–mark your calendars! See sidebar for details.
Originally developed as a large-scale drawing installation, this iteration of Cauldron is part of Rene’s cross-platform work that connects history, place, culture and community, and is a continuation of her partnership with the Market Street Chinatown Archaeology Project: a community-based research and education collaboration between Stanford University, Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, History San José, and Environmental Science Associates.
CW at Intersection for the Arts
Rene Yung will represent Chinese WhispersSM as one of three panelists at Intersection for the Arts’ event, These are Our Stories on October 21st. The evening will include a roving series of site-specific performances by artists from Intersection’s Triangle Lab project, moderated by playwright and Chinese WhispersSM collaborator Eugenie Chan. For details, please see sidebar.
"Getting the Story Out": CW at Stanford
Chinese WhispersSM will feature in Rene Yung’s presentation “Getting the Story Out: Place and Public Memory in a Changing Social Landscape” at the Chinese Railroad Worker’s Project Archaeology Workshop, at Stanford University in October. The symposium will bring together archaeologists who have been working on sites, collections and topics related to Chinese railroad workers.
Let There Be Light: Autumn Moon Festival
The Mid Autumn Moon Festival is coming up on Thursday, September 19th. It is a time to gather, give thanks for the fullness of the year, and celebrate the moon at its roundest and brightest. Like Us on Facebook to get details about our special moon-viewing gathering that evening!
Wishing you a bountiful autumn!
—The Chinese Whispers Team
Meet the CW Community
Meet our growing community here! The CW Community is made up of all kinds of people spanning generations -- professionals, scholars, retirees, students, "regular folks" who joined us to bring forgotten stories to light.
