What do you think of when you hear the word "Asian"? Brown students answered questions such as this one on camera Feb. 15 - Feb. 16 in the Friedman Study Center.
The organizers of this year's Asian Arts Festival - Hee Kyung Chung, '09, Janine Kwoh '09, Katharine Joo '09 and Wendy Chen '09 - made a video exploring what Brown students think about Asian and Asian-American issues to be presented at the festival on March 3.
The theme of the festival is "Strokes of Unity: Tracing Our Heritage and Community," and its goal is "to combine the expression of art with the expression of Asian-American identity," Joo said.
"Most of the performances are influenced by cultural traditions, so we're acknowledging and embracing that, using it to strengthen our community," Kwoh said.
The festival, which is one of the primary fundraising events for the Asian American Students Association, traditionally draws a large, diverse crowd each year, according to its organizers.
"The festival is an opportunity for different student groups who are interested in Asian and Asian-American issues to express themselves, and it's an opportunity to increase awareness of such groups on campus," Chung said.
"Our work is largely political in nature, so it's a way to raise awareness in a different sense, give people exposure to different Asian cultures in a lot of mediums," Kwoh said.
The lineup of groups performing at the festival include the Break Dancing Club, Brown Lion Dance, Tang Soo Do, Brown Tae Kwon Do, Amnesty International, Off Beat, the Filipino Alliance, Archipelag-a, Badmaash and the Brown Hapa Club.
The festival will be held Saturday, March 3 at 7 p.m. in Salomon 101. Tickets will be sold for $3 at the mailroom the week before the show and will also be available at the door.
