Activist Imagination: exploring and imagining the past, present and future of activism, the arts, and APA communities January 22, 2008

Kearny Street Workshop presents
Where We Are Now: Activism Today

Featuring Eric Mar, Diana Pei Wu, Favianna Rodriguez, and Le Tim Ly, and moderated by Robynn Takayama
an Activist Imagination event

Join Kearny Street Workshop and a panel of activists, artists, and organizers for a discussion about the present state of activism, the arts and community.

Where We Are Now: Activism Today takes place Tuesday, January 22nd, at Kearny Street Workshop's space180, located at 180 Capp Street, at 17th Street, San Francisco. The panel features San Francisco School Board member Eric Mar, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Program Director Diana Pei Wu, artist-activist and founding member of Eastside Arts Alliance Favianna Rodriguez, and activist and co-founder of Liberation Ink Le Tim Ly, and is moderated by community artist Robynn Takayama, and will examine, explore, and challenge the state of activism today.

Where We Are Now: Activism Today, is the second in a series of discussions that is part of KSW's Activist Imagination program exploring the past, present, and future of arts and activism. The Activist Imagination also features an exhibition of new work developed by three lead artists, Bob Hsiana, Donna Keiko Ozawa, and Christine Wong Yap, responding to and exploring the themes raised in the program. The visual exhibition opens Friday, February 29th, 2008, at KSW's space180.

Date & Time: Tuesday, January 22, 2008; 7pm

Location: Kearny Street Workshop's space180, 180 Capp Street, 3rd Floor, @ 17th Street, San Francisco

Cost: Free and open to the public.

The Activist Imagination project is made possible in part by a grant from the Creative Work Fund through support from the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the James Irvine Foundation. Activist Imagination is also supported in part by a grant from the San Francisco Foundation and from KSW's members and individual donors.

Above: banner image based on graphic design by Jenifer Wofford | www.wofflehouse.com.

More information: [email protected]; 415.503.0520; www.kearnystreet.org
About the panelists and moderator

Le Tim Ly is a first generation Chinese immigrant from Vietnam. He currently serves on the board of Youth United for Community Action (YUCA) in East Palo Alto and recently joined the staff at the Partnership for Immigrant Leadership and Action (PILA) as one of the program coordinators. In his experience working with grassroots social justice organizations, he found that the often tenuous relationships with foundations and the demands and expectations of the funding world represented a barrier to developing a long-term, visionary grassroots movement for justice. In 2004, Le co-founded Liberation Ink, an all volunteer apparel design and printing collective, to provide a new and alternative source of funding for grassroots organizing.
eric marEric Mar is a parent, teacher, and progressive educational leader who was elected to his first term to the San Francisco Board of Education in November 2000. As an independent, responsive and effective advocate for students, parents and teachers, Eric has an impressive track record of leadership and accomplishments which have improved educational opportunity and achievement for all public school students in San Francisco.


Eric is a longtime educator and community activist who has taught Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University since 1992. He is the past director of the Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights and former Acting Dean of New College of California School of Law. As a political leader, Eric was elected to the San Francisco Democratic Party Central Committee for three consecutive terms and served as its Second Vice-Chair. As a public interest attorney he served on the Human Rights Committee of the State Bar of California and the Civil Rights Committee of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. Eric lives in San Francisco’s Richmond District with his partner Sandra Chin Mar, an SFUSD teacher, and their 4 year old daughter Jade Justicia Mar. For more information please visit www.ericmar.com


Favianna Rodriguez is an Oakland-based artist-activist, technologist, and institution builder. She is one of the founders of Tumis. The mission of TUMIS is to develop effective communication strategies for the success of our communities. Offering services in technology, design and strategic planning. TUMIS is a people-of-color owned company with a team of planners, designers, artists, and computer programmers. With over 10 years of experience in our fields of expertise, our award-winning projects have garnered national recognition and impact. TUMIS is located in the heart of the San Antonio District in East Oakland, one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country. They form part of a mixed-use building project – with 16 units of affordable housing, a nonprofit children’s’ art and literacy space, grassroots community office spaces and a cornerstone community-serving, neighborhood Cultural Center. TUMIS, in collaboration with the other tenants, is serving as an anchor to community development happening in East Oakland’s long neglected 23rd Avenue Corridor. Favianna's dynamic political prints and posters tell a history of social justice, capturing the daily sentiments of a people in daily struggle, to document their efforts and celebrate their victories. Favianna’s work attempts to reclaim public space – community centers, streets, billboards – and to redefine that space through art, through youth workshops, and through the establishment of collective cultural spaces. Favianna is currently co-editing a book project entitled Reproduce and Revolt!, a graphic toolbox of over 600 high-quality black & white illustrations and graphics about political activism. With her signature energy and zeal, Favianna travels to share her inspirational work with others abroad. She has lectured numerously in Tokyo and Mexico City about the role of art and culture in community building. For more information visit www.favianna.com.

Image credit: Xicana Power: Viva La Xicana! Black and white sticker by Favianna Rodriguez.


Robynn Takayama is an award winning community artist whose audio work has been presented through video, web, radio, and gallery installation in San Francisco, Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Chicago. While working at Kinko’s, she published Static, a print zine on scams, pranks, and workplace sabotage. Her webzine, Nonogirl Radio, was featured in the Bay Guardian’s “SF Underground” and won a Machete Women of Color Award for Design and Content. She is a founding member of Webzine ‘98, a celebration of independent content online; an advisory member to Kearny Street Workshop; and a segment producer for Crossing East, an eight-hour radio documentary airing on public radio in May 2006. For more information, please visit www.webzine.nonogirl.com.
diana pei wu


Diana Pei Wu started organizing in the late 1980s on environmental issues in her high school, and on human rights after the massacre in Tiananmen Square. She is the Program Director of Education & Capacity Building at the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and continues to be an Associate of the Movement Strategy Center. Diana also continues to support local organizations working at the intersection of justice, movement building, community organizing, and cultural activism, such as Chin Jurn Wor Ping and Estación Libre Oakland. Diana has a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, plays capoeira with Capoeira Sangue Forte and dances with the Chinese drumming group Hei Gu.

Kearny Street Workshop is a community-based arts nonprofit based in San Francisco. Founded in 1972, KSW's mission is to produce and present art that enriches and empowers Asian Pacific American communities. Our vision is to achieve a more just society by connecting APA artists to community members to give voice to our cultural, historical, and contemporary issues. KSW offers workshops, visual exhibitions, readings, artist salons and panel discussions, an annual arts festival, and more. For more information, please visit www.kearnystreet.org

Official Website: http://kearnystreet.org