Kearny Street Workshop
Encyclopedia
Kearny Street Workshop in San Francisco, California, is the oldest multidisciplinary arts nonprofit addressing Asian Pacific American issues.
The organization's mission is to produce and present art that enriches and empowers Asian Pacific American communities.
Kearny Street Workshop, or "KSW" was founded as an artists' collective in 1972 in the International Hotel
on San Francisco's Kearny Street. The founders—Jim Dong, Lora Joh Foo, and Mike Chin—and early leaders were involved with the Asian American Movement, a Civil Rights Movement
-inspired period of organizational and community building in the 1970s. Evicted from the I-Hotel along with the building's other tenants in one of San Francisco's most long-lived and contentious city development battles, KSW has wandered through various sites in Chinatown/Manilatown, North Beach, and SOMA. The organization now has a gallery and performance space in the SOMA District at ARC Studios and Gallery - 1246 Folsom Street, in San Francisco, CA, USA.
KSW's past and present programs include a small poetry press, visual arts, martial arts, and writing classes, readings, music, gallery exhibitions, performances, and film screenings, as well as the Asian American Jazz Festival and the annual emerging artists festival APAture.
Some of KSW's famous participants include Russell Leong
, famous author and philosopher of Asian American studies.
The organization's mission is to produce and present art that enriches and empowers Asian Pacific American communities.
Kearny Street Workshop, or "KSW" was founded as an artists' collective in 1972 in the International Hotel
International Hotel
International Hotel may refer to:* International Hotel , a historic building* The I-Hotel, a residential hotel and community center in San Francisco, California* The former name of the Las Vegas Hilton...
on San Francisco's Kearny Street. The founders—Jim Dong, Lora Joh Foo, and Mike Chin—and early leaders were involved with the Asian American Movement, a Civil Rights Movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
-inspired period of organizational and community building in the 1970s. Evicted from the I-Hotel along with the building's other tenants in one of San Francisco's most long-lived and contentious city development battles, KSW has wandered through various sites in Chinatown/Manilatown, North Beach, and SOMA. The organization now has a gallery and performance space in the SOMA District at ARC Studios and Gallery - 1246 Folsom Street, in San Francisco, CA, USA.
KSW's past and present programs include a small poetry press, visual arts, martial arts, and writing classes, readings, music, gallery exhibitions, performances, and film screenings, as well as the Asian American Jazz Festival and the annual emerging artists festival APAture.
Some of KSW's famous participants include Russell Leong
Russell Leong
Russell Charles Leong is an academic editor, a professor, a writer, and Chen Taichiquan instructor. He is currently an adjunct professor English and Asian-American studies at the University of California at Los Angeles...
, famous author and philosopher of Asian American studies.