Cover and header photo courtesy of Visual Communications
This list is constantly updated. If you have any global recommendations for us to consider and include, please contact [email protected].
Sourced from @jezzchung, @impact on Instagram, David Yi, Mimi Vuong, as well as carrd.co pages.
Latest update: 3/5/21
COLLECTIVES & NETWORKS
APIA MN Film Collective
About: The Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) Minnesotan Film Collective is an award-winning initiative to create, promote, and empower underrepresented and low-income filmmakers in Minnesota. We will build our community’s artistic and economic vitality through filmmaking by providing free programs throughout the Twin Cities.
Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon’s Arts & Media Project
About: It is a group of Asian and Pacific Islander artists and creatives that use art to advance social justice. AMP was formed in 2014, as part of APANO’s cultural organizing program. It has an active core of about 15-20 members as well as a larger collective membership of about 50 since its inception. Anyone who self-identifies as API and is interested in using art to advance APANO’s mission is welcome to join
Asian American Collective
About: We are a collective of #DOPEASIANS in music, media, entertainment, and creative spaces.
Asian American Documentary Network
About: A-Doc is a national network that works to increase the visibility and support of Asian Americans in the documentary field. We welcome and include filmmakers who self-identify as Asian American, recognizing that this is a porous, evolving definition. We encourage members from the broader Asian American community to be active.
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
About: The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) is devoted to creating, publishing, developing and disseminating creative writing by Asian Americans, and to providing an alternative literary arts space at the intersection of migration, race, and social justice.
Bubble T
About: Bubble_T is a community of collaborative and creative minds continuing the conversation of visibility, inclusiveness, diversity and love. An Asian/Pacific/Queer collective focussed on supporting and lifting the community we share.
CAAM (Center for Asian American Media)
About: The Center for Asian American Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audience possible.
CAPE
About: CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) changes representation in Hollywood through three main verticals (1) nurturing and engaging creative talent and executive leadership, (2) providing content and cultural consulting, and (3) championing projects for critical box office and streaming success.
Cinema Sala
About: A bi-monthly screening/workshop series for Filipinx works including film, music, and beyond. Our goal is to provide representation to people who do not see themselves in mainstream mass media and inspire a new movement of Filipinx filmmakers that can change and enrich their culture, wherever they may be in the world.
Dear Asian Youth
About: We are a group of Asian youths striving to uplift marginalized communities through education, activism, and celebration. Dear Asian Youth was founded in May of 2020 by Stephanie Hu, a 16-year-old who wished to create a platform to publish her poetry. It evolved into a blog dedicated to the Asian narrative, then a literary magazine, then a full-fledged organization with over 100 members on the national team. Functioning remotely, the organization today is the result of passionate volunteers with a shared purpose
Filipino American Artist Directory
About: Filipino American Artist Directory is a participatory artist project by St. Louis-based artist Janna Añonuevo Langholz to connect and make visible the broad community of visual artists of Filipino heritage living and working in and between the United States and the Philippines. Through a geographic survey of creative work being produced in the scope of US empire, it aims to turn history back on itself in the retelling of Filipino American experience as told by Filipino American artists and be a catalyst for radical change in the art world.
Gold House
About: Gold House is the premier nonprofit collective of Asian founders, creative voices, and leaders dedicated to unifying the world’s largest populace–Asians–to enable more authentic multicultural representation and societal equity.
Hot Pot
About: Hot Pot is an online community and independent creative studio curating community-led stories told through live events, film, music, and design. Their most recent live event, Year of the Aux was held during Lunar New Year and they held donations where all of their proceeds went directly towards the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.
Kollaboration
About: Kollaboration today is a community organization dedicated to supporting Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi Americans (APIDA) who aspire to pursue a career in the arts.
Lions Share
About: We’re a community that uplifts the best of Asian creativity and culture on Twitch and Discord. Join us!
Next GenerAsian
About: Next GenerAsian exists to empower and inspire action within the next generation of Asians through media, storytelling, spotlights, and more.
Pacific Arts Movement
About: So you’ve made a film — and you think it’s good. Better yet, you’re an Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander filmmaker looking for a platform, or your work sheds new light on Asian Pacific Islander communities, expands our knowledge of Asian American cultures, or shows new possibilities for Asians onscreen. Guess what? They want to see it!
Pacific Islanders in Communication
About: PIC was established in Honolulu in 1991 as a national non-profit media arts organization. PIC is a member of the National Multicultural Alliance (NMCA), which collectively addresses the need for programming that reflects America's growing ethnic and cultural diversity.
QNA
About: According to AnOther, QNA is an inclusive space honouring QTBIPOC bodies and celebrating different aspects of Asian culture with themed nights dedicated to genres like Bollywood, Filipino mythology and Shibari – the ancient art of Japanese bondage.
Slant'd Media
About: Slant’d is a collective of Asian Americans celebrating the journey of self discovery.
Third Eye Collective
About: Third Eye Collective is a professional community + career hub for South Asian creatives. With an ecosystem of resources, we propel representation.
Tuesday Night Project
About: To provide Asian American, Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (AANHPI), Little Tokyo, and greater Los Angeles communities with a number of diverse and dynamic public art and culture programs in safe community spaces where people can connect through creative expression and social engagement.
GRANTS & EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
Act To Change
About: Youth will be encouraged to participate in the #KindnessHeals campaigns through submitting photos of their PPE mask designs or a short video explaining the inspiration of their PPE mask design. ATC, DKII, and APAC will create an educational curriculum and kits to accompany the #KindnessHeals campaign for classroom use.
HBO APA Visionaries
About: HBO Asian Pacific American Visionaries is a short film competition sponsored by HBO that provides emerging directors of Asian and/or Pacific Islander descent the opportunity to showcase their work.
Pacific Islanders in Communications’ Media Fund
About: The Media Fund is PIC's standing funding initiative, which provides funds for single non-fiction projects about the indigenous Pacific Islander experience for three critical phases of production: Research and Development (R&D), Production, and Post-production. Projects applying to the Media Fund must be intended for national public television broadcast, and therefore must be able to enter into a production agreement – this is not your typical grant.
Visual Communications
About: Visual Communications’s mission is to develop and support the voices of Asian American and Pacific Islander filmmakers and media artists who empower communities and challenge perspectives.
FILM FESTIVALS
Asian American International Film Festival
About: The Asian American International Film Festival features independent films by both local artists of Asian descent and international filmmakers, whose original works shed light on the Asian community. Screenings take place in Midtown, Chelsea, and the Upper East Side.
Austin Asian American Film Festival (AAAFF)
About: The mission of the Austin Asian American Film Festival (AAAFF) is to tell Asian and Asian American stories via media arts and help Asian Americans explore opportunities in cinema.
Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF)
About: Boston Asian American Film Festival (BAAFF) empowers Asian Americans through film by showcasing Asian American experiences and serving as a resource to filmmakers and the Greater Boston Community.
CAAMFest FORWARD
About: From October 14-18, 2020, CAAMFest FORWARD will bring you the best in Asian and Asian American stories through live virtual film screenings, on-demand screenings, and at San Francisco's only drive-in theater at Fort Mason Center.
DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival
About: DC Asian Pacific American Film was established to be the beacon of creative output of Asian and Asian American media arts through community outreach, social media platforms, collaborative efforts with other Asian Pacific American organizations, and a film festival.
DisOrient
About: DisOrient is the premiere Asian American independent film festival of Oregon, celebrating films with authentic Asian Pacific American voices, histories and stories. We highlight social justice themes that translate to universal human experiences. We promote representation, diversity and inclusion to broaden the narrative of who is American, and to strengthen and build community.
LA Asian Pacific Film Fest
About: The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival celebrates the achievements of Asian Pacific cinematic artists and communities.
Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival
About: Philadelphia Asian American Film & Filmmakers is a non-profit dedicated to supporting Asian & Pacific Islander (AAPI) diasporic* film and media makers. Their premiere event, The Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival (PAAFF), emphasizes artworks that are by, for, and about the Asian & Pacific Islander diaspora experience.
Seattle Asian American Film Festival (SAAFF)
About: It is the only film festival in Seattle to provide a space for Asian American voices, perspectives, and histories by screening independent films that reflect the diversity and richness of the city’s Asian American community.
Singapore International Film Festival – Film Fund 2021
About: The Singapore International Film Festival is accepting projects for the Asian-Short Film Grant (SEA-SHORTS) and the Southeast Asian-Documentary Grant (SEADOC) until February 15th, 2021. Here you can find more information about their call for projects. *Only for filmmakers from Southeast Asia*
The Asian Film Festival of Dallas (AFFD)
About: The Asian Film Festival of Dallas (AFFD) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and supporting emerging and established Asian and Asian-American filmmakers and sharing the rich diversity of Asian culture through the medium of cinema.
Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF)
About: VAFF is dedicated to promoting and celebrating the diversity and depth of Asian culture and identity in film and media, and to help North American Asian actors and filmmakers more authentically and more powerfully define and express themselves on screen.
PUBLICATIONS
Angry Asian Man
About: This is a blog about Asian America.
AsianAmericansNow
About: AANOW (Asian-Americans Now) features stories that are relevant to today’s Asian-Americans. From human interest docs to aspirational content, AANOW strives to tell stories that have a resonate with our Asian background in today’s modern world.
Banana Magazine
About: Banana strives to navigate through the blurred Eastern and Western boundaries to create a voice for contemporary Asian culture.
Brown Girl Magazine
About: Brown Girl Magazine was created by and for South Asian womxn, who believe in the power of storytelling as a vehicle for community building and empowerment.
Character Media
About: Formerly known as “Kore Asian Media,” “Character Media” reports on the latest in Asian American culture, entertainment and news. In early 2019, we changed our name to “Character Media” to better reflect the entire Asian diaspora. “Characters” are people in movies, films and books. “Character” is a symbol in an Asian language. And “character” is the quality that makes each human unique. We are “Character Media.”
Hyphen
About: Hyphen is a news and culture magazine, media outlet and community partner, that illuminates Asian America through hard-hitting investigative features on the cultural and political trends shaping the fastest-growing ethnic population in the country.
Mochi
About: As the longest-running online publication for Asian American women, our mission is to give you the content, resources and inspo you’ve been searching for — all from the (highly under-represented) Asian perspective.
NextShark
About: Shark Bites: Your weekly dose of Asian America and the world in under 5 minutes!
EXTRA RESOURCES BEYOND THE CREATIVE REALM
ANTI-ASIAN VIOLENCE RESOURCES
About: Resources that have been gathered to help individuals educate others, take action, donate, and more
Asians 4 Antiracism
About: Two NYC teens dedicated to dismantling the Asian perpetuation of racism within ourselves and the broader Asian community. Their content is geared to dismantle racism in all of its forms i.e. anti-Blackness, healthcare inequities, etc.
AAJC (Asian Americans Advancing Justice)
About: Fighting for civil rights and empowering Asian Americans to create a more just America for all.
Asian American Advocacy Fund
About: The Asian American Advocacy Fund is a grassroots 501(c)4 social welfare organization dedicated to building a politically-conscious, engaged, and progressive Asian American base in Georgia.
Asians Do Therapy
About: ADT’s mission is in highlighting Asian people’s experience in therapy and as therapists and sharing culturally relevant information, more Asians and Asian Americans will seek therapy as a resource, available and meant for us.
APIENC
About: APIENC builds queer and transgender Asian and Pacific Islander power to amplify our voices and increase the visibility of our communities. Through organizing in the Bay Area, we inspire and train grassroots leaders, transform our values from scarcity to abundance, and partner with organizations to sustain a vibrant movement ecosystem.
APISAA (Asian, Pacific Islander, and South Asian American) Therapist Directory
About: It is their hope that this resource would help to facilitate your search for a therapist.
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
About: They are leading a transition away from an extractive economy based on profit and pollution and toward local, healthy, and life-sustaining economies that benefit everyone
Compassion in Oakland
About: They strive to provide the Oakland Chinatown Community with a resource for promoting safety and community. We aim to embrace the often forgotten, underserved, and vulnerable. They promote compassion not indifference, unity as opposed to divisiveness. Fostering a more caring and safer Oakland for all.
Detox Local
About: A list of 26 AAPI Addiction and Mental Health Resources that was created during the pandemic due to the rise in hate crimes in the AAPI community.
SDA (StopDiscriminASIAN)
About: Stop DiscriminAsian (SDA) is a coalition of workers within arts and culture who are confronting the racism, xenophobia and violence towards diasporic Asians that have been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic
Stop AAPI Hate
About: Our communities stand united against racism. Hate against Asian American Pacific Islander communities has risen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, we can stop it.
For a list of more organizations to support, visit gofundme.com/AAPI.
Alaine Fredzel Aro Farin
Freshman at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Earring enthusiast. Born in Manila, Philippines to Alfredo and Hazel, thus the second first name Fredzel. Yes, I have two first names and I find them very telling of the kind of stories I want to share: mimetic and cathartic ones. My first names are attached to a story of immigration and divorce and hardship in America that has all framed who I am today.
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