the 2007 apia spoken word & poetry summit

The summit was conceived by Jojo Gaon & Maya Santos of isangmahal arts kollective and Marlon Esguerra & Anida Yoeu Esguerra of I Was Born with Two Tongues. The indelible bond between isangmahal and the crew that eventually became 2Tongues formed over a 24-hour period in August 1998—brewed from an isangmahal open-mic in a remote suburb of Chicago and incubated over a National Filipino American Youth Association conference 120 miles south in the Midwestern heartland. From city to city, isangmahal and 2Tongues not only reconnected with each other, but also witnessed APIA artist communities emerge from all corners of America—all centered around the power of the spoken word.

In 2000, atop a grassy knoll in Seattle, someone blurted, “you know what would be great to have?” The idea of the summit came out of that moment. The four organizers brought the idea for the summit to their respective groups in the hopes of cultivating a similar bond on a national level. The summit was intended to be a gathering amongst APIA artists who are activists and/or organizers or have the intention of getting involved within their local communities and within the larger Asian American Movement. By using the term “Asian American Movement” we are by no means excluding historically marginalized communities within The Movement—i.e. Pacific Islanders, Immigrant/Refugee communities, multi-racial peoples, and etc. The gathering was to focus on the artistry as much as the issues.

Both isangmahal and 2Tongues recognized the impact of the Asian American movement on their lives–a movement which has helped redefine and love themselves beyond basic identity politic, beyond the rhetoric and propaganda, and onto a path of changing this world into something worth living in and fighting for. They sought to gather these communities together in one location, under one roof. The goals were to share our stories & experiences and to realize that none of us were alone in this movement. This would be no ordinary gathering.

Seattle: July 28 – 30, 2001

The first summit was a ground-breaking event- first of its kind in mobilizing and empowering APIA Poets and Spoken Word artists on a national scale. The summit was held at Seattle University where over 120 artists from over 12 cities gathered for 3-days in Seattle. The first summit was strategically planned to precede the National Poetry Slam 2001 inorder to increase APIA representation at NPS. Some participants stayed for an additional week to help support APIA artists participating in NPS.

The theme of the first summit, “First there was the WORD…then there was the FIST!” highlighted the oral tradition of story-telling and poetry as a fundamental medium for creating culture, preserving history and transforming community and self. Summit events included: a welcoming performance by isangmahal arts kollective and I was Born with Two Tongues, writing and performance intensive workshops throughout the 3 days including improvisational exercises, creation mythology, ethnographic exercises, group poetry and performances, group and panel discussions facilitated by artists, a showcase highlighting work from all participants (open to the public), and a family meeting to review and re-envision the state of Asian America as it pertains to the artist as activist, organizer and a conscience voice in the community.

For this inaugural summit in 2001, isangmahal enlisted the support of various Filipino Americans and student groups from the University of Washington and Seattle University. Registration fees were purposely kept low at $20 for the artists; these artists already had to worry about travel, accommodations and food. The majority of summit costs were absorbed between isangmahal and 2Tongues. The Asian American Writers’ Workshop donated a significant amount during our Beg-A-Thon Letter Fundraiser efforts. Other donations came from participants and supporters from around the country. University co-sponsorship helped to get us space and discounts on housing and van rentals. All facilitators donated their time. The official co-sponsors included The Asian American Writers’ Workshop, United Filipino Club of Seattle University, Filipino American Student Association of University of Washington, Northwest Asian American Theater, and Wing Luke Asian Museum.

Summit 2001 transformed people from attendee to familia through a demonstration claming I SPEAK ENGLISH, peer workshops, group challenges bridging myth and oral history, and a four-hour performance that spilled out onto 7th Avenue and Jackson Street. What followed was the biggest, most tearful group hug Seattle had ever seen, rippling through Asian America. We stayed to support our fellow brothers and sisters in the National Poetry Slam, and we were rewarded with the work of Beau Sia and Bao Phi on the finals night stage. We left wanting to reunite this family as soon as possible. The listserv went crazy, the thousands of photos that were taken were posted, and a video went into production. The APIA summit marked a momentous occasion in not only recognizing the new voices of Asian America but also creating enduring bonds between people, stories and struggles.

Chicago: August 1 – 4, 2003

The 2nd National APIA Spoken Word and Poetry summit was hosted in Chicago and organized by members of the Asian American Artists Collective. The summit was co-sponsored by Hostelling International-Chicago, Diaspora Flow, and the DePaul University Women's Studies Program. Local APIA artists from across the nation also sponsored local benefit performances in their respective cities Chicago, Seattle, LA, Minneapolis, Bay Area to generate additional support to Summit 2003. The dates selected for the summit also preceded the dates of the National Poetry Slam held in Chicago.

The theme from the first summit, "First there was the WORD...then there was the FIST!" underscored the need to build a progressive, national dialogue among APIA artists and community. The Summit continued the legacy of highlighting the oral tradition of story-telling and poetry as a fundamental medium for creating culture, preserving history and transforming community. In addition, this summit focused on connecting generations of APIA poets, spoken word artist and performers. The summit brought together youth and elders to facilitate an intergenerational dialogue. Over 175 people gathered over 4 days, building upon the historic, inaugural event in 2001.

The 2nd Summit convened one day earlier to include an entire day devoted to APIA youth activities including group-building exercises, performance and writing primers, and youth-led workshops from Young Asians with Power (Chicago), GenerAsian Next (Philadelphia) and Youth Speaks (Seattle). Incorporating workshops, showcases and regional meetings, the four-day Summit proved to be challenging work for its participants. In emphasizing a true intergenerational dialogue, a special youth day was planned for over 50 teens attending. Special invitations were sent to many pioneering APIA artists including Nobuko Miyamoto, Dan Kwong, Genny Lim, Denise Uyehara, Lane Nishikawa, and Jude Narita. Because of the short notice, only Nobuko Miyamoto and Genny Lim could attend and participate. Summit 2003 activities included expanded workshops that ranged from artist and career management to art as an organizing tool, from race as performance to gender politics. Panel discussions and master classes were facilitated by participating artists and organizations from across North America including Nobuko Miyamoto, Genny Lim, zero3, Daren Mooko, Robert Karimi, isangmahal arts kollective, Mango Tribe, Maewon, and many more.

Two evening performances were held on Saturday, August 2nd and Sunday, August 3rd at Chicago’s Vittum Theater. Over the course of two nights, the performance works spanned both generations and geography, redefining images and stories from Asian America. We divided the showcase into two evenings and held it at a larger venue to accommodate all the participants and the larger community as well. On evening two, in a particularly emotional moment, performance poetry legend, Genny Lim, spoke to us and shared riveting poems about her own losses in order to help us release the grief and pain many were feeling. In those moments, we comforted one another, sang and chanted, grieved and celebrated. We came together as a community ready to catch one another – this is the spirit of the summit. This is the point of community. The summit is never meant to be about the showcases. The showcase is supposed to be a place where people can share a piece of themselves with one another. The showcase is a point of departure and a point of reference to talk to one another about what we do.

Workshops continued on Monday as planned with additional rooms opened for those who needed safe spaces to continue informal discussions. Attendees also participated in a big Family Meeting to discuss the future of the APIA Summit and to fill out evaluations. Summit 2003 concluded at the HotHouse with a final “roast” show for I Was Born With Two Tongues. Those who did not get a chance to perform on Sunday evening, were also given a chance to speak their words prior to the 2Tongues final show. Summit 2003 in Chicago proved to be just as powerful and phenomenal as the first summit held in Seattle.

Boston: August 18-21, 2005

The 3rd National APIA Spoken Word and Poetry Summit took place in Boston in the summer of 2005, presented by the Boston Progress Arts Collective, as well as the Asian American Resource Workshop and the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth. Additional support came from the Asian American Center at Northeastern University, the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center, and ImaginAsian Entertainment.

The momentum that began in 2001 in Seattle and 2003 in Chicago continued in 2005, with an intense and intentional effort toward connecting the national APIA spoken word and poetry communities with the long local history of struggle for equality in Boston and in other communities across the country. This was the first summit to take place away from the National Poetry Slam.

Our very first donation came from a Cambodian refugee without her own bank account; she gave a ten-dollar bill to a community leader in Philadelphia, and asked him to send us a check in that amount. Fundraisers were held in Boston, as well as the Bay Area, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, and Philadelphia. That kind of excitement carried over to the rest of the summit as over 150 registrations arrived from 16 states and 4 countries.

The focus on trying to bridge local community organizations and movements with artists and community organizers on a national level resulted in programming such as field trips introducing participants to some of the neighborhoods with significant Asian American population and history of resistance: Chinatown, Fields Corner, the South End, and Allston, as well as places outside the city, such as Lowell, Quincy, and Revere. In addition, local community organizers and leaders were invited to a community dinner and encouraged to showcase their organizations and activities to the rest of the summit in the adjoining gallery.

Another new feature at the Boston summit was the creation of a "living room," where folks could gather to kick back away from structured programming, but without having to leave the summit -- created from the result of feedback from past summits.

Taking its cue from Chicago's summit, Boston's summit convened on a Thursday to bring youth together from different parts of country, including large groups from Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Facilitated by Regie Cabico, Adriel Luis, Vidya Rao, and Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai, Youth Day connected young people through the worlds opened up through writing and performing. That evening, Boston's local organizers revealed one of their motivations by unleashing a hip hop concert – open to the public – at the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center, which featured local emcee Kabir, and special guests DJ D Double, Denizen Kane, Native Guns, and Blue Scholars.

Trying to cater to all members of our community, the 2005 summit featured a new concept for showcases: Friday night's showcase at the Hernandez Center was open to the public, allowing us to share ourselves with the entire city, whereas Saturday night's showcase at Northeastern University was open only to summit family, where we could support each other in a way that felt private and familiar. Both events paid tribute to trailblazing APIA artists: Regie Cabico, one of the first APIA slam poets on the scene, closed the first showcase and Corky Lee presented a slideshow of his photography at the second one. He was also kind enough to allow us to display his work in the living room for the entire weekend as well as taking a large summit-wide photo before he ran to catch his train (serving in the tradition of summit photographer as our previous summit photographer David Huang was unable to make it this time).

After dancing till 3am to DJ D Double, Sabzi, and DJ Marcsui at the Golden Leaf in Chinatown, the final day of the summit was another historic one, as a vetting and voting process was instituted at the Family Meeting (held at Cambridge College) to decide on the host of 2007's summit. Geologic and Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai facilitated the discussion and New Orleans was officially selected as the next summit site. After lunch, folks passed in and out the doors of East Meets West, the independent bookstore managed by Boston Progress, waited for their rides to the airport, and set their sights on doing it all again in another two years.