SAVE THE DATE: Saturday January 25
Chinese New Year Banquet
Block your calendars. We will share more details once they are finalized next month. Can't wait to see you there!
Volunteers Requested:
Indy International Festival
The 2024 Indy International Festival is being hosted at the Hancock County Fairgrounds this year. IACA will have a booth that we need to staff for three days.
Would you be willing to sit at our IACA booth for a 2-3 hour shift on any of these dates below?
Thursday November 14 from 2 pm - 8 pm
Friday November 15 from 2 pm - 8 pm
Saturday November 16 from 10 am - 8 pm
This would be a fantastic way to support IACA's mission. No experience needed. The only requirement is that you come with a friendly face and willingness to share Chinese culture with event visitors.
IACA Member Wins 2024 Indiana Heritage Fellowship Award
The Indiana Heritage Fellowship Award, granted by Traditional Arts Indiana, recognizes a traditional artist who has made outstanding contributions to their artistic tradition and to their community. The award honors an individual’s long-term achievement within an art form that is rooted in community life in Indiana. Recipients of this award will receive an honorarium of $1,000 and an art prize.
We are delighted to announce that our very own Kwan Hui was selected as one of two recipients of the 2024 Indiana Heritage Fellowship Award! This is what Traditional Arts Indiana shared:
Mr. Kwan Hui’s introduction to the art of lion dance began in 1990 when he received an antique lion costume from Mr. Henry Chung, an early Chinese resident in central Indiana. Inspired by this gift, Mr. Kwan engaged himself in mastering the iconic art of lion dance through self-learning and studying archive VHS recordings of the performance. Over the last three decades, Mr. Kwan has established himself as a renowned performer and instructor of lion dancing. His impact began in the Chinese American community of Indianapolis and has now grown to reach a wider community. Mr. Kwan aims to safeguard this traditional performance and pass it on to the next generation.
Congratulations Kwan! Thank you for making us all proud!
IACA Member Recognized by
Children's Museum of Indianapolis
Council Member Vicky Ko was recently recognized by the Children's Museum of Indianapolis as a model volunteer. We're always proud when one of our own gets recognized for community service excellence in our city!
National Study on Chinese Americans Reveals Increasing Mental Health Challenges
Committee of 100, a non-profit membership organization of prominent Chinese Americans, and NORC at the University of Chicago, one of the largest independent social research organizations in the United States, recently unveiled its ‘State of Chinese Americans’ study, a survey focused on areas of mental health, political preferences, discrimination, and diversity of the Chinese American population.
In the survey, two-thirds of Chinese Americans (68%) stated they face at least one form of discrimination in an average month, with a large percentage of the Chinese American community stating they continue to struggle with mental health. 43% of those surveyed say they felt depressed and 39% reporting having felt worthless. 61% say that the language and rhetoric used by the U.S. news media when reporting on U.S.–China relations negatively affects how strangers treat them; and about a quarter of the respondents say their relationship with acquaintances (26%) and coworkers (25%) has also been negatively impacted by the relationship. On the U.S. – China relationship overall, nearly ninety percent (89%) of Chinese Americans view the current U.S. China relationship as negative.
Overall conclusions from the survey include Chinese Americans having high levels of concern about U.S. and China relations, particularly as relations affect how Chinese Americans are treated by others; that they are a diverse and excited electorate, yet uncaptured by either major party; they still frequently face discrimination in everyday life, and; are diverse when it comes to nativity and birthplace.