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Keep your favorite KBCS programs going strong in the new year. Include KBCS in your year-end giving plans by making a tax-deductible donation today, and thank you in advance.

$140,000 Goal

15.80%

Drive ends: December 31, 2023

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The Future of US-China Relations

Governor Gary Locke, who serves as Interim President at Bellevue College spoke on campus about the future of US-China relations on May 16th. 

Governor Locke served as Washington State Governor from 1997-2005.  He served as the 36th US Secretary of Commerce from 2009 to 2011 and as ambassador to China from 2011 to 2014. 

The event was hosted by Bellevue College Business Leadership Community and the Asian Pacific Islander Student Association.

Special thanks to Bellevue College Digital Media Arts Department for the recording.

 

Transforming Intergenerational Pain into Inspiration and Strength

 
Lauren Iida is a local artist, whose work adorns public spaces including the Washington State Convention Center, Plymouth Housing in Seattle and Uncle Bob’s place in Seattle’s Chinatown International District.  Her main medium is hand-cut paper. 
 
Iida’s Japanese American grandparents were incarcerated during WWII.  They were among 120,000  people of Japanese descent who were forcibly removed from the west coast into barracks in the deserts of the interior US.  She describes how she processes her family’s trauma, and how it’s inspired her artwork.
 
Iida is represented by ArtXchange Gallery. She’ll be unveiling a 30 foot paper memory net featuring symbolic objects from the book, Swimmers, written by Julie Otsuka, May 19th at 7 pm at the Seattle Public Library Central Branch in downtown Seattle. Otsuka will be speaking about the book.  Registration will be required for the event
 
Producer: Yuko Kodama
Photo: From
Lauren Iida

Lauren Iida

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Northwest African American Museum

 
The Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) just reopened its doors in January, 2023 after 3 years of closure for renovation.  Find out about the variety of programs the museum offers, and some of the current exhibits,  with the museum’s President and CEO, LaNesha DeBardelaben.
 
Producer: Yuko Kodama -Special thanks to Jalisa Bass for help with editing.
Photo: Anthony Bolante
 

Children’s Film Festival Seattle

 
Children’s Film Festival Seattle, is finishing up this weekend.  There’s still time for you to catch a flick with a kid, or to satiate your inner child.  The festival features over 150 films from dozens of countries. Showings are at Northwest Film Forum in Seattle’s Capitol Hill, or you can view all the films online through the end of the weekend.  
 
KBCS interviewed the Festival’s Director, Kendra Sherrill, about event highlights, and why an independent film festival for kids is important.  
 
Producer: Yuko Kodama
Photo: by Derek Edamura
Kendra Sherrill
Kendra Sherrill

NW African American Museum’s African American Cultural Experience Choir

The Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) is possibly the only museum in the country to house a choir.  NAAM was closed for renovation until January, 2023. During the pandemic, the African American Cultural Experience choir became the mobile arm of the museum. The choral group shares Black/US history  with the community through music that expresses the Black experience. 

Listen in on this excerpt of a KBCS interview with NAAM President and CEO, LaNesha DeBardelaben about the significance of this choir.  

Producer: Yuko Kodama Special thanks to Jalisa Bass for contributing to editing

Photo: NAAM

Music Clips: NAAM ACE Choir and KNKX

NW African American Museum's African American Cultural Ensemble singing

Open Studio Cambodia Exhibit

How are Cambodian artists approaching contemporary art today? Lauren Iida is an Artist and  Founder of Open Studio Cambodia, an artist collective based in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Iida founded this organization in  2018.  It mentors, represents, and provides supplies and communal studio and gallery space to a small group of local Cambodian contemporary artists.

KBCS spoke with Iida at The Vestibule in Ballard, where Open Studio Cambodia artists’ work is featured through December 17th in the exhibit, Starting to Work Again: Contemporary Cambodian Art.  She describes the contemporary art scene in Cambodia today and introduces some of the artists featured in this exhibit.

Producer: Yuko Kodama

Photo: Lauren Iida

Lauren Lida

Lauren Lida

Stand-up Comedian and Writer, Julie Kim

 
Julie Kim is a Canadian Stand-up Comedian and writer for TV and film. She has toured with Canadian Comedian, Ronny Chieng and has written for TV programs such as  CBC’s (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Kim’s Convenience and for actor Simu Liu as he hosted the Juno Awards, the prominent Canadian music awards event.  Kim will be at Seattle’s Crocodile on December 1st at 7:00pm.
 
Producer: Yuko Kodama
 
Julie Kim

Julie Kim

Teaching Lushootseed to Toddlers

Lushootseed  is the language spoken by Coast Salish tribes in the greater Seattle area and north to Skagit River Valley near Bellingham and Whidbey Island, and south to Olympia and Shelton. In 1819, Congress passed the Civilization Fund Act to assimilate indigenous youth to western culture.  The policy authorized forcible separation of indigenous children from their families to be sent to boarding schools far away, where they were to be stripped of their language, culture and religious practices.  It wasn’t until the 1970’s that this practice was outlawed.  This caused a severe disruption in likelihood for traditional practices and lifestyles to continue.

Today, members of these communities are reawakening their native tongue through education to everyone from 6 month olds, elementary and high school students and adults.

Jasmyne Diaz is an enrolled Tulalip member and shares a peek into her work of teaching Lushootseed language as a Teacher Assistant to  six-month to two-year old children in Tulalip, Washington through the Tulalip Lushootseed Language Program

Producers: Laura Florez and Yuko Kodama

Jasmyne Diaz

Women’s Voices from the Holocaust

The performance, The Ruins of Memory: Women’s Voices of the Holocaust highlights the experiences of Jewish women throughout the European continent who navigated their way through a horrific time in the 20th century. It’s performed by Tales of the Alchemysts Theatre at Taproot Theater this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  You can find more information on the event here.

Producer: Yuko Kodama

Laura Ferri

Laura Ferri

Photo: by Michael Loggins

Reawakening Lushootseed Language: Language Warriors

Lushootseed  is the language spoken by Coast Salish tribes in the greater Seattle region. In 1819, Congress passed the Civilization Fund Act to assimilate indigenous youth to western culture.  The policy authorized forcible separation of indigenous children from their families to be sent to boarding schools, where they were to be stripped of their language, culture and religious practices.  It wasn’t until the 1970’s that this practice was outlawed.  Today, members of these communities are reawakening their native language through educational programs.

KBCS’s Laura Florez spoke with Lois Landgrebe, of Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Duwamish and Nez Perce descendants, and a Lushootseed educator at Quil Ceda Tulalip elementary school in Tulalip, Washington through the Tulalip Lushootseed Program. Landgrebe describes what it means to be a language warrior.  

Producers: Laura Florez, Yukiko Arichi and Yuko Kodama

 

Lois Landgrebe

Lois with drum