MONTHLY NEWSLETTER | SEPTEMBER 2022 |
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Wednesday & Friday: 9:30am to 2pm
Saturday: 10am to 5pm
Sunday: 10am to 4pm
Group visits by appointment only.
The health and safety of our visitors, staff, volunteers, and community is our top priority. The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) will require all individuals to wear a mask while in the Museum, regardless of vaccination status. We greatly appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
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You can help us continue our work and mission by selecting "CHINATOWN MUSEUM FOUNDATION" from the Charitable Organization List when you make a purchase on Amazon. There is no cost to you but it will make a difference to us. |
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| FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR |
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The Fall finally arrived and a new school year has started!
We had so much fun in September when we celebrated our Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration which attracted hundreds of participants including children. Many are already looking forward to coming to the event again next year!
At least four important events are coming in October that you don’t want to miss; The sound performance by Kikù Hibino and Chien-An Yuan on October 15; The Open House Chicago on October 15 and 16; “Stories that Travel: Mythology, Folklore, and Diaspora” panel discussion by National Hellenic Museum, Japanese American Service Committee and Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) on October 27; and “Meet and Greet/Book Talk with Abigail Hing Wen” by OCA Greater Chicago and CAMOC on October 28.
Ben Lau
Executive Director
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| SEPTEMBER HIGHLIGHTS |
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SPOTLIGHT SERIES
Yuge Zhou: Moon Drawings
9/3/2022 - 10/16/2022
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At the beginning of the month, we opened our fourth Spotlight Series exhibition featuring artist Yuge Zhou and her ongoing video series Moon Drawings. The opening was selected as one of The Visualist's Top V Picks of the Weekend. Online arts magazine Hyperallergic included the exhibition as part of its Concise Chicago Art Guide.
Picture (left to right): Curator of Collections Riley Ren, Spotlight Series Curator Larry Lee, President Ed Jung, artist Yuge Zhou, Board Director Soo Lon Moy, Executive Director Ben Lau, Board Director Rich Frachey, and volunteer Judy SooHoo
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One of two collateral programs, a poetry session with the Chicago Poetry Center, coincided with the Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival. The second program, a sound performance by Kikù Hibino and Chien-An Yuan will take place the day before the show closes, on October 15. |
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CAMOC was thrilled to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival at the Set-In-Stone Gathering Place. We love sharing mooncakes, making lanterns, and watching performances with you every year! Thank you to everyone who attended and our partner organizations: the Field Museum, The Nature Conservancy, Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, and the Chicago Park District. |
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Screening of Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March
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We co-hosted a screening of Rising Against Asian Hate: One Day in March, a documentary chronicling how the Asian American community came together to fight back against hate in the aftermath of the March 2021 mass shootings at three spas in Atlanta. The film also depicts the importance of building political power, ahead of National Voter Registration Day/Voter Education Week.
Hosted by CAMOC and OCA Greater Chicago, with the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community and the Chinese American Service League.
Picture: OCA Greater Chicago President Mabel Menard addresses attendees at the screening
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CAMOC Joins Peace Day Chicago 2022 |
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CAMOC Executive Director Ben Lau joined groups from all over the Chicago area for Peace Day Chicago 2022 at the Richard J. Daley Center earlier this month.
They gathered to celebrate unity and diversity in our city and the world, in conjunction with the worldwide observance of the United Nations International Day of Peace.
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CAMOC welcomed Chicago Cultural Alliance members for the CCA Archive Crawl this month. Board Directors Andrea Stamm and Soo Lon Moy and Curator of Collections Riley Ren were thrilled to share about our unique Collections with the staff from the Assyrian Cultural Foundation, Swedish American Museum, Ukranian National Museum, Abrahamic Center for for Cultural Education, DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, Japanese American Service Committtee, and the South Asia Institute. |
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CAMOC Visits the Field Museum |
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Exhibition Committee visits the Field Museum on September 28, hosted by Jon Meisenbach and Susan Golland, Field Museum Learning Center.
Pictured (left to right): Board Director Soo Lon Moy, Learning Center Coordinator Jon Meisenbach, volunteer Susan Lee Moy, Board Directors Andrea Stamm and Judy SooHoo, and Curator of Collections Riley Ren
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CAMOC Joins National Hellenic Museum Special Reception |
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Executive Director Ben Lau attended the exhibition Gather Together: Chicago Street Photography by Diane Alexander White special reception at the National Hellenic Museum.
In this new exhibition, Chicago-based Greek American photographer Diane Alexander White presents dozens of her historic works showcasing Chicago’s Greek American celebrations alongside other ethnic and cultural festivals and parades, such as the Chinese New Year Parade, primarily from the 1970s and 1980s.
Pictured: Ben Lau was welcomed by National Hellenic Museum Program & Events Manager Cairo Dye (left) and Executive Director Marianne Kountoures (right)
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Stephen Cheng
If you have been to the Museum recently, you may have noticed that our docent Stephen is back!
Tell us about yourself!
I was born in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, and immigrated to Chicago in 1971. I've had many jobs in my life: high school teacher, librarian, analyst, real estate broker, manager, webmaster, bank officer, CEO, and museum docent. Outside of work, I like playing ping-pong, swimming, fishing, reading, and watching movies. I have three daughters and four grandchildren - one of my grandchildren is already in college!
What is your favorite part of the Museum?
Sharing the history of Chinese Americans with students! I like hearing what they think about artifacts in the Museum. I find the conversations with visitors very interesting.
Say hello to Stephen the next time you visit the Museum!
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SOUND PERFORMANCE
by Kikù Hibino and Chien-An Yuan
A Collateral Program of Yuge Zhou: Moon Drawings
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Date: Saturday, October 15, 2022
Time: 1pm-2:30pm CT
Venue: Chinese American Museum of Chicago, 4th floor
Address: 238 W 23rd St, Chicago, IL 60616
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) is excited to host the last of two free public programs inspired by the Spotlight Series exhibition Yuge Zhou: Moon Drawings. The program is a sound performance by Kikù Hibino and Chien-An Yuan on Saturday, October 15, from 1pm-2:30pm CT, a day before the closing of the exhibition.
About the artists
Japanese-born Chicago-based sound artist Kikù Hibino produces electronic music that focuses on unusual rhythmic structure and melodies that are inspired by optical illusion and moiré patterns. From chamber music for media productions to digital micro sound for art installations, he has collaborated internationally with a wide variety of artists and scholars. He’s a 2017 Individual Artist Grant recipient from Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, 2021 Outer Ear Artist in Residency at Experimental Sound Studio, and 2021 nominee for Best Asian Entertainer at Chicago Music Awards. In 2021, Kikù and his creative partner Gregory Bae launched S/N, an electronic music concert series.
Chien-An Yuan is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in Ann Arbor, MI. Yuan runs 1473, a record label specializing in improvisation, electronics, and collaboration. He is also a founding member of IS/LAND, a performance collaborative comprised of AAPI movers, artists, and collaborators. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, Chicago Tribune, ArtSlant, Huffington Post, WNYC and many other arts and cultural platforms.
Chien-An Yuan and Kikù Hibino have performed and shown in cultural institutions widely.
Yuge Zhou is a Chinese born, Chicago-based artist whose videos and installations addresses connections, isolation and longing across natural and urban spaces as sites of shared dreams. Zhou has exhibited nationally and internationally in prominent art and public venues. Her new dance film “Love Letters” is currently shown as part of Art on theMART's fall program, a nightly public art projection onto the facade of the Merchandise Mart, Chicago. Recent awards include Juried Award in the installation category at ArtPrize 2021, Artist Fellowship Award in Media Arts from the Illinois Arts Council and Honorary Mention in the 2020 Prix Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria.
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Date & Time:
Saturday, October 15, 10am - 5pm CT
Sunday, October 16, 10am - 4pm CT
Location: Chinese American Museum of Chicago
Address: 238 W 23rd St, Chicago, IL 60616
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) is proud to announce that we’re participating in this year’s Open House Chicago with the Chicago Architecture Center! Join us October 15-16th to go behind-the-scenes of the city’s architectural treasures at this free annual architecture fest. Find out more about the event, including programming and self-guided tours by clicking the button below.
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Meet & Greet/Book Talk with
Abigail Hing Wen
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Date: Friday, October 28, 2022
Time: 4pm-6pm CT
Venue: Chinese American Museum of Chicago, 4th floor
Address: 238 W 23rd St, Chicago, IL 60616
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) is pleased to cohost the meet and greet/book talk with Abigail Hing Wen, author of Loveboat, Taipei and Loveboat Reunion together with OCA Greater Chicago. We will be raffling off 5 autographed copies of Abigail’s second book Loveboat Reunion.
About the author
Abigail Hing Wen is a New York Times Best Selling Author, woman-in-tech leader specializing in artificial intelligence, a filmmaker as well as a wife and mother of two.
Abigail penned the New York Times best selling novel, Loveboat, Taipei, a Barnes and Noble YA Book Club Pick which follows 18-year-old Ever Wong from Ohio to Taipei, where she discovers a summer free for all and an opportunity to connect with her heritage. The companion novel, Loveboat Reunion, follows girl-in-tech Sophie Ha and the heir to a tech empire Xavier Yeh as they team up to take control of their own lives.
Abigail is executive producing the book-to-film adaptation of Loveboat, Taipei with Lionsgate and ACE Entertainment, creators of the Netflix franchise, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. The film is currently in post-production.
Abigail and her work have been profiled in Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, Fortune, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, NBCNews, Bloomberg, Google Talk and the World Journal, among others. She is a frequent speaker on writing, technology and leadership at high schools, universities including Stanford and the University of California Berkeley and tech companies including Google, Meta and LinkedIn and other leadership forums.
Abigail holds a BA from Harvard, where she took coursework in film, ethnic studies and government. She also holds a JD from Columbia and MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. In her career in tech, she has negotiated multibillion dollar deals on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, worked in venture capital and hosted Intel’s Artificial Intelligence podcast featuring leading industry experts including Andrew Ng, Facebook's Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun and US Congresswoman Robin Kelly.
Abigail lives with her husband and two children in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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| BECOME A MEMBER TODAY! |
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Becoming a member is a simple and effective way to get involved with the Chinese American Museum of Chicago. Your membership represents a personal investment in the Museum and ensures the continuation of the wide array of quality exhibitions, programs, and events we bring to the community. In addition, you are affirming the importance of the Museum’s commitment to bring the Chinese American experience in the Midwest to as many people as possible.
$150 = Free event admission for member & 3 guests for 1 year
$100 = Free event admission for member & 1 guest for 1 year
$60 = Free event admission for member only for 1 year
$30 = Free event admission for seniors & students for 1 year
$500 = Corporate Membership for 1 year (with 10 individual memberships, recognition in program & on plaque)
For Members who support us beyond the basic level, we offer extra recognition and the following benefits:
$250 = Bronze (Honorary Membership)
$500 = Silver (Honorary Membership)
$1,000 = Gold (Lifetime Membership or a small donor brick)
$1,500 = Platinum (Lifetime Membership and a small donor brick)
$5,000 = Diamond (Large donor brick)
$5,500 = Jade (Large donor brick plus Lifetime Membership)
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TOP:
Large Brick
7.5" X 7.5"
LEFT:
Donor Wall in Front Lobby
BOTTOM:
Small Brick
3.5" X 7.5"
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You can read the full list of benefits on our website by clicking the button below. There are also instructions on how to join at the bottom of the page, along with the Membership Form. |
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We are looking for dedicated, reliable, and energetic individuals who would like to experience our historic institution from the inside — as volunteers! We need volunteers for docents, greeters and special events. If you are interested in volunteering for us, please use the button below to visit our related page and download a volunteer form. |
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ABOUT US
The mission of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago - Raymond B. & Jean T. Lee Center (CAMOC) is is to advance the appreciation of Chinese American culture through exhibitions, education, and research and to preserve the past, present, and future of Chinese Americans primarily in the Midwest.
The museum building, formerly the Quong Yick Co., is located in Chicago's Chinatown, at 238 West 23rd Street in Chicago. The Museum opened to the public on May 21, 2005. After a devastating fire in September of 2008, the Museum was closed for renovation and reopened in 2010.
CAMOC is governed by the Board of Directors of the Chinatown Museum Foundation (CMF), a 501(C)(3) non-profit corporation located in Chicago, Illinois.
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