Asian Creative Festival 2022 for AAPI Heritage Month

The Asian Creative Foundation (ACF) will be hosting the Asian Creative Festival 2022; a 2-day event on May 13th & 14th which showcases artwork created by Asian-American and Pacific Islanders from around the country to celebrate AAPI Heritage month. The event will also host a mix of discussions that go over NFTs and how they can be incorporated into professional artwork. 

Susana Chen, co-founder of ACF, will kick off the event with a celebration of the AAPI community, focusing on the diversity they bring to the American workforce. Her message is to “Be Brave,” encouraging the AAPI community to take their unique struggles in the United States and turn them into compelling professional artwork.

The event will then focus on the business aspects of professional art. Kenny Nguyen, CEO of ThreeSixtyEight, will talk about how important it is to find a niche that stands out from the rest. His goal is to encourage uncommon expectations and believes that subversion is a pivotal method of creating excitement. Maianh Phung, Art Director of Social Media for Warner Media Kids & Family, will also talk about how social media plays a powerful role in developing meaningful networking connections.

The Metaverse will also be covered as guest speaker Wilson G. Tang goes into detail about the Metaverse and its potential applications for the future. Topics will include how people can use the Metaverse to interact with each other casually and professionally. With NFTs creating so much excitement within the Metaverse space, a lot of the focus will be on how the new virtual space can be used to enhance the artistic capabilities of professional artists and graphic designers. 

A variety of guest speakers will also be talking about the creative process and how each of them uniquely conjures up their imaginations to create compelling pieces of art. Jocelyn Tsaih will deliver a speech about embracing vulnerability to express herself accurately. Vincent CY Chen plans to speak about his life as a queer Asian immigrant and how important it was to accept himself. Kim Pham will also share her experience growing up as a Vietnamese refugee in the United States, observing her mothers cooking and how she managed to create a business with these memories. 

There will also be a series of discussions that hold relevance to the new technologies that are being created for artists. Teaching and Practicing Art in New Media is a discussion led by panelists Snow Yunxue Fu and Tianyu Qiu that will cover topics about how NFT development and creation can be taught to children. With the complexity of blockchains confusing many, simplifying the process for children is an important step to take. 

Finally, at the end of both days an NFT auction assisted by LATITUDE Gallery will be held to help raise funds for the Asian Creative foundation. The auction will give artists from Asian-American and Pacific Islander heritage platforms to showcase their talents and bring awareness to the different possibilities that NFT artwork can create. Excitement is high as many look to see just how far the boundaries of art can be pushed with NFTs. 

Sponsors for the event include Warner Media Discovery, 88 Rising, Working Not Working, NYC Design, and ADPList.