CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Asian American Awareness Month at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign kicks off Wednesday (Feb. 26) with a film and presentation by Nisha Ganatra, the Indian American director-actress of the award-winning film “Chutney Popcorn.” The event, which is free and open to the public, begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign.
Awareness Month, which this year is themed “Sharing Our Strength,” also will feature the critically acclaimed comedian Margaret Cho, who is best known for her stand-up performances and early 1990s role in the first Asian American situation comedy, “All American Girl,” on ABC-TV.
Cho’s performance at 7 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 27) at Foellinger Auditorium, 709 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, is open to the public; tickets, which are on sale at Ticket Central in the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana, and at the Assembly Hall Box Office, 1800 S. First St., Champaign, are $14.50 for students, and $24 for non-students. Her show opens the “Unseen Unheard Conference” on March 1 (Saturday) at the Illini Union. The conference, a pan-Asian Pacific American symposium open to all Urbana campus students free of charge, has numerous sessions on Asian Pacific American activist issues.
Events for the Asian American Awareness Month, which will continue through April, are posted on the Asian Pacific American Affairs Web site. The Month is sponsored by the Asian American Awareness Month Committee of the Student Affairs Program Coordinating Council at Illinois.
In addition, the annual Asian American Experiences Library Display, organized by the Asian American Studies Program, will be on view through March in the Marshall Gallery at the east entrance of the Main Library, 1408 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana.
An Awareness Month Competition also will be held. Open to all Urbana campus students, the competition encourages students to submit critical essays, personal reflections or artwork relating to the year’s theme. Winners will receive gift certificates and present their essays at the Asian Pacific American Leadership Awards ceremony April 24 at 210 Illini Union.
For more information about APAA events, contact Jeffrey Sichaleune, visiting assistant to the dean for Asian Pacific American Affairs in the Office of the Dean of Students, at (217) 333-0050, or e-mail him at sichaleu@illinois.edu.
