CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The 2004 Asian American Awareness Month at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign kicks off today (Feb. 26) with a three-day film festival titled “Reel to Real: Asian American Voices.”
The festival is free and open to the public, and will run through Saturday in 101 Armory, 505 E. Armory Ave., Champaign. Twenty-six films in nine categories will be shown, all depicting aspects of the Asian Pacific American experience.
Awareness Month, which ends April 10, also includes lectures, fashion shows, performances, workshops and a community-service project. There is a small charge for a few of the events. The theme of this year’s Awareness Month is “Celebrating Our Cultures.”
Another feature during the monthlong event is Mango Tribe, an Asian American performance group. The group will perform at 5:30 p.m. March 13 at McKinley Foundation, 809 S. Fifth St., Champaign.
Mango Tribe’s performance, which is free and open to the public, closes the 2004 “Unseen Unheard Conference,” an annual daylong event created to educate the university community about the diversity of, and issues concerning, Asian Pacific Americans. The conference is set for 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the fourth floor of the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana. It also is free and open to the public.
Other Awareness Month events include:
• Annual Awareness Month Competition. Deadline to enter the competition is March 31. All UI students are encouraged to submit critical essays, autobiographical reflections, poetry, paintings, videos, photography or any other original work produced for the competition, which focuses on the importance of Asian American awareness in a multicultural university community. The winner will present his or her entry at the Asian Pacific American Leadership Awards Ceremony on April 21. He or she also will receive a $100 gift certificate to the Illini Union Bookstore.
• April 10, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., the Asian American Awareness Month Committee’s “Day of Service” bringing the Asian American community together through service to the local community at the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center’s “Kids Day.”
• April 21, 7 p.m., the Asian Pacific American Leadership Awards Ceremony in 210 Illini Union.
A complete schedule of Asian American Awareness Month events is posted on the Asian Pacific American Affairs’ Web site.
For more information, contact Jeffrey Sichaleune, visiting assistant to the dean of students, Asian Pacific American Affairs, in the Office of the Dean of Students, at 217-333-0050.
Asian American Awareness Month is sponsored by the Asian American Awareness Month Committee of the Student Affairs Program Coordinating Council.
