I talked with two 2023 Velocity Fund grantees this summer, Yvonne Lung of “Let’s Talk about Chinatown,” and Joy Ude of “Threading the Needle.” Both projects are reaching the end of their funding cycle this August, and I wanted to catch up with them and hear how the projects are going. Both projects involve community work, which is a hallmark of the Velocity Fund itself, created to foster artist projects within a community. And both come from the personal beliefs of the artists – who are both educators – that teaching and education are agents of change. I’ll tell you here about Yvonne Lung’s project. More about Joy Ude’s project in another post. I spoke with Yvonne Lung July 18, 2024, when we met at Reading Terminal Market.
Let’s Talk about Chinatown
“Let’s Talk about Chinatown” is a collaborative project to educate and rally support to protect Chinatown from the 76ers downtown arena project on Chinatown’s edge. Yvonne Lung’s group, “No Arena Arts Hive” (NAAH) in collaboration with “Restaurant Industry and Small Businesses for Chinatown’s Existence” (RICE) are organizing a series of artist-curated movement-building events to rally support for the embattled community. This is Yvonne’s second Velocity Fund Grant. The first was for “Dish – the Meal Kit” in 2018 in collaboration with Dave Kyu. Listen to a podcast interview I did in 2019 with Yvonne and Dave about that community project related to family food recipes, learning them, making them, and distributing them to those in need and to those whose payments would go to help those in need.
Roberta Fallon: Tell me about your project, “Let’s Talk about Chinatown”
Yvonne Lung: When I was talking with people who were not API (Asian, Pacific Islander) they would say, “I know that the 76ers proposed arena is a bad idea, but when I talk to people I don’t know what to say to convince them, I don’t have any information of what’s going on.” So, I wanted to have an event series to talk about Chinatown, the proposed arena project, why it’s a bad idea for the whole city, and how to become part of it.
Roberta: So what you’re saying is that people didn’t “get” the threat to Chinatown from the arena. And they didn’t know Chinatown’s community and what was at risk and what was its value. So your project is to educate people to the risks and the value of Chinatown and what a horrible impact the arena would have, and to hopefully gain advocates for the No Arena Chinatown movement. How did you get started with your events?
Yvonne: I started with a teach in at OX Coffee, talking about how we’re waiting for the impact study paid for by the 76ers and how that’s not a real impact study.
Roberta: For sure it’s not if the developers paid for it. Talk about the idea of the “hive” you created.
Yvonne: “Let’s Talk About Chinatown” is a personal project. I founded the “No Arena Arts Hive,” aka NAAH, but other hives are started individually by others. For example, there’s an educators hive, a research hive, an outreach hive, etc. “No Arena Chinatown Solidarity” (NACS) is the mothership of the hives. Deborah Kodish started it (Philly Folklore Project founder). My collaboration includes small businesses like Will Gross of OX Coffee; Queen and Rook, Tattooed Mom. We had a Poetry workshop with Moonstone.
Roberta: We heard from David Acosta about the poetry workshop and anthology they put together in support that was published by Moonstone. Real collaboration! Also there’s an open letter for arts and culture workers to sign on to show support for No Arena Chinatown. Link to Online Sign On Letter
Roberta: You were collaborating with a lot of folks!
Yvonne: It is about collaborating! We had Quizzo night at Tattooed Mom. We’d throw facts at people and start talking about the project and getting people involved. Joining No Arena Chinatown Solidarity (NACS) is a great way for people to get involved!
Roberta: Did you come up with the facts? Do the research?!
Yvonne: Vivian Chang of Asian Americans United (AAU) did. Being a quizzo player, she not only came up with the questions, she also hosted the quizzo with her partner Sheen! So many facts!
Roberta: What’s next, as you’re winding up your grant?
Yvonne: There will be a screening on Sunday (July 21, 2024) at Fleisher Art Memorial, 1-3 pm, by Viet Lead and one by Asian Americans United. With a talk back afterwards. What are we fighting for? All movements!
We’re having a No Arena Drag Show on Saturday, Aug. 24, with doors opening at 5pm (Tickets here) with an “art build” with Philly Asian Queer – at 1023 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123. No Arena Gayborhood is helping to get the word out.
And on Sept. 7 there will be another March for No Arena Chinatown. Sept. 7 is right as City Council is coming back from summer break. We want this to be at the top of their agenda. Sept. 5 is when City Council starts meeting. Last June, 3,000+ people marched. This year the march will start at City Hall.
Spiral Q will be collaborating with Ginger Arts Center to hold an art build on 8/31 for the Sept. 7 march! What we’re fighting for is cultural preservation!
Power Interfaith is helping out.
Roberta: Philly is a great city for activism and for solidarity.
Yvonne: I’ve never been in a city with so much activism as in this city. Besides all the different hives, there’s also student groups like Students for the Preservation of Chinatown (SPOC) and Students Against Sixers Arena (SASA), where college and high school students work together to fight the arena being built so close to a space where they feel safe and included. I was able to make all this happen because these communities are collaborating. They all kind of come together. And the end of August is the end of the grant (Velocity).
Roberta: This is a huge amount of organizing, Yvonne.
Yvonne: Each event has a spreadsheet. It’s a lot of organizing and logistics. My project takes a conversation to explain. It’s big! Ideas take time and grow and get complicated.
Roberta: How far are you reaching outside Chinatown for support?
Yvonne: I’m reaching outside of the bubble, even to the suburbs!
More About the Velocity Fund
The Velocity Fund offers twelve Philadelphia-based artists and collectives $5000 to develop and present new projects — particularly those that are experimental in genre, collaborative in practice, grounded in their communities, and thoughtful in their impact. Independent artists, collaborative groups, and non-incorporated collectives are welcome to apply. Applications will open this Fall. Here’s a full list of the 2023 awardees. Apply here.
The Velocity Fund intends to directly support artists and arts-based cultural organizers who conduct their practice outside the studio, and who present them outside traditional art spaces. A Regional Regranting Program of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Velocity has funded multidisciplinary and varied work that use visual arts — including (but never limited to) printmaking, performance, video, puppetry, sculpture, and curation — to expand, archive, learn with, and lift up their publics.
More 2023 Grantee Updates
This spring, Our Fishing Log had a blast doing a workshop series all about porgy with middle and high schoolers in Fishadelphia’s youth program at Mastery Charter Thomas Campus in South Philadelphia. Together we read an essay by environmental historian Jayson Porter titled “Fish Hacks,” made a collective zine, and created gyotaku-style fish prints, which will be on display at the Parkway Central Library from September 14, 2024 – January 17, 2025!
something soft is a multimodal performance ritual exploring modalities of softness through diverse ideas of technology. The work is inspired, which is to say given breath, by black, neurodivergent, queer, trans and non-binary folk. Through material studies, somatic movement, sound and altars we collectively explore our softest bodies. After presenting at the Painted Bride (March 23 – April 28, 2024), we hope to continue offering iterations of this work as an ode to being, togetherness and mundanity as resistance.
