On May 18, 2023, the Museum of Vancouver (MOV) and the UBC Public Humanities Hub (PHH) co-organized “Making Space” in celebration of Asian Heritage Month. Bringing together a panel of community leaders and activists, the event fostered a thoughtful conversation about the future of Asian Canadian communities and the importance for institutions to prioritize inclusivity and reciprocity.
The “Making Space” panel event, that took place at MOV, defined the ethnic experiences and cultural identities of Asian Canadian communities in the context of commemorating Asian Heritage Month in May. The panel sparked critical conversations of how institutions of academia, culture and heritage could make space for Asian representation in Vancouver.
The panel discussion brought together diverse speakers, including Anne Claire Baguio from the Sliced Mango Collective, Jag Nagra from the Punjabi Market Collective , Miki Konishi from the Powell Street Festival Society, and Wendy Au Yeung from Servant Partners and Happy Woman Kitchen. The event also invited guest speaker Dr. Amanda R. Cheong from UBC’s Department of Sociology, with the panel discussion moderated by Bill Yuen from the Heritage Vancouver Society.
Attendees had an opportunity to learn from the panelists’ stories and experiences, “It was interesting to hear from speakers who are doing grassroots work with Asian Canadian communities and what that looks like on the ground. There was a refreshing practicality in their responses during the Q&A session that sometimes theoretical/academic conversations don’t really address or take into consideration” shared one of the attendees. “Making Space” successfully created a welcoming and safe space in the MOV, with overwhelming positive responses from attendees, particularly Asian Canadians who felt heard, represented, and validated.
“It was so meaningful for me to host those I am in community with and make them feel welcomed, represented, and safe in a space that historically was not intended to be any of these things for us. That I had the support of my UBC colleagues and partner gives me so much hope for how the university can also play a crucial role in generating more inclusive spaces that prioritize the agency of communities. That we are moving away from our extractive practices of working with communities towards one of support and reciprocity.”
— Alyssa Sy de Jesus, Museum of Vancouver
From 2020 to 2023, the MOV had the privilege of hosting “A Seat at the Table”, a collaborative project between MOV, UBC Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies (ACAM) and UBC The Initiative for Student Teaching and Research in Chinese Canadian Studies (INSTRCC) that delved into Chinese Canadian heritage through the lens of food and restaurant culture. Expanding on this progress, “Making Space” provided the MOV with a chance to engage with the public about the insights gained from the exhibition. It also aimed to inquire about potential ways to sustain collaborations with Asian Canadian communities in the future.
Additionally, “Making Space” was an opportunity for MOV, the Heritage Vancouver Society, and UBC to continue their work towards decolonization within institutions, by prioritizing consultations with communities and ensuring reciprocal relationships that have a lasting impact towards equitable representation. Building on the success of “Making Space”, MOV and UBC have plans for future events that focus on intersecting identities and communities. They also aim to collaborate with local artists to make their programming and resources more accessible to community partners.
This partnership was supported by the 2023 Partnership Recognition and Exploration Support (PRE) Fund.
See below for project details and a Q&A with project co-lead Alyssa Sy de Jesus.
Project Details
Title: Making Space: Asian Heritage Month
Co-leads:
- Alyssa Sy de Jesus (she/her/hers), Museum of Vancouver
- Sydney Lines (she/her/hers), Academic Director, Public Humanities Hub PhD Candidate, English
- Mary Chapman (she/her/hers), Professor, Faculty of Arts
- Bill Yuen (he/him/his), Heritage Vancouver Society
Duration: May 2020 to May 2023
Learn more
- Read about Making Space: Asian Heritage Month event
Click here to read the full project description
From 2020-2023, the Museum of Vancouver had the privilege of hosting the exhibition “A Seat at the Table”, which was done in collaboration with UBC faculty and students from UBC Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies (ACAM) and UBC The Initiative for Student Teaching and Research in Chinese Canadian Studies (INSTRCC). Now travelling to Cumberland, B.C. and launching in summer 2023, this exhibition celebrates Chinese Canadian Heritage identities and experiences through the lens of food and restaurant culture.
On May 18, the “Making Space” panel event that took place in the MOV asked what we have learned from the exhibition, and how we can continue to work with Asian Canadian communities in the future. In the context of curatorial practices and beyond, how can the institutions of academia, culture, and heritage intentionally make space for the responsibilities and reciprocities of representation? Since 2002, the City of Vancouver has also acknowledged and celebrated Asian Heritage Month in May. “Asian Heritage” is a term meant to capture a multitude of ethnic experiences and cultural identities in Vancouver. In this panel discussion we also asked: What does it mean to designate an entire month to the celebration of these various identities? What possibilities does it open for social justice – and where, if any, are its potential limits to this work?
The panel featured four individuals and activists who are working for their communities in mindful and intersectional ways through cultural food justice:
- Anne Claire Baguio from Sliced Mango Collective
- Jag Nagra from the Punjabi Market Collective
- Miki Konishi from the Powell Street Festival Society
- Wendy Au Yeung from Servant Partners and Happy Woman Kitchen.
Guest Speaker Dr. Amanda R. Cheong from UBC’s Department of Sociology gave a brief presentation at the beginning.
The panel was moderated by Bill Yuen from Heritage Vancouver Society – an organization that centers heritage on people and their ways of living, and the meanings they connect to place. This program was in partnership with and supported by the UBC Public Humanities Hub – a UBC initiative with a mandate to help facilitate reciprocity between communities and institutions. A Q&A followed the panel and light snacks were served from Potluck Cafe Society, a social enterprise that works to employ and create job opportunities for the DTES community
Q&A with project co-lead Alyssa Sy de Jesus
Why was it important to bring people together for “Making Space”?
The program allowed us to host a conversation that helps to nuance what representation means to under and/or misrepresented communities in the context of public commemorations like Asian Heritage Month. The program gave our panelists the chance to voice their concerns on:
- Anne Claire Bagulo: How “representation is a great start, but an inadequate end” for Asian Canadian communities who still face systemic racism and barriers to resources.
- Wendy Au Yeung: That given discriminations Asian Canadians still face today (especially with the researched and reported rise of Anti-Asian racism since the start of the Pandemic) representation in cultural organizations like museums are at the bottom of what communities prioritize. But participation in these interactive programs allows community members to reach out to a wider public to mobilize their activisms and call immediate action to the needs of the community.
- Miki Konishi: Learning to prioritize projects and rest so that community and cultural advocates do not burn out.
- Jag Nagra: That the concerns of Asian Canadian communities should not be limited in their platforms to a month but throughout the year.
For guest speaker Dr. Amanda Cheong of UBC’s Sociology department, the panel also gave her a chance to represent her own Asian Canadian (and former unclassified immigrant status) identity but demonstrate how her and her students in diaspora are using their academic research to connect with and serve communities. Participating in the program for Dr. Cheong was “a way for [her] to do the work I am trying to do”.
Last but not least, the program allowed us to bring our speaker and panelists together to connect on their intersecting work and solidarities with each other’s causes. Although “Making Space” is not the only program to do so, it was an opportunity for everyone to come together in the unique context of hosting a critical conversation on public cultural representation in the city’s oldest cultural institution: the museum. Most often cultural institutions like the MOV will celebrate representing diverse communities in these more progressive times but rarely do we take the opportunity to make a welcoming and safe yet public space to further nuance this work – and this was very much expressed by our guest speaker and panelists and those in the audience who identified as part of community.
“I resonated with the panel session and keynote, especially the topics presented and discussed. As a queer Asian woman, I found it very helpful and validating to hear from an openly queer guest speaker who was willing to disclose her sexuality and share her experiences.”
— Attendee from the panel discussion
What strengths did the partnership (UBC partner + community partner) bring to the program?
This was not the first time the MOV, UBC PHH and Heritage Vancouver Society have partnered together. As we acknowledged in our program, all of our institutions historically took an up-down method when it comes to representing historically marginalized communities. But together, Bill Yuen, Sydney Lines, and I were trying to decolonize the processes of our respective yet connected institutions by prioritizing consultation with communities on reciprocal representation with impact and not just doing one-off’s with community but continuing the relationship and helping our partners access resources from our respective institutions to further their own causes.
Together, all three of our organizations behind “Making Space” worked to hold each other accountable for this work.
What opportunities did participants have to teach, learn, or do research during the program?
During the program, our panelists had the opportunity to intervene with common assumptions about Asian Heritage Month. Some feedback from attendees reflected their learning/what they gained from attending the program:
- “I felt both heard and represented [as an Asian Canadian]. I think, before going to the event, I already knew that the panelists were doing important work in their respective communities, so it was more about coming to the event and learning more about what goes on in their heads when they are doing the work.”
- “I resonated with the panel session and keynote, especially the topics presented and discussed. As a queer Asian woman, I found it very helpful and validating to hear from an openly queer guest speaker who was willing to disclose her sexuality and share her experiences.”
- “Although I am Asian Canadian, this is the first event I’ve ever really attended related to Asian Heritage Month, and it felt special and inspiring to listen to a panel of Asian Canadians share about the work they are doing in various communities around Vancouver.”
- “I learned from Jag’s story about how the murals at Punjabi Market represent one of the many streams that exist beneath the city. It prompted me to do my own research on this history. I think attending the panel influenced my views on Asian Heritage Month in a way that it made me question even more why we (marginalized people) only get one month (or two, depending on your ethnic group) for the greater society to hear us. I hope that in all the events that reflect Asian Heritage Month, people and businesses that come out to support don’t just show up for that one month but keep updated for the remainder of the year and more.”
- “It was interesting to hear from speakers who are doing grassroots work with Asian Canadian communities and what that looks like on the ground. There was a refreshing practicality in their responses during the Q&A session that sometimes theoretical/academic conversations don’t really address or take into consideration.”
And again, Dr. Cheong testified to how her participation in the program contributed to her work in community-minded research.
What was your favorite outcome or experience from hosting the panel?
The above feedback is but a sample of how a majority of attendees to the event identify as Asian Canadian, demonstrating the program’s and ours, as organizers, ability to program events for community with community. As somebody who inhabits an intersection of marginalized identities myself in Canada that includes being Asian Canadian, it was so meaningful for me to host those I am in community with and make them feel welcomed, represented, and safe in a space that historically was not intended to be any of these things for us. That I had the support of my UBC colleagues and partner gives me so much hope for how the university can also play a crucial role in generating more inclusive spaces that prioritize the agency of communities. That we are moving away from our extractive practices of working with communities towards one of support and reciprocity.
In addition, as a master’s student at UBC I researched how “China” and “Asianness” is appropriated in the material cultures of British Empire. So, getting to host a welcoming and critical event for Asian Heritage Month in one of British Columbia’s civic museums felt like a way for me to apply my academic research into serving my communities.
“Together, Bill Yuen, Sydney Lines, and I were trying to decolonize the processes of our respective yet connected institutions by prioritizing consultation with communities on reciprocal representation with impact and not just doing one-off’s with community but continuing the relationship and helping our partners access resources from our respective institutions to further their own causes.”
— Alyssa Sy de Jesus, Museum of Vancouver
Can you share a few lessons you learned during your program?
First, this event confirmed for me that representation for representation’s sake is unnuanced, and without individual and collective action is not helpful or supportive enough to communities. Second, there is a desire and support from the public and community for these kinds of programs, but it takes bridging and meaningful outreach to get folks into the room. Meaning, not simply advertising and hoping people come but reaching out and personally inviting folks and making the event financially accessible. The same applies for programming and inviting speakers: be deliberate in your invitations. Finally, when different traditional institutions get together with a desire to change our processes from our unique vantage points; fruitful partnerships and support continue to happen.
What is next for “Making Space”, and the university-community partnership?
We hope to continue hosting additional “Making Space” events with folks who inhabit intersecting identities and communities. There are also some local artists we would like to work with on making their programming (talks, tours, workshops) accessible to their communities and not just those who can afford to pay admission. Finding a balance between properly compensating our artists and community members while charging enough to cover costs is always a challenge. We hope that programs like the Community Engagement Office can continue to help us host these programs and also connect us to academics like Dr. Cheong who are eager to take their research beyond the ivory tower.