The Chuseok Mid-Autumn Festival Story Sharing event kicked off Cut Fruit Collective’s “Stories from Our AAPI Elders: Connecting Generations and Communities” series, which gives a voice to Bay Area AAPI elders, documenting their oral histories into community art and activations.
Prior to the event, the Ssi Ya Gi team collaborated with the Korean Community Center of the East Bay to interview 2 Korean elders and the Oakland Chinatown Oral History Project collaborated with EBALDC Noble Tower Senior Housing to interview 2 Chinese elders about their memories of Chuseok and Mid-Autumn Festival. The elders shared their Chuseok and Mid-Autumn Festival experiences, weaving in heartwarming to heartbreaking details about their life journeys.
The oral histories were then illustrated into these stunning trilingual zines by 5 different Korean and Chinese American artists available for purchase in our shop.
Korean elders and Chinese elders joined us at the supper where a few elders shared their memories about the harvest festivals and we debuted the oral history zines. The Ssi Ya Gi team also created a stunning Chuseok charye altar complete with traditional Korean and Chinese foods including dishes brought by the elders.
Then at Lincoln Summer Nights in Lincoln Square Park, a few elders shared heartfelt memories about Chuseok and Mid-Autumn Festival. We also loved seeing the community contribute memories and tributes to our charye altar and colorful ribbon display in exchange for some mooncakes, injeolmi, and songpyeon!
💗As you gather with loved ones, we hope you take a moment to listen, learn, and connect across generations, languages, and cultures!
======
Special thanks: California Humanities, The City of Oakland, Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Senior Assistance Foundation Eastbay
Catering by EM Deli and M&D Food
Songpyeon and injeolmi from Rice n Cake
Mooncakes from Ruby King Oakland and Annie's T Cakes
Photos by Stephen Woo
Video by Daniel Masaoka and Jamie Lai
As a continuation of the important messages of AAPI Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness month, Cut Fruit Collective has created “Come Eat Fruit,” a zine and resource for our community. This 70+ page zine is filled with approachable articles, stories and more addressing topics that especially impact AAPI mental health.
Surveys show that more than a third of AAPI adults felt that their mental health has worsened since the pandemic started. Yet AAPI adults are less likely than other racial groups to seek out mental health care (3 times less likely than their white counterparts).
Funds raised by Friday, June 16 will go towards Cut Fruit Collective’s AAPI mental health initiatives and a portion will be donated to Asian Health Services.
With enough contributions, we hope to be able to translate the zine from English to other AAPI languages and to print and distribute free copies to community resource centers such as Asian Health Services.
Asian Health Services, based in Oakland Chinatown, provides medical, dental, and behavioral health services to more than 50,000 patients in low-income and immigrant communities in 12 different Asian languages. As one of three nationally recognized anti-Asian hate action centers tapped to pilot and address the safety needs of patients and community, AHS is on the ground ensuring health is possible regardless of cultural, generational, and linguistic barriers. They are dedicated to ensuring community healing and safety and addressing racially-motivated violence through their Community Healing Unit.
As a thank you, for donations for $15+ you will receive a digital zine and for donations of $50 or more, you will receive printed copies of the zine.* Donate here now!
$15 - $49 - Digital zine
$50 - Digital zine + 1x print zine
$100 - Digital zine + 2x print zine
$250 - Digital zine + 6x print zines
$500 - Digital zine + 15x print zines
$1,000 - Digital zine + 25x print zines
*Donate your print zine to the community: If you donate $100+ and would like to forego receiving the extra printed zine, check the box within the donation form to donate your extra print zines to the community.
Cut Fruit Collective is fiscally sponsored by Possibility Labs, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax ID# 85-3989363). Your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. This letter confirms that no goods or services were provided in exchange for your generous financial donation.
Working with Civic Design Studio, we helped to design the pillars. The graphics are made up of Cut Fruit Collective’s signature fruit and food graphics that can also be found on our Instagram feed.
The design was implemented by students in Oakland High Arts, Media & Entertainment Visual Arts Academy and managed by Civic Design Studio. We are proud to have partnered with local youth and the public library to bring about culturally relevant public art into the Oakland Chinatown community.
Nearly half of Asian American seniors who live alone live below the poverty line, a rate higher than any other racial group. AAPI seniors are the least likely racial group to have retirement and Social Security income. In addition, many AAPI seniors around the country do not have consistent access to nutritious food; for example, nearly half of AAPI seniors in New York City are food insecure. These statistics are devastating and highlight the real gaps of care that AAPI seniors face.
We have fundraised for and supported local orgs (Family Bridges and VACCEB) that help combat Asian elder food insecurity. In addition, we’ve helped local Asian-owned farm Radical Family Farms fundraise for their free produce box program for low-income Asian seniors. However, we realized that as a community arts org, we could also contribute to these efforts by sourcing handmade care cards from the community, to be distributed to these seniors when they receive their produce boxes. We want our Asian elders to truly know and feel that their community cares for them.
During these card-making events, we provide the materials, templates and suggested phrases. The phrases are in Chinese and Vietnamese (the languages spoken by populations that our partner orgs primarily serve) to make the cards as culturally relevant as possible to the seniors who will receive them.
]]>Join us in lighting the way forward for Oakland Chinatown’s brighter future as we celebrate 元宵節 Yuan Xiao Jie or the Lantern Festival which is the final celebration of Lunar New Year festivities on the 15th day.
When: Sunday, February 5, 2023 3 - 8 PM
Where: Pacific Renaissance Plaza, 388 9th St, Oakland Chinatown
Activities curated by AAPI Healers for Liberation:
Featured artists and makers: Moments Cooperative & Community Space, Teaphile, Felicia Liang, Slumptown Co., Caoculator, StormCloud Press, Menmin Made, Chanamon Shop, A Worm Friend, Shawna Chan, A&M Patisserie, Big Boi Mochi, That Hausa Vegan, Mother and Daughters, Prima's Corner, Blind Gurl Bakery
Performances by: Megan Lowe and Johnny Huy, Giovanna Lomanto, King Lotus Boy
Tunes provided by: YiuYiu 瑤瑤 and Lower Grand Radio
Interested in sponsoring the event? Reach out to hi@cutfruitcollective.org
]]>We created the Persimmon Grant last year, offering $500 individually to two upcoming QTAPI Bay Area-based artists. This year we were able to offer three $600 grants. Just as enjoying persimmons requires care and patience to really enjoy the sweet, ripe fruit, we're investing in these artists with the goal of our QTAPI communities reaping the rewards.
Jess (any pronouns) is a lesbian Chinese American illustrator based in North Oakland. Her work is inspired by the sweet and joyful moments of everyday life, and the richness of queer love and identity. Jess is primarily a digital artist but also loves ink, collage, and gouache, and has recently begun exploring linocut as a medium. She's also passionate about love stories, history, and her cat Sesame. Follow @8amtrain
Keana Aguila Labra (they/them/she/her) is a Cebuana Tagalog Filipinx genre & genderfluid poet & writer in diaspora residing on stolen Ohlone Tamyen land. She works to provide a safe literary space for underserved & underrepresented communities as the co-Editor-in-Chief of literary magazine, @mariasatsampaguitas & the co-Founder of the BIPOC/LGBTQIA+ focused publishing press, @sampaguitapress. Follow them at: @keanalabra
Valerie Win Liu (They/She/He) is Burmese-Chinese-American Artist, Illustrator, and Designer based in the Bay Area. They like to work in a variety of mediums: Digital tools as well as Paint, Sculpture, and more. In their work, Liu likes to explore themes such as Joy, Humor, Curiosity, and Discovering ways to encourage self expression. Follow them at: @valerie.liu
]]>Oakland, have you eaten yet? We've partnered with Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) and Vibemap to create an Oakland AAPI Small Food Business collectible map, and we’re challenging you to try and support as many as you can going into AAPI Heritage Month through May. Fill your belly, support our AAPI small businesses, and redeem for commemorative prizes!
The challenge has been extended till June 4th!
Collect five commemorative postcard prints (1 per receipt) designed by AAPI artists. The theme reflects the artists’ favorite cultural celebrations. Meet the artists!
Rom! Rom! Rom!
Khmer/Cambodian New Year involves a 3-day celebration with each day serving specific purposes. One aspect of celebrating is with music and dancing. At any celebration, you will find a stage and a dancefloor (sometimes with a middle centerpiece, like a table of fruits and flowers!) where the community can engage in fun traditional social dancing to all the Khmer musical hits. 'Rom' means 'dance' in the Khmer language and that is expressed in my piece with the 3 joyous figures dancing in a circle, wearing a range of Khmer clothing and accessories, both traditional and modern.
Krystal M. Chuon is a Khmer/Krom artist, writer, and earring designer based in California. You can find her work on Instagram @themealeacollection.
Just Peel the Feels
I feel that there is a tender quiet love when sharing clementines or tangerines because of how one will peel and offer it to their loved one first. It is a small gesture that I've always appreciated.
Christine Juon (@cjuon.jpg) is a Korean-American Illustrator based in Oakland, CA, who enjoys creating crisp, vibrant imagery that is topped with a whimsical softness.
Ozoni Soup
Half-melted, chewy mochi swimming with a simple veggie medley and steamy dashi broth. Every year, my family looks forward a hot bowl of my Aunt’s Ozoni soup on New Years to bring good luck. When I think of the tastes and textures of this soup I think of being surrounded by family, fireworks with the kids, and a genuine feeling of hope for the year ahead.
Kailah Ogawa is a Hawaiian Japanese illustrator and designer, currently based out of her hometown of Hilo, Hawai'i. Her work is a continuous exploration of color, form and textural subtleties as a way to distill themes of joy, curiosity, and nostalgia. Find her work on instagram: @kailahogawa.
Manila Mango
Manila Mangoes are a staple in Filipino cuisine and are present in gatherings, celebrations or Fiestas. I grew up with a mango tree in front of our house in Manila and have fond memories of family gatherings and celebrations with some version of the fruit present. The idea behind the piece is the balance / duality of the Manila Mango with a nod to the Yin-Yang. The Manila mango’s sweet and sour states living in complementary harmony.
Lorenz Ortiz (@lorenzitro) is a good dude / designer who is made in Manila and is currently making in San Francisco.
Songkran
For the Thai New Year holiday Songkran, people bless others with good luck and pay reverence to their elders. Holy water and phuang malai (flower garlands), common in many Thai traditions, are used as offerings and forms of good luck. An important part of Songkran is Family Day, in which families return home to offer a phuang malai to their parents and elders as a show of respect.
Chanamon Ratanalert is a Thai-American illustrator and designer creating cute and colorful goods in San Francisco, CA. Follow her on Instagram @madebychanamon where she shares art, thoughts, and comics.
Celebrating AAPI stories, creativity, & communitiesAbout this eventJoin Cut Fruit Collective on May 1 as we kick off AAPI Heritage Month celebrating intergenerational AAPI storytelling, art, crafts, performances and more in Oakland Chinatown at Lincoln Square Park. All ages are welcome! The park is a vital community space for Oakland Chinatown and to spotlight the latest campaign to rebuild the recreation center, we're sharing stories about its legacy together with Chinatown Pretty, Friends of Lincoln Square Park, the Oakland Chinatown Oral History Project, and Oakland Central. FeaturingLincoln Square Park Stories Exhibit by Chinatown Pretty x the Oakland Chinatown Oral History Project
Chinatown Pretty Portrait Day
Performances by
About Lincoln Square ParkWith a rich heritage centered in Chinatown and an open door ethos, this family-friendly park is uniquely positioned to serve the multi-generational, multi-cultural residents, students, and visitors to Oakland. The dedicated park staff have developed a network of program partners, making it one of the busiest parks in Oakland. The most distinguishing feature is the iconic junk boat play structure first constructed in 1969. Learn more about the new campaign to rebuild the recreation center here. A big thank you to our partners!
About Cut Fruit CollectiveCut Fruit Collective is a SF Bay Area grassroots group creating art for AAPI community care. Our goals are to support AAPI artists, amplify AAPI activists, invest in vulnerable AAPI neighborhoods, and build coalitions across AAPI communities and beyond. We see a colorful future where all AAPI communities thrive and feel seen, heard, and celebrated. Event artwork created by Shawna Chan. |
WHENSun, May 1 WHERELincoln Square Park |
We’ve partnered with Radical Family Farms and several Asian American artists and raffled off a collection of art, prints + more, with all of the raffle proceeds benefiting Radical Family Farms’ free CSA program for low-income Asian seniors in Bay Area Chinatowns and beyond. Through our raffle, we were able to fundraise over $7000 and fund an additional 11 produce subscriptions (each subscription was 13 boxes, delivered every two weeks to low-income Asian seniors).
Original raffle post is below.
Let's show our Asian elders and seniors some love! Studies show that Asian seniors are less happy and receive less support than elders of other races. Many Asian seniors face food insecurity. Recent reports indicate food insecurity is worsening in Asian seniors due to increased racial violence. With all of this in mind, help us feed our Asian seniors and make them feel supported!
We’ve partnered with Radical Family Farms and several Asian American artists to raffle off this amazing collection of art, prints + more (see image above!) with all of the proceeds benefiting Radical Family Farms’ free CSA program for low-income Asian seniors in Bay Area Chinatowns and beyond. We’re so excited to be able to provide our elders with nourishing and culturally relevant produce!
How do you enter this amazing raffle? First, make a $25 (or more!) donation to Radical Family Farms community initiatives directly at www.radicalfamilyfarms.com/donate (btw this donation is tax deductible!). To enter the raffle, DM @cutfruitcollective a screenshot of your emailed donation receipt (make sure your name, donation amount, and email address is clearly visible). You can enter multiple times with one donation by donating in multiples of 25 ($50, $75, $100, etc.)
If you don't have Instagram, you can also email us the screenshot at projects+feedasianseniors@cutfruitcollective.org
Donations must be made now through April 15th, 11:59pm Pacific Time, and Cut Fruit Collective must receive your screenshot via DM by April 16th, 12:00am PT. The winner will be notified April 18th via DM or email.
The prize is valued at over $100 and we are so grateful to artists @gingkozee, @paulinahoong, @cairopaints, and @_goyangii for supporting this raffle. The prize includes:
🥮 Block Printed Mooncake Postcard
🥬 Chinese Veggies Card
🥬 Hand Carved Bokchoy Stamp
🥭 Juicy Mango Print
🐉 Chinese Zodiac Plants Sticker Pack
🥬 Bokchoy Print
🐯 Yut Nori Tiger Signed Print by
More about Radical Family Farms CSA:
@radicalfamilyfarms is a QAPI Mixed-Asian 1.5 acre Vegetable Farm based in Sebastopol. Through their community initiatives, they hope to increase food access and respond to anti-Asian hate by caring for our elders with free Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes. Each full season subscription costs $650, which provides 13 boxes of culturally relevant, nutrient dense, Asian-heritage produce, every-other-week, from May-October 2022. The boxes will be delivered directly to orgs in the community and distributed to the participating seniors at no cost.
🍊 In support of Oakland Chinatown merchants during the Omicron wave, we created the Oakland Chinatown Community Prosperity Box which featured items from 8 Oakland Chinatown small businesses and orgs plus limited edition Cut Fruit Collective goodies for a festive Lunar New Year. We sold over 50 boxes, and required customers to pick up their purchase in Chinatown, thus encouraging people to visit Oakland Chinatown.
In addition to supporting the participating small businesses, contributions supported Cut Fruit Collective programs uplifting Bay Area AAPI communities like Oakland Chinatown.
Featured items from 8 Oakland Chinatown small businesses and community orgs*:
Also included limited edition Cut Fruit Collective goodies:
Oakland Bloom is a nonprofit that works towards developing new cooperative food business models that prioritize community, people power, and economic equity for poor and working class immigrant, refugee, and PoC chefs.
Understory is a POC worker-led restaurant, bar, and commissary kitchen in Oakland that works closely with Oakland Bloom.
We hired AAPI artist and Persimmon Resident Cairo Mo to create a mural that visually represents Understory and Oakland Bloom values.
Cairo says of the mural:
Just seven generations ago, the place I reside in looked much differently than it does now. I imagine the chaparral landscape was forested and abundant, full of plant foods and medicines, pollinators, and four legged animals and birds and fish. Oak trees ripe with acorns, streams flush with trout, and brambles of blackberries.
Beginning with the ongoing violent settling of this area, the subsequent industrialisation and urbanisation disrupted this mutual process of give and take between the people and the land. The disconnect between us and our food grew until it became our current agriculture system -- large scale, intensive production that removes us from where our food is cultivated, who grows it, who brings it to us and prepares it.
As the child of immigrants to the Bay, I am not Muwekma Ohlone although I live and work on their land. I actually have no ancestral land, since my mother and her family are descendants of the Hakka people (literally “guest family”), a nomadic group of Southern China.
And still the land has taken care of me. My privileges and luxuries are only possible because of the ocean, the rivers, plant-life, humans and more-than-human beings that are inextricably part of this place. Like any good inhabitant, I have a duty to reciprocate the gifts that I have received.
Part of this process for me is working to revitalise urban ecosystems. After WWOOFing in the Hudson River Valley, attempting to get my Master’s in sustainable agriculture, and apprenticing with Black Earth Farms, I feel hopeful about continuing on this path. Currently, I am excited to contribute towards a revitalisation of Garrity Creek.
Until now, I was not clear on how my art practice fit into this work, the two pursuits that pulled me in different directions. When Understory and Oakland Bloom told me about what they wanted to see in a mural, my paths finally aligned.
I am still trying to figure out my place here, but I like where I am now.
The themes that Understory and Oakland Bloom gave me for the mural included:
My response to this prompt is a story told through 5 scenes, each on its own panel, connected through time and space. It is a celebration of food, from the land and her stewards, to the people who cook it, and the community that shares it.
The three sisters of a Native American story (squash, corn, and beans) pass on heirloom seeds. The bean sister hands seed pods as beans to farm workers in SE Asia/the Philippines, who are tending rice paddies as the sun rises over the mountains.
The story of the three sisters teaches us about how to plant their seeds. Robin Wall Kimmerer retells the legend in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass. Corn is planted first, to grow into a tall stalk. Then, bean is planted, giving nitrogen to the soil and climbing on the corn. Last, squash is planted, and its wide leaves cover the ground and keep moisture in the soil.
“Native people speak of this gardening style as the Three Sisters. There are many stories of how they came to be, but they all share the understanding of these plants as women, sisters. Some stories tell of a long winter when the people were dropping from hunger. Three beautiful women came to their dwellings on a snowy night. One was a tall woman dressed all in yellow, with long flowing hair. The second wore green, and the third was robed in orange. The three came inside to shelter by the fire.”
The rice paddies transition into lettuce fields. Gathered in a circle are Filipino and Chicano farm workers. They are organising for the UFW, a union created during the farm labour rights movement.
The farm workers mobilise and march off into the distance. They join forces with others and come together in a formation. The people cross the chaparral Californian landscape, following a river as it flows into a creek under the bridge.
As the people march on, they hold a banner for labour and land justice. Chefs wearing oakland bloom and understory aprons are cooking and serving food to the protesters. The food is a dish of pumpkin, beans, and corn.
Day transitions into night and the landscape becomes the intersection of 14th and Broadway. During the Fuck the Curfew action, protesters gather in the streets to dance and share food with each other.
]]>When we found out that the owners of Oakland Chinatown's Sweet Booth were planning on retiring after 28 years of business, we knew we had to do something for this special store. The Sweet Booth had been a beloved member of the Oakland Chinatown community for almost 30 years and enjoyed by so many generations of Chinatown. We knew that our community would have a lot of feelings about the shop closing.
We created a digital space to create an archive of Sweet Booth memories. Our act of digital placemaking allowed community members to share their own memories as well as read other people's memories about the Sweet Booth. Owners Calvin and Hetty touched the lives and childhoods of so many Oakland Chinatown community members, and we felt that their service to the community should be remembered and commemorated. Below are just a few of the submitted memories, click this link to see them all.
We created a card with the submitted memories and presented the card to Calvin and Hetty on their last day in the shop. We're so grateful to our community for coming together to wish Calvin and Hetty and happy retirement.
]]>
We believe in the power of art to create AAPI community care. This includes making art and crafts accessible to AAPI communities, in particular to low-income or immigrant AAPI communities. Less than 5% of working artists with art degrees are Asian. Yet art is more important than ever to inspire others and shape the future.
We aim to make art more accessible to AAPI communities by hosting free or low-cost art/craft events and workshops.
Past events include:
In celebration of NOSL, we set up a free origami station at Josie De La Cruz Park in Oakland. We provided origami paper and instructions to make classic origami creations such as cranes and fortune tellers.
We celebrated the Mid Autumn Festival in 2022 at both Clinton Park in Little Saigon and in Lincoln Square Park in Oakland Chinatown by making play-doh mooncakes. Attendees could keep their play-doh moon cake after making it!
To celebrate Halloween with the Oakland Little Saigon community, we provided an arts and crafts table at the Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce's Halloween Event. We provided origami paper and instructions on how to make various Halloween themed origami.
On September 14, we held a community paper lantern paint party in Old Oakland to celebrate the upcoming Mid Autumn Festival. The event was held in collaboration with Good Good Eatz and Civic Design Studios. We provided food for free from two small AAPI-owned businesses: bahn mi from Oakland Chinatown business Cam Anh, and vegan mooncakes from Joanne's Jello Cakes.
The resulting paper lanterns were displayed at small businesses Little Saigon/Eastlake for the Mid Autumn Festival.
The event was free to attend.
Over 1,500 people attended the first ever Joy on Joice Street Fair hosted by theChinese Historical Society of America Museum (CHSA) and Cut Fruit Collective. The street fair brought people together to uplift Bay Area Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) creativity, community, and joy. With the many challenges facing San Francisco Chinatown and AAPI communities across the Bay, we look to all of our collective creative energies and participation to reconnect and build solidarity across generations and communities. It was a day filled with AAPI makers, artists, performers, community organizations, and more. EXHIBITS & PERFORMANCES:
AAPI MAKERS:Jennifer Zee, Bloody Girl Gang, Loyale Studio x Modern Theory Candles, Lunaria Flower Farm, This Asian American Life, Hachi Bit, Neko-Oi, pot & shrooms, CLUB CHAZU, Jasivyc.eramics, Ximaps, LaanMao, The Ponnery, Prints by Paulina , Lotus Haus Studio, BREADBELLY, W House SF, One Belly, SAMAAJ, Nana Esguerra, Drawwithkristi, Studio Xu, RE/Search and Search&Destroy
|
WHENSat, Oct 16, 2021 WHEREChinese Historical Society of America Museum (CHSA) COVID PROTOCOLSAll attendees are required to:
*Requirements are subject to change |
About CHSA
The Chinese Historical Society of America Museum in San Francisco is the oldest organization in the country dedicated to the presentation and preservation of Chinese American history. Since 1963, CHSA has strived to be a responsible steward of the remarkable narrative of the Chinese American community through education, exhibitions, and programming.
About Cut Fruit Collective
Cut Fruit Collective is a SF Bay Area grassroots group creating art for AAPI community care. Originally known as Save Our Chinatowns, they are driven by art, community, and shared love of food. Their vision is for the existence of a colorful future where all AAPI communities thrive and feel seen, heard, and celebrated. Their work involves empowering AAPI communities, activists, and small businesses through art. Cut Fruit Collective is a fiscally-sponsored program of nonprofit Possibility Labs.
]]>For Pride, we collaborated with the Oakland Fortune Cookie Factory on a special limited edition run of our rainbow colored tropical fruit fortune cookies.
A portion of proceeds went to the Persimmon Grant which supports QTAPI artists.
We created the Persimmon Grant offering $500 individually to two upcoming QTAPI Bay Area-based artists. Just as enjoying persimmons requires care and patience to really enjoy the sweet, ripe fruit, we're investing in these artists with the goal of our QTAPI communities reaping the rewards.
Cairo Mo (he/they) is a painter based in Berkeley, CA. As a trans masculine person, Cairo practices art-making as healing, ritual, and celebration. He is working on an ongoing archival project to document the intimate and mundane moments of local queer youth subculture. He also creates linocut prints based on the forgotten queer stories of Chinese folklore as a way to honour his queer ancestors. Their work has been published in art journals and magazines, and exhibited locally as well as internationally in France. Follow @cairopaints
Menaja Ganesh (they/them) is a Tamil artist from Bengal, currently based in San Francisco. Their work lies in the intersections between language and presentation, queerness and femininity, familiarity and loss. It is in honour of their ancestors, and all that came before them. Their artistic process fully engages the body and space, through the curatorial practices of bookmaking, printmaking, performance, and installation. They recently graduated from California College of the Arts, and their work has been exhibited in Oakland, San Francisco, and Kolkata. Follow @menaja.art
]]>During May AAPI Heritage Month, we will be fundraising for future Cut Fruit Collective projects as well as three organizations doing important work across different AAPI communities in the Bay Area. A portion of funds will be donated to Equality Labs , the Oakland Chinatown Ambassador Program sponsor Family Bridges, and the Vietnamese American Community Center of the East Bay.
Future Cut Fruit Collective projects will continue to support and uplift small businesses, activists, and artists across Bay Area AAPI communities. Check out our past work.
In collaboration with 3 Oakland Chinatown businesses and 6 AAPI artists, we created the Save Our Chinatowns "Have You Eaten Yet?" recipe zine & red envelopes. Within 2 hours we sold out of prints and added on a GoFundMe to fundraise a total of $19K+ for three Oakland Chinatown businesses who shared their recipes
]]>We raised $2K for Huang Cheng Noodles, one of the businesses affected by a fire in Oakland Chinatown, in collaboration with artist Felicia Chiao.
]]>When a five alarm fire struck Oakland Chinatown, we fundraised $11K for the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce in support of businesses affected by the fire.
]]>In collaboration with Good Good Eatz, five AAPI artists illustrated five crowdsourced Chinatown memories. The print sales raised $3K for Undocufund, an organization supporting farm workers affected by the 2020 Bay Area wildfires.
]]>We paired up with Bay Area artist Katie Benn who designed a beautiful tote bag with proceeds of $1K+ benefiting the Oakland Fortune Cookie Factory.
]]>Our collaboration with Greatr Good raised $1.6K+ for Save Our Chinatowns & People’s Kitchen Collective’s Breakfast Program.
]]>
Fundraised $28K for SF Chinatown Community Development Center’s Feed + Fuel program and Oakland Chinatown’s Good Good Eatz meal programs.
]]>