Public Mural In Providence To Honor People Of AAPI Descent

Press release from Washington Park Library:

Jan. 25, 2023

Cultural Society (CSEBRI) has teamed up with Rhode Island community leaders, the Swearer Center of Brown University, and the Center for Southeast Asians (CSEA), along with a generous grant from The Art, Culture & Tourism Department of the City of Providence, and our fiscal sponsor, The Nellie Mae Education Foundation, to create a public mural outside the wall at the Washington Park Library in Providence along with a growing list of organizations to increase and strengthen Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) presence in Rhode Island. The unveiling of the mural will take place on Saturday, May 6th, 2023, at 12 noon outside the courtyard of Washington Park Library at 1316 Broad Street, Providence, RI.

Our mural unveiling kickoff event on Saturday, May 6th, coincides with the start of a month-long celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month. We have also planned a variety of events throughout the month of May to celebrate the AAPI Heritage month in 2023. The list of events will include workshops, cultural events, and activities for children, as well as presentations from well-known AAPI figures. We are most excited to be able to feature our own local AAPI figures, such as Dr. Julian Saporiti (Ph. D. from Brown University) and Angela Yuen-Yuen Feng, a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at Brown University and her research partner, Julieanne Fontana, a public historian and community engagement specialist. Angela Yuen-Yuen Feng and Julieanne Fontana will showcase their research on Providence’s Chinatown from the 1900s. Dr. Julian Saporiti is a Vietnamese Italian American songwriter and scholar born in Nashville, Tennessee. His multi-media work "No-No Boy" has transformed his Ph.D. research on Asian American history into concerts, albums, and films, which have reached a broad and diverse public audience. His latest album "1975" released through Smithsonian Folkways, has been hailed by NPR as "one of the most insurgent pieces of music you'll ever hear," which "re-examines Americana with devastating effect," and American Songwriter called it "insanely listenable and gorgeous." By using art to dive into highly divisive issues such as race, refugees, and immigration, Saporiti aims to allow audience members to sit with complication as music and visuals open doorways to difficult histories. We are ecstatic to hear his performance on the opening day of the celebration on Saturday, May 6th.

Cultural Society is also planning a fundraiser for a future history museum for AAPI with a community center in Rhode Island, along with prospective supporting organizations in the area. This history museum will help ensure that all the students and the people of Rhode Island can learn the rich history of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders and their contributions to our nation-building, especially in the state of Rhode Island and the northeast. The organizer is looking to start the operation of this history museum in September 2023, which is the implementation of the bill (2022-S 2910A, 2022-H 7272A), which requires every public elementary and secondary school to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history and the culture, including the history of AA and NHPIs in Rhode Island and the Northeast, as well as the contributions of the AA and NHPs toward advancing civil rights from the 19th century onward. The history museum will provide resources for all educators, including principals and superintendents, on how to best deliver these lessons to their students (and teachers), so they can use this knowledge to better the greater humanity.

Cultural Society has the support of Congresswoman Barbara Ann Fenton-Feng and Congressman David Cicilline in forming a bipartisan AAPI Commission in Rhode Island to better combat and prevent further hate crimes against Asian Americans in the midst of rising hate in the United States. Having an AAPI Commission will help gather disaggregated data and let lawmakers and educators better understand the situation on the ground and implement procedures that help those in need. It is our hope that we can achieve an AAPI Commission like our neighboring friends, Massachusetts and New York, which they have and model in what they have accomplished.

If you would like more information about the fundraiser, the AAPI Heritage Month celebration, or the formation of the history museum, please Contact Jeannie Salomon, Director of CSEBRI, by emailing jws@csebri.org or Amy Rosa, Library Manager of Washington Park Library, by emailing arosa@clpvd.org.

We will be more than happy to hear from you. We appreciate your support!

This press release was produced by Washington Park Library. The views expressed here are the author's own.