Be a part of this dynamic meeting of creative minds to discuss how our past informs our present.  World renowned artist Kip Fulbeck will get us started with a morning keynote.  Respected elders will share a brief historical perspective. In the afternoon, Kip and a panel of nikkei arts & culture professionals who have joined us from Quebec, Ontario, California, and BC will present some of their thoughts and ideas for the future.  There will be plenty of time for lively discussion and active participation.

Symposium runs from 9:30am – 4pm. Light refreshments and buffet lunch will be served.  The day ends with hip hapa hooray! a celebration of Kip Fulbeck’s exhibition in the Nikkei National Museum and Hapapalooza Festival’s inaugural community awards. www.hapapalooza.com

Admission is free but seating is limited so please rsvp to jcnm@nikkeiplace.org

The Nikkei National Museum gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts – Equity Office, and the Vancouver Foundation.

PARTICIPANTS

Kip Fulbeck  is a pioneering artist, spoken word performer, and filmmaker who has performed and exhibited in over twenty countries and throughout the U.S. He is the author of Part Asian, 100% Hapa; and Permanence: Tattoo Portraits, as well as the director of a dozen short films. Fulbeck teaches as a professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Bryce Kanbara is an artist, curator, writer, and founder/first Administrator of Hamilton Artists Inc. He served as the Executive Director of the Toronto Chapter of the National Association of Japanese Canadians and was actively involved in the fight for Japanese Canadian redress in 1988.

Kristen Lambertson is a curator and cultural leader of part Nikkei ancestry.  Prior to joining the Powell Street Festival as the General Manager and Programming Director in 2008, she was an assistant curator at the Kamloops Art Gallery. She has experience working in non-profit galleries in BC and in Quebec.

Kelty Miyoshi McKinnon is a managing partner at PFS Studio, a Canadian planning, urban design and landscape architecture firm offering consulting services nationally and internationally. She is an adjunct professor of landscape architecture at the University of British Columbia.

Junji Nishihata is specialist in corporate communications and has lent his expertise to a variety of firms, including The Japan Times, Mitsubishi Motors, Oriental Land Corp. (operators of Tokyo Disneyland) and most recently, Solar Frontier, a maker of solar panels. He is currently the President of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre of Montreal (JCCCM).

Louise Noguchi is a professional artist and professor in the Art and Art History program, a collaborative joint program between Sheridan Institute and the University of Toronto Mississauga where she teaches photography and performance-based art. Louise Noguchi is represented by Birch Libralato Gallery in Toronto, Canada.

Jeff Chiba Stearns is a multi award-winning animation and documentary filmmaker. Jeff founded Meditating Bunny Studio Inc. which specializes in the creation of animation and documentary films.  “What Are You Anyways?” explores multi-ethnic issues and One Big Hapa Family (2010), is about children of mixed-Japanese descent and the high Japanese-Canadian interracial marriage rate.

Dr. Greg Kimura is the CEO of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California. He Is a yonsei who grew up in Alaska, but has retained strong links to his cultural background. He was previously the President/CEO of the Alaska Humanities Forum, and has an extensive academic background with a Masters in Divinity from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in philosophy of religion from Cambridge University.

http://centre.nikkeiplace.org/nikkei-symposium/