LOS ANGELES, CA- This year, Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation is partnering with the City of Los Angeles for a free, special concert event celebrating Los Angeles AAPI community and culture specifically influential women during Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month: “IDENTITY LA: A Night Celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander Women”. The day-long concert event will be held at the Ford Theatres this Saturday (May 11th, 2019) with a line up that featured the Grammy nominated artist TOKiMONSTA and support from rising starts MILCK and Sophia Black.
This year will also mark the launch of Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation’s first annual Musical Arts Scholarship Fund, which scholarship award will be awarded to college student pursing a degree in music and provide financial assistance along with mentorship and music industry connections to influential artists and executives.
Blurred Culture was able to catch up with Kev Nish, a Co-Chair at Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation and member of the internationally acclaimed hip hop group Far East Movement to learn more about this special Identity LA celebration.
Women have always been prominently featured in Identity line-ups. What was the impetus to have this year’s music festival exclusively feature Asian women in music?
“This Identity LA Event is an offset of the festival we have thrown in previous years, as more of an intimate benefit concert with the Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation to celebrate Asian American Pacific Islander women and the amazing work and attention they have brought to our community. Every year should be a celebration of AAPI women, and this year was a great year to start and focus on our leaders and trailblazers. It’s exciting to see AAPI women represent the community with their leadership that’s being recognized on such a larger scale in mainstream media and in the corporate world. On the recent A100 List presented by Goldhouse and featured on the Hollywood reporter, it showcases AAPI’s making an impact in the US in all fields and 50 percent were female. The amazing women leaders in our community are taking us to the next level and it something we are proud to be celebrating.”
How was this year’s line-up curated?
“We were extremely lucky to lock in this line up of Tokimonsta, MILCK, and Sophia Black. All of them bring a unique AAPI female Identity and voice to their music and brand, and we felt that substance was an important layer in a line up for this celebration.”
Can attendees anticipate any special drop-ins?
“Yes, Tokimonsta just announced on her social media that she is bringing out on her set Malaysian singer song writer / queen, YUNA! Yuna herself is headlining caliber and we are excited and honored she will be gracing our stage and celebrating with us! There are a few more exciting LA artists that we caught wind of that are making a “surprise appearance” on different artists sets, so get ready for an unpredictable night.”
Is there a reason why the festival is changing venues this year? Do you plan on returning to City Hall? I always thought that that venue was very symbolic, especially during election years.
“The idea this year was to have more focus on the community and how our event and platform can be more effective FOR our AAPI community. As mentioned before, celebrating and shining a light on AAPI Women has not been done by us, and should be celebrated always, so we felt this was a great time and step forward to do so. We also wanted to introduce scholarships in the arts through the Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation, for a chance to support the next generation of artists and leaders that need the opportunities , support and network we have all built together, and we felt a more focused benefit show would keep the mission clear.”
What inspired Pacific Bridge Arts Foundation to set up the Musical Arts Scholarship Fund and what kind of candidates is the organization looking for? Who is the ideal candidate?
“We wanted to take the next step forward in investing in our next generation. We’ve heard countless times in interviews from successful Asian American and Pacific islander leaders that they have not had the support, inspiration from role models like themselves, and leads to opportunities that they wish they had. We found it’s a common interest from all of our leaders that they want to give to the next generation what they didn’t have which inspired us to push for a scholarship around the industries we are in where we know the path is undefined and mentorship is limited. We are looking for candidates that are extremely focused and serious and people that see their direction in arts as a life long journey, those are people we know we can help the most.”
Follow more information about this Identity LA event CLICK HERE.
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