Tuesday Night Project

03/26/2020

TNP COVID-19 Response and Update

To our Tuesday Night Project family,

For the past two decades, we have been grateful to hold space for our communities and our city. By coming together through community partnerships, long-term artist support, and especially our flagship Tuesday Night Cafe series, we’ve found comfort in gathering and a sense of togetherness through hard times.

As we are all experiencing now, the world has changed drastically over the past few months. Though circumstances are shifting every day, our number one priority as an organization has always been to guard the safety and health of our community. With “safer at home” orders expected to continue and to do our part in flattening the curve by keeping spatial distance from each other, we have decided to postpone the 2020 Tuesday Night Cafe season indefinitely.

Read our full statement here: tuesdaynightproject.org

To our Tuesday Night Project family, For the past two decades, we have been grateful to hold space for our communities and our city. By coming together through community partnerships, long-term artist support, and especially our flagship Tuesday Night Cafe series, we’ve found comfort in gathering ...

03/26/2020

Family Style: An AAPI Food Anthology by Cynthia Yuan Cheng

Family Style: An AAPI Food Anthology is now available online! 🥘

Pay what you want, all donations go to a mutual aid fund run by Asian Americans for Housing Justice to support the Los Angeles AsAm community affected by COVID-19.

https://cynthiaycheng.itch.io/family-style-zine

44-page anthology publication by Asian and Asian American and Pacific Islander creators

03/26/2020

Our neighbors in Little Tokyo need your help! Several businesses are still offering takeout/delivery/gift cards; every purchase will help them through this difficult time!

03/23/2020

Check out Not a Cult's online, donation-based creative workshops this week at http://notacult.media/events:

• 3/23 @ 7p | Close (writing workshop) with Edwin Bodney
• 3/25 @ 2p | Self Development in a Time of Isolation (training) with TN Fam beau sia
• 3/25 @ 7p | To The Bloom (writing workshop) with Yesika Salgado
• 3/27 @ 2p | The Hauntings and Celebrations of the Homeland through poetic narratives (writing workshop) with Karla Cordero

03/19/2020

Hello! Consider making an order soon for pickup from The Park's Finest - They’re doing everything they can to take care of their employees and community. Time to give back in any way we can. Thank you Johneric, Christine, Ann, Mike and the whole team for ALWAYS being there for us and feeding everyone who comes through TNC to perform, volunteer and produce. Be sure to support them supporting the community!

03/16/2020

When all the cancellations and postponements began raining in with the storm last Thursday, we realized quickly that no one would be attending our Tea & Letter Writing event at the Japanese American National Museum. Our team moved swiftly and held a a session anyway, inviting folks to join us via Zoom for a virtual gathering of tea drinking, anxiety-lifting conversation, and letter writing hosted by Traci Akemi Kato-kiriyama, Mya Worrell and Lauren Moon.

Stay tuned for our next virtual session - coming soon! (Thank you Linn and Kady for letting us post your lovely faces!)

--
Tea & Letter Writing was developed in traci's +LAB Residency last summer in Little Tokyo. JANM is a site partner and the event is now supported by TNP's TNTalks initiative.

03/11/2020

Season 22 is starting soon! Mark your calendars for Tuesday Night Cafe’s season opener. 🗓

02/06/2020

Get more involved with us!
👀 We’re looking for people to fill the following roles on our volunteer staff:

- Donor Engagement Coordinator: work with TNP Director and Senior Management on development and implementation of donor awareness, engagement and acknowledgment.
- House Manager: Executes and leads physical set up for shows and serves as location manager. Helps adjust to audience/ community needs depending on show.
- Social Media Coordinator: Assists in creating and posting posts for social media and press. Experience with various social platforms and some graphic design preferred.
- Stage Hands: Helps with the set up and take down of equipment during Tuesday Night Cafe shows.

Please email us at [email protected] with the subject line of the role you’re interested in and tell us why. Submit by Feb. 10th, 2020.

01/28/2020

Tuesday Night Cafe 2020 planning is underway! With that said, we are closing artist submissions THIS FRIDAY, January 31st, 2020.

We've had an incredible number of submissions over the last couple years - so much so, that ahead of our new season, we're closing applications to be a feature very soon. Apply today! http://www.tuesdaynightproject.org/submissions.

As we've done in years past, submissions will re-open at the end of the season.

10/15/2019

Our season finale will be hosted by Johneric Concordia of The Park's Finest & Thunderbolt Los Angeles, with beats by DJ Waxstyles (Michael Nailat).

Join us and the rest of the TN family tonight at Tuesday Night Cafe - October 15 - Season Finale!

10/15/2019

We're excited to welcome back longtime TN friend and fam Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers) to Tuesday Night Cafe tomorrow! Umar will be performing as one half of The Special 2, a throwback 1980s rap group.

Join in on the fun at our last show of the season! RSVP, invite your friends and get more details at Tuesday Night Cafe - October 15 - Season Finale!

10/14/2019

Janelle Paule, Poet, Sabrina Im, & Karen Joyce all met frequenting community spaces such as Tuesday Night Cafe & Sunday Jump. Join us for a special set by these collaborators and best friends at Tuesday Night Cafe - October 15 - Season Finale!

Janelle Paule is a Filipina American poet whose writing explores themes of immigrant family experiences, mental health, and body image. She is the Resident Co-Host at Sunday Jump, the longest running open mic in Historic Filipinotown. Janelle hopes to inspire people to own their stories, as she finds the courage to do so herself. She is the author of “brave: the everyday practice of resilience.”

Sabrina Im is an emerging poet, dabbling artist, and diasporic storyteller. The daughter of Khmer refugees, she is all about community building, manifesting, and creating social transformations. Currently, she is an Urban Futures Lab Fellow at Public Matters where she hopes to continue using storytelling as a means for mediating and cultivating inter-generational narratives, as well as mobilizing others to explore their art too.

Karen Joyce is a singer-songwriter, zinester, and professional doodler. Delivering conversational lyrics with a heartfelt clarity, her music’s inviting melodies and evocative storytelling draw listeners into an intimate state of mind. In addition to songwriting, Karen also explores trauma and social activism through writing and performance art. She also creates original merchandise (tees, pins, stickers) promoting self-care and self-publishes under her zine project, Yellow Stained Blue.

10/13/2019

We're closing out our 21st season with a rockstar lineup of TN family members, including traci kato-kiriyama & friends!

Traci Akemi Kato-kiriyama is a multi-disciplinary artist, writer/author, actor, arts educator & community organizer. Since 1996, she has performed and written for theatre tours, productions, artist residencies, and performance collaborations in hundreds of venues throughout the country. She is the co-founder and director of Tuesday Night Project and a 2019 Little Tokyo Service Center +LAB Artist-in-Residence.

traci will be joined on stage by Kuniharu Yoshida, Umi Hsu, Grace Umali, Mya Worrell, Ally Vega, Rino Kodama, Mia Barnett, Joy Yamaguchi, and Sara Omura Suravech!

RSVP, invite your friends and get more details at Tuesday Night Cafe - October 15 - Season Finale!

10/12/2019

Miss Shu Mai is back at Tuesday Night Cafe – this time with another TN fam, Jensen Reyes of Sunday Jump! Make sure to catch their collaboration at Tuesday Night Cafe - October 15 - Season Finale!

Miss Shu Mai is a second generation Asian American drag queen whose drag incorporates sexuality and satire while queering Asian American femininity and culture. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she now lives in LA where you can catch her hosting and performing at Gameboi in West Hollywood, and she also coproduces LA’s first and only API drag show called “Send Noodz”! She also represents the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) as Miss GAPA 2018. As a dancer and choreographer, she teaches and performs all over California, and hopes to use drag as a way to build community among queer APIs and explore the issues that are prevalent in our community.

Jensen is a 25-year-old Filipinx American creator from the Carolinas barrio in San Juan Capistrano, California. You may recognize them from their previous performances here at TNC, or through their work with organizations like Sunday Jump, Pilipino Workers Center, and Lakas Mentorship Program. According to their mother, Jensen first learned how to sing before they could even speak, and they haven’t shut up since. First making their mark in 2013 as a spoken word artist performing in Los Angeles spaces like Sunday Jump, they’ve since pivoted to their first love of music and is currently working on their first EP, expected to come out Lunar New Year 2020.

10/11/2019

We're excited for a special collaboration between @James Kim, Esther Moon and Joyce Kwon at next week's Tuesday Night Cafe - October 15 - Season Finale!

James Kim is the creator of the independent fiction podcast MOONFACE. For money, he works as podcast producer for Gimlet. Previously, he's worked on the public radio shows "Marketplace," "The Dinner Party Download," and KPCC's "The Frame." And worked on the fiction podcast "Deadly Manners" starring Kristen Bell, Levar Burton and RuPaul" and the Radiotopia podcast "Strangers."

09/28/2019

We're excited to welcome two TN family members back on stage for Tuesday Night Cafe - October 1 - The New/Old Show: Taz Ahmed accompanied on the harmonium by Umi Hsu of Bitter Party!

Tanzila "Taz" Ahmed is an activist, storyteller, and politico based in Los Angeles. She currently is a Campaign Strategist at the Asian American new media organizing group 18 Million Rising. Taz was honored in 2016 as White House Champion of Change for AAPI Art and Storytelling. She is cohost of The #GoodMuslimBadMuslim Podcast that has been featured in Oprah Magazine, Wired, and Buzzfeed as well as live shows recorded at South by Southwest and the White House. An avid essayist, she had a monthly column called Radical Love and has written for Sepia Mutiny, Truthout, The Aerogram, The Nation, Left Turn Magazine, and more. She is published in the anthologies Modern Loss (2018), Six Words Fresh Off the Boat (2017), Good Girls Marry Doctors (2016), Love, Inshallah (2012) and poetry collection Coiled Serpent (2016). Her third poetry chapbook Emdash and Ellipses was published in early 2016. Taz curates Desi music at Mishthi Music where she co-produced Voices of Our Vote: My #AAPIVote Album (2016) and Beats for Bangladesh (2013). Her artwork was featured in Sharia Revoiced (2015), in Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s “H-1B” (2015), and Rebel Legacy: Activist Art from South Asian California (2015). She also makes disruptive art annually with #MuslimVDay Cards.

09/27/2019

Join us for a special set by Diyan & Nicanor of Ginto Seeds at Tuesday Night Cafe - October 1 - The New/Old Show!

From visual arts, tattooing, solar woodburning, to ancient gong music- Diyan & Nicanor are multimedia artists of Ginto Seeds. Bringing the past to the now, through the sacred arts, Diyan & Nicanor hope to awaken & bridge folks to seek their own connection to their ancestors. If you want to see more of their works & connect, check out their community artspace they help run in Highland Park called Halikha.

09/26/2019

We're excited for Sehbar Sarwar to join us next week for Tuesday Night Cafe - October 1 - The New/Old Show!

Sehba Sarwar writes about displacement and women’s issues. The second edition of her novel, Black Wings, was released in March 2019 by Veliz Books, and her work has appeared in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Creative Time Reports, Callaloo and elsewhere. Sarwar explores her family’s migration through her multidisciplinary project, On Belonging, while giving voice to community members. Born and raised in an activist home in Karachi, Pakistan, Sarwar recently moved to LA where she writes, creates art, and teaches.

09/17/2019

Tonight, we're thinking about changes and transitions as summer comes to a close.

Join us in the courtyard at 7:30pm, or catch the livestream at tuesdaynightproject.org/watchlive. Open Mic sign-ups begin at 7:00pm.

More details at Tuesday Night Cafe - September 17 - The Summer to Autumn Show.

09/15/2019

You don't want to miss a special set by TN family members Priska + Paul Dateh + Aberbeats this week at Tuesday Night Cafe - September 17 - The Summer to Autumn Show!

Check out their latest single "You Were Mine (For the Summer)" on all major streaming platforms!

09/14/2019

We're excited for the smooth sounds of Chay Guan's music to welcome us into fall next week at Tuesday Night Cafe - September 17 - The Summer to Autumn Show.

Chay Guan is an alternative R&B singer/songwriter/producer, and is currently a graduate student and independent curator in Los Angeles. Prior to moving to LA, he studied at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.

09/13/2019

Join us next Tuesday as we welcome singer/songwriter Alfa to the stage for Tuesday Night Cafe - September 17 - The Summer to Autumn Show!

Alfa loves to tell stories through songs. A songwriter since the age of 13, she's chronicled her life from suburban high school dramas to the unsettled state of the post-college years, and recently she's been drawn to examine her upbringing and identity as a Filipina immigrant. Born in Mindanao, raised in New York and New Jersey, and an LA resident for 8 1/2 years, Alfa has had the privilege of sharing her music throughout the country, and will be featured in the PBS show "Songs at the Center" in 2020.

09/12/2019

We're looking forward to have past open mic-er and first time featured artist Yidu Sun join us at Tuesday Night Cafe - September 17 - The Summer to Autumn Show!

Yidu is a Canadian musician, writer, composer, and singer songwriter who has recently gotten back into the spoken word scene. He has been writing poetry and making music since the age of 7 and has several works published. He has worked with several genres and mediums including but not limited to poetry, fiction, classical music, and soundtracks. He is also an entrepreneur, photographer, visual artist, music journalist, and scientific researcher. Yidu is currently attending law and business school focusing on Entertainment Law. Outside of school and the arts, he is interested in psychology, philosophy, and history. Yidu is always down to meet people and talk about anything in the sun.

09/11/2019

The whole Tuesday Night Project family is feeling the loss of our colleague, friend, and family member, Dean Matsubayashi. As the executive director of our fiscal receiver and founding partner, Little Tokyo Service Center, Dean was a fierce advocate for our vision of art+community space in Little Tokyo.

Drawing from a statement issued by LTSC Board of Directors President Dick Kaku, “Dean has served as Little Tokyo Service Center's Executive Director for seven years, and before that he worked in and led our Community Economic Development work for an additional fourteen years…building coalitions and partnerships across ethnic and geographic boundaries, achieving national recognition as a leader in the community development field, and advancing the dream of the Terasaki Budokan project to fruition.”

On personal, operational, and larger community levels we are thinking about Dean’s impact and the tremendous legacy that he has left. We will have his family and close community in our thoughts in the weeks to come. Moving forward with our mission, we will continue thinking about the support of family like Dean in ensuring the interconnected future of our Little Tokyo community.

“Very simply, if you love Little Tokyo, you love Dean,” said TNP founder, traci kato-kiriyama. “He had the most swagger of any executive director I’d ever seen and empowered countless folks to realize our dreams and goals in the work of community self-determination. He was just a badass, and we’re all devastated by this huge loss.”

09/02/2019

Join us tomorrow at Tuesday Night Cafe - September 3 - The Back to School Show for a special screening of "Wreck it Raj" - a short film by Varun Chopra!

Born and raised in New Delhi, Varun Chopra graduated from LMU School of Film and Television in LA where he focused on stories of common people with aspects of social justice. He was the recipient of the SFTV Dean’s Scholarship. At 23, He became the youngest Indian national to screen at Cannes. His films have screened at various International film festivals and screenings. He was recently featured in LA Times among a team of diverse filmmakers on a discussion on diversity in Hollywood. Varun works in LA as a freelance director and is currently editing a TV Show streaming on Netflix. He was one of the seven fellows of Visual Communication’s Armed with a Camera fellowship for 2017-18 and was selected as a Sundance Ignite Fellow 2018.