Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipno-Canadian Youth Alliance
Press Release

Filipino Youth Engage in Social Change through Art and Culture

For immediate release: April 18, 2005

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Filipino youth and students across the Lower Mainland will demonstrate this May that art and culture are indeed mechanisms for social change and community empowerment -- a principle that has been practiced for the last seven years through the Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada's (FCYA/UKPC) annual cultural show, Roots, Rhymes and Resistance (RRR).

Under FCYA/UKPC's tenth anniversary banner theme, "Ipagpatuloy: Living the Storm" and as part of the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month program, RRR7 will be at the Western Front Artist-Run Centre on Scotia and East 8th on Saturday, May 21, 2005. It will be a night of spoken-word, theatre, poetry and song, as well as an evening of education and community involvement.

"Activist-oriented organizers involved in organizations for social change are often seen as dry, grim ideologues," said Charlene Sayo of FCYA/UKPC.

"But within the Filipino people's history of struggle and resistance there has always been a very strong and progressive artistic and cultural tradition. RRR is part of this tradition that continues to dispel the myth that activism and political action are reserved only for glum pessimists."

As a Filipino youth organization working towards the participation and development of the overall Filipino community, FCYA/UKPC has been defining and bringing to the fore a progressive art and culture that reflects the history and current situation of the Filipino-Canadian community.

"The Filipino-Canadian community is rarely covered in pop culture and mainstream media and when there is any sort of coverage or recognition, it is usually out of context and doesn't really present the community in a positive way," explains FCYA/UKPC member Niki Silva.

"RRR presents the vibrant, progressive culture of the Filipino people. RRR is a venue for Filipino youth to create art that reflects the stories and experiences of our immigrant and migrant community," said Silva.

In 1999, the FCYA/UKPC organized RRR as the cultural component of their Philippine-American War Campaign. It has since been a regular face in Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society's (VAHMS) annual one-month celebration and continues to be the only cultural show organized by Filipino-Canadian youth for the Filipino community with the perspective for change, development and participation. This year's show is an auspicious one as 2005 marks the tenth anniversary of the FCYA/UKPC.

The young members of FCYA/UKPC are determined to continue the custom of art and culture for social change and empowerment for the Filipino community. "RRR is not only about Filipino youth singing and reciting poetry," said Silva. "It is about expressing our commitment and responsibility towards our community through artistic and cultural means."

For more information please contact FCYA/UKPC at: 604-215-1103 or ukpc_fcya@kalayaancentre.net. -30- -30-