Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada-B.C.
Media release

Creativity, Consciousness and Community Building:
Filipino Youth Engaging in Cultural Empowerment

May 27 , 2009

 
VANCOUVER - Filipino youth have been working hard over the last few months planning and organizing arts-based workshops in preparation for the annual cultural event, Roots, Rhymes and Resistance (RRR). Now in its 12th installment, this year’s show: “Root Down, Rise Up!” calls for the full settlement, integration and participation of Filipino youth in Canada. It will be held on Friday, May 29, at 7pm in the auditorium of Sir Charles Tupper Secondary (419 East 24th Avenue, Vancouver, BC).

Performance this year include Fresh Groove Productions, The Sinag Bayan Cultural Arts Collective, Filipino hip hop act Toxic Slime Clique, rock group Renovation Under and more.

A consistent part of Vancouver’s ExplorASIAN Festival for Asian Heritage Month for nearly 10 years, RRR has can been described as the longest running Filipino youth-led concert and cultural event in Canada with political and social awareness.

The need to support Filipino youth and the community is crucial now that Filipinos are the 3rd largest visible minority group in Canada. Meanwhile, Filipino youth hold one of the highest highschool drop out rates in major cities across Canada. FCYA says that their ongoing program and activities like RRR fill the gap left by a lack of settlement and integration programs.

From its early beginnings, RRR has been a venue for youth to speak out on their issues, such as forced migration, family separation and reunification, systemic racism, barriers to education and employment and gender oppression. Experiences are shared through various creative means (from hip hop and poetry, to music, dance and visual arts). But for organizers in the Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance, the idea of education and empowerment goes beyond the stage. Two months ago, FCYA launched a series of skills building and educational workshops. The group collaborated with local writers and artists to help youth and the community develop original pieces to be performed on May 29.

The workshops emphasized the importance of creating content from the youth’s own experiences and struggles. In this way, they connect their issues to the larger Filipino-Canadian history and experience.

Some of the products of the workshops will be presented in the cultural show including dance, hip hop and theatre performances depicting the experiences, reflections and aspirations of Filipino youth and the Filipino community in Canada. Other performances by young Filipino hip hop dancers, singers and bands will also be featured.

As Seattle-based hip hop artist Khingz (One half of the duo Abyssinian Creole) described this as a key to creative progress within a community. Khingz worked with aspiring emcees to develop their hip hop writing skills. They discussed hip hop’s history as a culture form of survival born from an oppressed class of people. "These youth already have the content and the perspective to effect change and it's incredible to see them working together to put it out there," says Khingz.

Youth also honed their creative writing skills with Japanese-Canadian author Hiromi Goto, who facilitated a workshop at the Vancouver Public Library. This was the second opportunity for FIlipino youth to work with the award-winning novelist. In 2008, she did a series of workshops that resulted in a collection of work now archived at the VPL. "It's been such a privilege and joy working with Filipino youth as they explore their creative voices through writing” says Goto. “I am heartened and thrilled to witness the youths' connection to community, family and social justice. See them roar!"

Theatre and performance workshops were done with the help of Vancouver actor and director Alex Ferguson. In February, Ferguson directed the acclaimed testimonial and interactive play Nanay during the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, which shared real stories of Filipina live-in caregivers and their Canadian employers. Ferguson describes the process as “artists and community members educating one another for the purpose of creating a theatre work that reflects the needs of the Filipino community.”

FCYA also received help from prominent FIlipino artists such as prolific contemporary dancer Alvin Tolentino, who offered his expertise to help participants conceptualize dance movements. Tolentino also drew on personal experiences and understanding of words like, “strength” and “resistance” which participants embodied through movement. The outcome is to be used in existing and future work.

Internationally reknowned artist Bert Monterona got youth to pick up paintbrushes to work on large cloth murals. The three murals – over 12 feet each – again draw from the youths own understanding of reclaiming their roots and heritage, and seeking way to fully participate in Canadian society. Monterona hopes he can encourage youth to be more active in visual arts. “We can make muralists of ourselves,,” he said during the workshop. “And to be concerned Filipino artists in Canada.” The murals will be on display at RRR.

For the production side of RRR, organizers sought help from Cesar Dalde, who trained youth in the setup and use of sound equipment. FCYA is currently working with Dalde and his family as part of a community Social Justice Campaign. In February 2008, Dalde’s eldest son, Charle, was fatally stabbed in a random encounter outside of their Richmond apartment. In the course of the investigation, Dalde, his wife and youngest son were unjustly detained in what the community has named as an incident of racial profiling.

This is the third time the annual show has been held in the East Vancouver high school auditorium – a significant location for the event as the school grounds were the site of the 2003 killing of 17 year-old Filipino youth Mao Jomar Lanot and is the site of annual vigils and rallies of FCYA to call for an end to systemic racism and for the empowerment of Filipino youth. The show will feature performances of former and current Tupper high school students.

Hand in hand with art and production training, educational workshops like anti-racism education and the migration history and experiences of the community help youth deepen their understanding of the issues. “With all of our preparatory work, we want to ensure that youth are developing skills in our work and in their lives” says Carlo Sayo of FCYA. “More importantly” he adds “our calls for the social justice calls, settlement and participation are understood by a new generation of concerned and progressive  Filipino youth.”

Videos of the workshop series and a full list of performing artists are available online at Roots.Rhymes.wordpress.com

Root Down, Rise Up: the 12th annual Roots, Rhymes, and Resistance will be held on Friday, May 29, at 7pm in the auditorium of Sir Charles Tupper Secondary in Vancouver, BC. For tickets and information, please call Carlo or Ayex at 604-215-1103. Visit www.rootsrhymes.wordpress.com for more details.

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