2013 ASIAN-PACIFIC AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH Celebration Event Grant Program

The Korean Cultural Service New York (KCSNY), in celebration of the Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, offers a celebration event grant of up to $1,000 to selected hosting institutions and/or to Korean traditional performing arts groups and artists.

The grant program, which was launched last year, 2012, has proved to be an especially effective way to showcase Korean culture, since the ceremonies and festivals held on the occasion of APAHM tend to have an unusually diverse audience profile; while good many public figures and opinion leaders attend, so do numerous neighborhood residents, varying widely in race, ethnicity, age and profession.

Eligible applicants for the grant fall into two categories. One is American public institutions that plan on hosting APAHM celebration events/festivals during the period April 5 to May 31 and wish to include in their program a Korean traditional performance. Public institutions mean government agencies at federal, state, city, county and town levels, K-12 public schools, universities and non-profit organizations in NY, NJ, CT, PA or other states in NY proximity. The other category is Korean traditional performing arts groups and artists that have been invited to perform at APAHM celebration events hosted by such American public institutions as described above.

Applying American public institutions may specify what kind of performance genre they would prefer. It can be Korean traditional music (drum, string, fiddle, flute, voice) or dance (fan dance, hand-drum dance, hourglass-shaped drum dance, dance of peace). KCSNY has an extensive network of available and qualified Korean traditional performing arts groups and individuals and will accommodate applying hosting institutions’ needs and wishes as best it could.

Regarding this project, Director Woo Sung Lee of KCSNY commented, “The grant program we started last year proved to be a very effective way to share with the global public Korea’s remarkable cultural heritage. I hope this year’s grant will also go a long way toward stimulating interest in Korean culture as well as ultimately improving the ethnic profile and stature of Koreans living in the United States.”

The Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month took off in 1978 when Congress passed a joint resolution to commemorate the culture, traditions, and history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States, designating the first week of May as the celebration period, which was then subsequently expanded to span the entire month.

The application deadline for the grant is Monday, April 1 at 5:00 pm, EDT. Required forms and more detailed instructions can be found at KCSNY website www.koreanculture.org. Applications can be submitted either by postal mail (460 Park Ave. 6th Fl. New York, NY 10022) or e-mail (performingarts@koreanculture.org).