Events

Ritual on the Road

November 23, 2024 | Eastside Arts Alliance & Cultural Center (Oakland)

Eastside Arts Alliance, ARU and PURI Arts present…

Ritual on the Road 칠성 새남굿 Chilseong Saenamgut -

물결, 엮어진 조상의 역사 Waterways, Time Weaves

Friday Nov 22 (Invitation only) 7-9pm

Saturday Nov 23 2 – 7pm

Dinner will be provided by QTViet Cafe Collective.

Tickets: $20 general admission, students and seniors $10 or $15

Ritual on the Road (칠성 새남굿 Chilseong Saenamgut - 물결, 엮어진 조상의 역사 Waterways, Time Weaves) is a multi disciplinary ritual performance involving movement, storytelling, music, Jeju Island ritual, and diasporic ceremony. Through our stories, our historical timelines will weave through each other then connect to the present. Our offerings through altar installation, participatory activities with our CRE cohorts, and ritual performance manifest our commitment to justice on this stolen land and all stolen occupied ancestral lands, and to the ancestors, nature and people on these lands who are impacted by systems of oppression and colonial violence. Our ritual performance continues on the road to connection, sharing, and taking action with others – to practice what it means to come together for justice and healing through collective histories that reflect the present.

Tickets

Harrisburg Youth Center begins 2024 Elections Voter Registration

Fall 2024

Attention Nepali-speaking U.S. citizens in Pennsylvania!  We’re conducting a voter registration drive this election cycle to ensure all eligible voters register and participate in this year’s elections.  The immigrant and refugee vote matters!  We’re looking for volunteers in the greater Harrisburg areas, Philadelphia, Scranton, Erie, and all across PA.  All will be provided training on civic engagement and voter participation.

QTViệt Cafe Collective's 8 Year Anniversary!

September 1, 2024 | Oakland, CA

The Queer and Trans Việt Cafe Collective, a project of ARU, is celebrated eight years of magic!  We premiered Đồng Quể - our homeland trip film documentary from October 2023.

2nd Annual Youth Summit

August 3, 2024 | Camp Hebron, Halifax, Pennyslvania

Asian Refugees United invites you to our 2nd Annual Youth Summit - a day filled with engaging activities, fun games, and valuable resources. 

This summit is a welcoming space focused on middle school aged youth and older, to come together, share experiences, and explore ways to make a positive impact in our communities. 

Whether your interests lie in storytelling, wellness, education, or simply in forging meaningful connections and building a network, this summit offers you the opportunity to participate in an enriching and empowering experience. 

Don't miss out on this chance to learn, grow, and create change with us. 

Register now and be part of a meaningful journey towards a brighter future! 

Asian Refugees United (ARU) presents: World Refugee Day Virtual Teach-in

Thursday, June 20th, 6:30-8 pm (EST) on Zoom (RSVP here) 

This 90 minute Teach-in for World Refugee Day on June 20th is an event spotlighting the history, trajectory, and present-day experiences of the Bhutanese-Nepali (also known as Lhotsampa) refugee diaspora in the United States. 

While led by and amplifying the voices of youth from the Bhutanese-Nepali refugee community, it is also designed as an invitation to explore and define the concept of “refugee-ness” in the community, opening discussion for questions such as: How does one become a refugee, and why? What are the geopolitical factors that create “refugee crises?” What are the structural and real distinctions that separate refugees from immigrants, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and other migrants, especially in the current political reality of people fleeing from countries most intensely impacted by the destructive consequences of climate change, war, globalization, and genocide? 

In order to enrich this discussion, alongside sharing out histories and experiences pertaining to the Bhutanese-Nepali refugee diaspora, we seek to highlight speakers who have lived experience and knowledge about the pressing refugee crises of the present day, especially in regards to the 1.7 million individuals and families from Gaza who have been displaced as a result of the on-going genocide in Palestine. We want to contextualize “World Refugee Day” as not just an opportunity to passively learn about the past, but as a framework with which to take educated action about the injustices happening in the world today, and which are interconnected to and inseparable from the injustices borne by our ancestors, which continue to affect our communities today. 

Our vision and desire for this event is to facilitate an open platform for people from different communities and relationalities to “refugee-ness” to connect with each other and build solidarity across cultural lines. 

“MU–Connector/When the land stands alone” Performance

June 23-24, 2023 | Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, San Francisco, California

The performance explored ancestral traditions transmuted through dance, singing, drumming, and storytelling, weaving together electronic soundscapes, an altar installation, and community participation to create a communal creative ritual experience.

Built from collective community healing rituals, MU–Connector delved into our myths, ancestral land, history, and stories, while also reflecting on wounds suffered and inflicted through systemic oppression in the U.S. and our homelands.

This theater experience included performances from Asian Refugees United’s The Storytellers’ Group with Manose Singh (Mero Geet Mero Yatra: My Song My Journey), CoRazOn/CRE Cohorts, MU Ritual Drummers, and Puri Arts Collectives.

CRE Spring 2023: Body as Land, Seed as Birth

The CRE (Connect/Reflect/Enact) program integrates body knowledge and art creation to hold space for deep reflection on wounds both suffered and inflicted through systemic oppression existing in Asian diasporas here in the US and the homeland. 

This program created an individual and collective community healing ritual process together, reconnecting and relearning our ancestral land and cultures and learning how to be a good guest on the land that we are living on. Facilitators included Dohee Lee (artistic director, cultural practitioner, performer, ritualist), Corrina Gould (Huichin, Ohlone land Indigenous leader), and Sol Rhee (5 nature elements & food facilitator).

Flyer designed by Jharna Subba. 

Flyer photo description: A group of about 10 Asian diasporic folks, dressed mostly in white, gather in a circle and throw white prayer flags in the air.

I Hear a Butterfly 

November 12, 2022 | Berkeley, California

A film festival that featured young refugee/immigrant filmmakers in Berkeley, California.

칠성 새남굿- Chilseong SaenamGut: Ritual for Sickness 

November 18-20th, 2022 | Eastside Arts Cultural Center, Oakland, California

A ritual performance by Puri Arts, CoRazOn+ARU CRE Cohorts and Ieumsae MU Ritual drummers November 18th-20th, 2022.