Korean and Korean American composers featured in East Meets West concerts
2024-05-04 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Chicago) | Hamline United Methodist Church, 1514 Englewood Avenue, St. Paul, MN, 55104, United States
A selection of works from Korean and Korean American composers will be featured during May in four performances in Minneapolis and St. Paul entitled East Meets West.
The concert will be presented at four venues in May: University Lutheran Church of Hope, Minneapolis, on Friday, May 3 at 7 p.m.; MacPhail Center for Music, (Gary Sipes Hall), Minneapolis, Saturday May 4 at 2 p.m.; Hamline United Methodist Church, St. Paul, Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m.; and Metronome Brewery, St. Paul, Saturday, May 11 at 2 p.m.
Admission to all the concerts is free, with suggested donations. The concert is made possible with a grant through Metropolitan Regional Arts Council through a grant from the state Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
The concert, presented by the ensemble 10th Wave Chamber Music Collective, will include musicians playing Western instruments, and gayageum (a Korean traditional stringed instrument), with voice performers. Performers in this concert include: Angela Cabrera, percussion; Eun Cho, flute; Weily Grina-Shay, clarinet; April Kim, piano; Soomin Kim, voice; Soojin Lee, gayageum; Ruth Marshall, cello; Ashely Ng, violin; and Mikyoung Park, voice.

Korean and Korean American composers featured in East Meets West concerts
2024-05-11 14:00 - 15:30 | Metronome Brewery, 385 Broadway, St. Paul, MN, 55101, United States

Classes in Korean traditional needlecraft jogakbo to be held
2024-06-22 12:00 - 16:00 | Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 3rd Ave. S., Minneapolis, 55404, United States
Minneapolis-based textile artist Jae Hyun Veenstra is offering a series of free classes in the traditional art of jogakbo, a Korean hand-sewing patchwork craft used since ancient times to make wrapping cloths and traditional crafts. In modern times, jogakbo has become a recognized art form and can be used to make innovative designs.
The series, entitled Colorful Korean: Re-Rooting with Jogakbo, is funded with a grant, and targeted to Korean adoptees and their family members, age 16 and older. Enrollees will be referred to a Facebook group to stay in touch during and beyond the class.
Each of the series of four classes will introduce a new craft project. Classes are free and include all the supplies. Enrollees may sign up for one or more of the four-hour classes.
The dates, locations and project types are:
June 22, noon to 4 p.m.: guebul noligae (an accessory intended to protect the wearer) and how it is depicted in the film Spirits’ Homecoming – class to be held at Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA), Minneapolis.
June 29, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Making a yedanbo (a textile envelope, used for a formal letter, typically an offer of marriage) – class to be held at the Textile Center, St. Paul.
July 20, noon to 4 p.m.: Making mini beoseon (traditional socks) at Minneapolis Central Library.
July 27, noon to 4 p.m.: catch-up class and instruction on hyangnang (decorative pouch) – to be held at MIA or Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, final location to be determined. Catch-up class is recommended for participants who have incomplete projects at that time.
An exhibit of the participants’ work will be held after the series has been completed.
Registration is required; there is also a waiting list if classes are full. Registration is at this link.
To volunteer to prepare, clean up and do other tasks on class day, please sign up at this link.
The artist maintains an Instagram account at this link: https://www.instagram.com/colorfulkoreaproject

Classes in jogakbo, a Korean needlecraft, to be offered
2024-06-29 11:00 - 15:00 | Textile Center, 3000 University Avenue SW, Minneapolis, MN, 55414, United States
Minneapolis-based textile artist Jae Hyun Veenstra is offering a series of free classes in the traditional art of jogakbo, a Korean hand-sewing patchwork craft used since ancient times to make wrapping cloths and traditional crafts. In modern times, jogakbo has become a recognized art form and can be used to make innovative designs.
The series, entitled Colorful Korean: Re-Rooting with Jogakbo, is funded with a grant, and targeted to Korean adoptees and their family members, age 16 and older. Enrollees will be referred to a Facebook group to stay in touch during and beyond the class.
Each of the series of four classes will introduce a new craft project. Classes are free and include all the supplies. Enrollees may sign up for one or more of the four-hour classes.
The dates, locations and project types are:
June 22, noon to 4 p.m.: guebul noligae (an accessory intended to protect the wearer) and how it is depicted in the film Spirits’ Homecoming – class to be held at Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA), Minneapolis.
June 29, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Making a yedanbo (a textile envelope, used for a formal letter, typically an offer of marriage) – class to be held at the Textile Center, Minneapolis.
July 20, noon to 4 p.m.: Making mini beoseon (traditional socks) at Minneapolis Central Library.
July 27, noon to 4 p.m.: catch-up class and instruction on hyangnang (decorative pouch) – to be held at MIA or Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, final location to be determined. Catch-up class is recommended for participants who have incomplete projects at that time.
An exhibit of the participants’ work will be held after the series has been completed.
Registration is required; there is also a waiting list if classes are full. Registration is at this link.
To volunteer to prepare, clean up and do other tasks on class day, please sign up at this link.
The artist maintains an Instagram account at this link: https://www.instagram.com/colorfulkoreaproject

AAPI voting summit to be held in Philadelphia
2024-07-11 - 2024-07-12 | Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown, 201 North 17th St., Philadelphia, 19103, United States
A National AAPI Leadership Summit will be held July 11-12, 2024 in Philadelphia to learn about emerging voting issues and how to mobilize the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
The event, to take place at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown, is a platform for partner organizations, issue experts, and communities from across the country. The purpose is to empower Asian American and Pacific Islander AAPI communities to make their voices heard during a historic election year.
Information about specific workshops and speakers will be available in the months leading up to the event. Registration will be $40 for general admission and $20 for students.
The Summit is sponsored by Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) the nation’s leading nonpartisan non-profit organization dedicated to engaging, educating, and empowering (AAPI) communities to strengthen and sustain a culture of civic engagement. It advocates for policies that protect the freedom to vote, increases equity for communities of color and guards against discriminatory practices.
The Summit will culminate Saturday, July 13 with a Presidential Town Hall at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Presidential candidates will have time to directly address AAPI community members, leaders, and organizers about the issues important to this growing electorate.
For more information on our Summit and Presidential Town Hall, please visit the APIAVote website. Prospective attendees are requested to please fill out the survey, so that APIAVote can be in contact to send the official registration link.
Please direct questions to ad***@******te.org.

U of Minnesota conference offers one-day event on adoption as a life experience
2024-07-12 08:00 - 16:00 | Northrop Auditorium, 84 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, United States
Two Korean adoptee experts on adult adoptees’ issues will join a group of experts in a day-long symposium on the challenges faced by adoptees face at every stage of adulthood.
This symposium is part of a four-day event, the 8th International Conference on Adoption Research (ICAR-8). The symposium will be held July 12, 9 a.m.to 4 p.m. (doors open at 8 a.m. for continental breakfast) in the Northrop Auditorium on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.
Lifelong Issues in Adoption: Reframing the Discourse through Lived Experience is the title of the one-day symposium. The symposium was organized by adoptees, and all of the speakers/artists are adopted persons. Admission is $75 and includes a full day of lectures, panel discussions, music, and audience participation. Continental breakfast, a morning coffee break, and a box lunch will also be provided. Information and tickets are available on the Northrop Auditorium website.
The two Korean adoptee speakers are Hollee A. McGinnis and HeeWon Lee. McGinnis is a Ph.D. social worker, researcher, and a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work. She has achieved a 30-year career in a community organizing, adoptee empowerment, and adoption policy and research.
In 1996, she founded Also-Known-As, which is still an active organization of adult intercountry adoptees in New York City. McGinnis will speak on her own research project, Mapping the Life Course of Adoption (MAP): Health, Well-Being, and Adoptee Connections in Adulthood. In 2023, KQ reported on the information-gathering phase of this research project here.
Heewon Lee is an assistant professor and the assistant program director of the genetic counseling graduate program at the University of Minnesota. She also works with the National Institute of Health (NIH) Coordinating Committee for Practitioner Education in Genomics and other groups of research professionals concerned with genomics and genetic testing. She will speak on the topic: Invisible Families: How Adoptees Use Genetic Testing.
Another Minnesota adoptee speaker is Shannon Gibney, a writer, educator, activist, and the author of the young adult novels See No Color (2015) and Dream Country (2018) that won Minnesota Book Awards in 2016 and 2019. Gibney teaches writing at Minneapolis College, and was recently selected as one of three Educators of the Year in the Minnesota State College and University system. Her new novel, The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be (2023), explores themes of transracial adoption. Her speech is entitled: The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: Exploring themes of transracial adoption through speculative memoir.
The ICAR-8 website has more detailed information on continuing education credits offered for various disciplines and certifications, and a brief summary of speakers, bios and topics for the other three days of the conference.

Textile artist to offer classes in Korean needlecraft art jogakbo for Korean adoptees
2024-07-20 12:00 - 16:00 | Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, MN, 55414, United States

Korean Language Village to open new buildings at its northern Minnesota campus
2024-07-20 12:00 - 16:00
The Korean Language Village, one of the Concordia Language Villages in northern Minnesota will officially open its two new Korea-themed buildings with a grand opening ceremony and tour on July 20.
The event, to be held at the camp (Sup Sogui Hosu), located on Turtle River Lake near Bemidji, will recognize the supporters of the language immersion camp over the 25 years since it was established. Beginning at noon on Saturday, July 20, participants will have a tour of the new buildings, Korean food booths, and a dedication ceremony, followed by a reception.
The first phase of the building project was funded with a $5 million gift from Kenny and Simone Park, of the South Korean company, the Simone Corporation. It includes an administrative complex, dining hall with a commercial kitchen, two camper cabins, a soccer field and waterfront development. Other residential buildings and space for traditional music and martial arts learning are included in the second phase of the new campus development.
The day’s events are open to the public, but reservations are requested. Please RSVP by July 8 with names of guests to Renée Duval at rd****@**rd.edu.
More information about the Korean Language Village capital project is at this link.

Textile artist offers series on traditional Korean needlecraft to Korean adoptees
2024-07-27 12:00 - 16:00
Minneapolis-based textile artist Jae Hyun Veenstra is offering a series of free classes in the traditional art of jogakbo, a Korean hand-sewing patchwork craft used since ancient times to make wrapping cloths and traditional crafts. In modern times, jogakbo has become a recognized art form and can be used to make innovative designs.
The series, entitled Colorful Korean: Re-Rooting with Jogakbo, is funded with a grant, and targeted to Korean adoptees and their family members, age 16 and older. Enrollees will be referred to a Facebook group to stay in touch during and beyond the class.
Each of the series of four classes will introduce a new craft project. Classes are free and include all the supplies. Enrollees may sign up for one or more of the four-hour classes.
The dates, locations and project types are:
June 22, noon to 4 p.m.: guebul noligae (an accessory intended to protect the wearer) and how it is depicted in the film Spirits’ Homecoming – class to be held at Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA), Minneapolis.
June 29, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Making a yedanbo (a textile envelope, used for a formal letter, typically an offer of marriage) – class to be held at the Textile Center, Minneapolis.
July 20, noon to 4 p.m.: Making mini beoseon (traditional socks) at Minneapolis Central Library.
July 27, noon to 4 p.m.: catch-up class and instruction on hyangnang (decorative pouch) – to be held at MIA or Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, final location to be determined (see registration site). The catch-up class is recommended for participants who have incomplete projects at that time.
An exhibit of the participants’ work will be held after the series has been completed.
Registration is required; there is also a waiting list if classes are full. Registration is at this link.
To volunteer to prepare, clean up and do other tasks on class day, please sign up at this link.
The artist maintains an Instagram account at this link: https://www.instagram.com/colorfulkoreaproject

AK Connection to celebrate Chuseok at Arbeiter Brewery, Minneapolis
2024-09-15 13:00 - 16:00 | Arbeiter Brewing Co., 3038 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis, MN, 55406, United States
The organization AK Connection, by and for adult Korean adoptees, will host a Chuseok celebration on Sunday, September 15, 1 to 4 p.m.
Chuseok is a Korean holiday that celebrates the harvest season with special foods and family get-togethers.
The hosts will offer build-your-own rice bowls (bibimbap, with vegetarian options available) and offer enjoy Korean crafts and games at Arbeiter Brewing Co., located at 3038 Minnehaha Ave, Minneapolis. Arbeiter is a craft brewery that makes and offers its own labels, currently an Oktoberfest lager.
Admission is free, but RSVP is required; Korean adoptees of all ages and their loved ones are welcome. RSVP link: https://forms.gle/b4tM3pwydfyPkfJY9

Panel discussion on U.S.-South Korea relations in St. Paul
2024-09-18 18:00 - 19:30 | St. Paul College, 235 Marshall Avenue, St. Paul, 55102, United States
The organization Global Minnesota will join the Korea Economic Institute in a joint event, The Future of U.S.-South Korea Relations, to be held September 18 at 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The event will include a panel discussion featuring representatives from the U.S. State Department and the Korean Embassy. These include Andy Hong, program officer at Korea Economic Institute; Keome Rowe, desk officer for the Republic of Korea at the U.S. State Department; and Jiho Lee, counselor to the Republic of Korea Embassy in the U.S.
Topics will include important context about the strategic relationship between the United States and South Korea, the ongoing tensions on the Korean peninsula, and the outlook for Korea’s economic, political, and cultural influence globally.
The event will be held at the University Center at St. Paul College,235 Marshall Avenue, St. Paul.

Korean Culture Festival set for Mall of America
2024-09-21 13:00 - 17:00 | Mall of America, 2131 Lindau Lane, Bloomington, MN, 55425, United States
Korean Americans will take the stage at the Huntington Rotunda at the Mall of America on Saturday, September 21, 1 to 5 p.m. for a free Korean Culture Festival.
The event, hosted by the Korean American Association of Minnesota and the Korean Consulate in Chicago, will feature cultural performances, such as the Korean martial art taekwondo, Korean traditional dance and drumming, a gayageum (Korean stringed instrument) performance, K-pop music and dance by the MKDC Kpop performance team.

Kimchi Festival to be held in St. Louis Park
2024-09-29 10:00 - 18:00 | Wolfe Park, 3700 Monterey Drive, St. Louis Park, MN, 55416, United States
Vendors, Korean cultural performances, kimchi tasting and a kimchi-making contest will all be featured at the Kimchi Festival, to be held Sunday, September 29 in St. Louis Park.

The festival is free to the public (no registration required) and will have family-friendly activities scheduled throughout the day.

The event is sponsored by AdopteeHub, an organization by and about Korean adoptees in the Twin Cities,. Many local Korean American and Asian American organizations will participate. The festival will be held at Wolfe Park, 3700 Monterey Drive, St. Louis Park. AdopteeHub recommends bringing lawn chairs and blankets to watch performances.

The AdopteeHub website has a link to register for the kimchi-making contest, and for on-site classes on how to make kimchi. Participants can register up to the day of the event. For more information, please contact AdopteeHub, at: in**@********ub.org.

Chicago group hosts adoptee-only roundtable event
2024-11-24 14:00 - 15:30 | Albany Park Library, 3401 West Foster, Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
Korean Adoptees of Chicago (KAtCH) will host an adoptee-only roundtable event to encourage a variety of topics of interest to adoptees, and to review an eventful year.
The free event will be held at the Albany Park Library, 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 24.
The roundtable will be facilitated by Kim Langrehr, a professor at Roosevelt University and a licensed psychologist who works with adult adoptees and others impacted by adoption. Langrehr’s scholarship is focused on socialization among transnational adoptees, and navigating white fragility. Along with Katie Stefani and Anne Mills, Langrehr helped to co-found KAtCH in 2008.
Please register for this event at the link. The Albany Park branch library is a 10-minute walk from the Kimball Station (Brown Line). Bus routes are: 82 – Kimball; 92-Foster or 93- California-Dodge.

Comedy play Dinner for One to open in Minneapolis
2024-11-30 19:30 - 21:00 | Jungle Theater, 2951 Lyndale Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN, 55408, United States
The comedy play Dinner for One will open in Minneapolis November 30, starring Twin Cities actor (and Korean adoptee) Sun Mee Chomet. The show will run until January 5, with preview shows on November 27 and 29.
The play is based on a comedy sketch from the 1920s, and tells the story of a dutiful butler (played by Jim Lichtschiedl) who is trying to help his employer Miss Sophie (Chomet) celebrate her birthday. There are unpredictable mishaps, a little too much wine, and some enchanting live music.
Directed by Christina Baldwin, the play is returning to Jungle Theater a year after its premiere in 2023, when it was reviewed warmly for its comedic timing, humor, music and beautiful set and lighting.
One of the special performances planned is Jungle Theater Bash Night, to be held December 20, with Dinner for One-themed drinks and food. There is also a New Year’s Eve performance to be held December 31.
Jungle Theater also offers accessibility shows and special “pay as you are” pricing, which allows for those who cannot pay the $45 (market value) theater ticket to pay less if they choose to do so. Paying more than the market price covers costs of someone else’s ticket and helps Jungle Theater to offer its plays to a broader audience.
For more information on accessibility and ticket pricing, contact the box office at 612-822-7063 (or at https://www.jungletheater.org/box-office)
Jungle Theater is located at 2951 Lyndale Ave South, Minneapolis.

Virtual book talk on The Korean Myths by father-daughter coauthors
2024-12-18 18:00 - 19:30 | Reher Center for Immigrant Culture and History, 99-101 Broadway, Kingston, NY, 12401, United States
Father-daughter authors Heinz Insu Fenkl and Bella Myong-wol Dalton-Fenkl will give a free virtual talk, followed by discussion, Thursday, December 12 on their recent book The Korean Myths: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes and Legends.

The zoom event will be held at 6 p.m. (Central Time) and is a part of a book talk series entitled Migra-Story Circles, sponsored by the Reher Center of Immigrant Culture and History in Kingston, New York. Please see registration information at the link.
Dalton-Fenkl is a writer and artist. A graduate of Vassar College, she has translated poetry from Korean and classical Chinese, and her writings, translations, and artwork have appeared in Asymptote, The Adirondack Review, Words Without Borders, Sijo: An International Journal of Poetry & Song, AZALEA: Journal of Korean Literature & Culture, the International Examiner, and Korean Quarterly. She has received a number of awards for her poetry, including the Mary Rousmaniere Gordon Prize sponsored by the Academy of American Poets and the Sister Arts Poetry Prize.

Her bilingual (Korean/English) comic strip, Space Bunny, has been serialized in Korean Quarterly since 2008.

Fenkl is an award-winning writer, translator and editor. He is known for his collection, Korean Folktales, which he completed with the support of a Fulbright Research Award. His recent novel, Skull Water, was one of The New Yorker’s ‘Best Books of 2023’. His earlier novel, Memories of My Ghost Brother, was a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist. Both recount experiences from his childhood and youth, growing up in the U.S. Army camptowns in South Korea, caught between two cultures as the son of a Korean mother and a German soldier father.
His fiction and translations have been published in The New Yorker and he is the translator of the classic 17th-century Korean Buddhist novel, The Nine Cloud Dream, by Man-jung. Kim. He has also translated a wide array of contemporary Korean fiction and poetry.

Fenkl is also a lifelong comic book/graphic novel reader and aficionado, and has translated several classic serialized North Korean comics for publication in Korean Quarterly. He is a professor of English at the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, New York.

Fenkl’s co-translation of Chang-dong Lee’s short story collection Snowy Day & Other Stories will be published by Penguin Random House in February.

The Migra-Story Circles series is supported by: Humanities New York. The National Endowment for the Humanities and the Reher Center.

Korean dance and taekwondo program set for Lunar New Year
2025-02-15 11:00 - 15:30 | White Bear Lake High School South Campus, 3551 McKnight Rd. N., White Bear Lake, MN, 55110, United States
Korean traditional music, dance, the martial art taekwondo, festive foods and a traditional painting workshop will be included in a Lunar New Year (Seollal) celebration.
The Korean Cultural Association, the support organization for JangMi Arts traditional dance and drumming school, is sponsoring the annual event at the White Bear Lake Area High School (south campus) on Saturday, February 1, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The entertainment program (1 to 2:45 p.m.) by JangMi students and Lee’s Champion Taekwondo students is free and open to the public. There will be a charge for the tteokguk lunch (a traditional good luck soup for the new year) (11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.). A Korean marketplace, with Korean crafts and games, will be held 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Also, a minhwa (traditional painting) workshop will be held from 3 to 5 p.m.
JangMi’s drum and dance program reaches out to Korean adoptees and their families in the Twin Cities area by getting children and youth together for friendship and to learn traditional performing arts.
The White Bear Lake High School south campus is located at 5045 Division Street, White Bear Lake.

AK Connection to hold Seollal dinner and performances
2025-02-15 13:30 - 16:00 | Northeast Recreation Center, 1530 Johnson Street NE, Minneapolis, MN, 55413, United States
AK Connection will celebrate the Year of the Snake with a Seollal party, to be held Saturday, February 15.

The event will include a meal of traditional foods for New Year, including tteokguk (a traditional soup for new year), japchae (noodles), rice, and kimchi (provided by Myonghi Kimchi), and chicken mu from the bb.q Chicken restaurant.

There will also be performances, Korean traditional games, crafts, and a sebae, or traditional bow to elders that happens on New Year day.

The event will be held at the Northeast Recreation Center, located at 1530 Johnson Street NE, Minneapolis, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Reservations are available at the link.

Participants are encouraged to pay what they can for event costs with the following guidelines: $5 for a portion of event costs; $10 for break-even; and $20 to cover the costs of someone who cannot contribute.

Korean adoptees and their loved ones are welcome to join, but reservations are strongly encouraged. Seats are limited to the first 90 people who sign up.

Bojagi and Beyond collective to hold workshop and exhibit in Miami
2025-03-06 08:00 - 2025-03-29 17:00 | Gato Gordo Gallery, 4600 NW 7th Avenue, Miami, 33127, United States
An exhibit of Korean wrapping cloth (bojagi) with workshops on techniques in the craft, will be part of an event Bojagi and Beyond, to be held in Miami in March. The exhibit will be on display at Gato Gordo Gallery March 6 through 20, with an opening reception to be held March 8, 6 to 9 p.m.
Artist and bojagi master Ilhan Kim will have a solo exhibit of her work at the gallery March 22 through 29.
The exhibits are part of the 2025 Korea Bojagi Forum, a travelling exhibit and educational effort by a global collaboration of bojagi artists. The Korea Bojagi Forum was founded by fiber artist Chunghie Lee in 2012, and she administers and curates the Forum today. This year, the 2025 Korea Bojagi Forum will accompany the XI World Textile Art Biennial.
Team Bojagi Workshop, to be held Sunday, March 9, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the gallery, will include instruction by Keomhwa Koh in how to make a bojagi-style pouch (class $50, and materials kit $40 – kit recommended but not required); and instruction by Ilhan Kim on the hand-stitching technique used in bojagi.
The Gato Gordo Gallery is an artist-created and artist-run Miami art gallery and cultural center dedicated to curating diverse international exhibitions, and highlighting emerging and established artists from around the world. The gallery is located at 4600 NW 7th Avenue, Miami FL 33127, and its website is: www.GatoGordoGallery.art

Minnesota Chinese Music Ensemble concert to be held
2025-03-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Sundin Music Hall, 1531 Hewitt Avenue, St. Paul, MN, 55104, United States
The Minnesota Chinese Music Ensemble (MCME) will hold a concert featuring pieces for the classical Chinese instruments urhu and yangqin on March 29 in St. Paul.
The concert, entitled Soul of Dragon’s Heritage, will spotlight erhu virtuoso JuanJuan Wang and yangqin master WenTing Zhang. Joining them will be soprano QianHui Ma and pianist Yu-Chien Huang. The artists will perform instrumental solos (for erhu, yangqin and piano) and vocal pieces featuring Chinese melodies.
The MCME is led by President Wei Ming Chiang, who has developed musical education in erhu and Chinese music preservation and enjoyment in Minnesota.
The performance will be held at the Sundin Music Hall at Hamline University, at 7 p.m. on March 29. General admission is $30, with a 20 percent discount for tickets purchased before March 13. Discounted tickets for $25 are available for students and seniors (65-plus). Limited quantities of complimentary tickets are available for public assistance recipients. See ticketing and details at: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/mcme
For inquiries or accessibility seating requests, contact MCME at (email) mn************@***il.com or (phone) 612-293-8771.

Adoptee Hub holds Bake 'N Chill fundraiser
2025-04-19 11:00 - 15:00 | Roseville Banquet Hall, 2661 Civic Center Drive, Roseville, MN, 55113, United States
Chili and other fun foods will be the center of a chili cook-off and baking contest to be held by Adoptee Hub on Saturday, April 19.
The Bake ‘N Chill proceeds will benefit the 2025 programming of Adoptee Hub, including social and cultural events by and for adult Korean adoptees, and for its ongoing birth search portal project, the Hope Registry.
The event, to be held 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. will include a bake sale, chili contest, cookie contest and pie contest. Chili makers and bakers can get more info about entering on the website’s entry form and instructions here. Donations for the bake sale also accepted.
Tickets at the door are $10, and include tasting the chili and cookie competition entries, and participating in family-friendly games and events. The event is open to the public.
Location is Roseville Banquet Hall, 2661 Civic Center Drive, Roseville.

Arbeiter Brewery to hold Phoenix Festival
2025-05-10 13:00 - 17:00 | Arbeiter Brewing Co., 3038 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis, MN, 55406, United States
The Korean American-owned Arbeiter Brewery in Minneapolis is holding its annual Asian Phoenix Festival, a free event, on May 10 l to lift up AAPI culture through community.
The Asian Phoenix represents resilience, revitalization, and harmony., and has become an important symbol to the South Minneapolis neighborhood as it works to renew and rebuild since the spring 2020 uprising.
The free event will include several Asian food vendors, including Bao Bao Buns, Caphin Vietnamese Coffee, and D’s Bahn Mi. Asian performing artists will include JangmiArts, and special guests Gina Choi and Chansoo Lee, DTG Lions, SeevCev and the DJ Diane Miller.
There will be an Asian craft market, and activities for children include face painting and a bounce house.
The event is sponsored in part by the Lake Street Council and Lake Street Lift.
Arbeiter Brewing Company, located at 3038 Minnehaha Avenue, creates a variety of beer styles, including a Korean rice lager, and a German pilsner. Arbeiter Brewing is one of a very few Asian-owned breweries in the country, since Asian owners represent only two percent of all breweries in the U.S.

AAOP to hold Asian Heritage Month event
2025-05-10 17:00 - 20:00 | DK Training Center, 1821 University Avenue West, St. Paul, MN, 55104, United States
The Asian American Organizing Project will hold an API Heritage Month event on May 15 to honor the history and connections of the diverse Asian American people of the Twin Cities.
The free event will include food, an interactive timeline activity and other conversation-starting activities, and reflections of personal journeys. The intent is to strengthen participants sense of care and support of the community, and to affirm the many identities Asian Minnesotans – ethnic, gender, sexuality and others.
The purpose is also to view the broader community as a strength to resist the current administration’s fascist and authoritarian agenda.
The event will be held 5 to 8 p.m. at DK Training Center, 1821 University Avenue West, Suite 242, St. Paul.

Women's peace walk to be held at a U.S. base in South Korea
2025-05-24 | Naeri 260, Paengseong-eup, Pyeongtaek-si), Naeri 260, Pangseong-eup, Pyeongtaek-si, Korea, Republic of
On May 24, an international delegation from Women Cross DMZ will collaborate with the Gyeonggi Women’s Association in a commemorative peace march at the Camp Humphreys, a U.S. military base at Pyongtaek, South Korea. The special focus of these two groups is on the fact that war and militarism disproportionately harms women.
This free event will be held Saturday, May 24, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Korea time), beginning at Naeri Culture Park, Pyeongtaek (Naeri 260, Paengseong-eup, Pyeongtaek-si)
The date, May 24, is International Women’s Day and is also the 10th anniversary of the original crossing of the Demilitarized Zone by an international group of 30 women peace activists under the sponsorship of Women Cross DMZ. The group included Nobel Peace Prize winners Leymah Gbowee and Mairead Maguire.
Every year since the 2015 march that crossed the DMZ, the, Gyeonggi Women’s Association has organized an annual march to coincide with International Women’s Day for Peace and Disarmament.
This transnational act of solidarity is particularly timely as democracy is under attack in the U.S., South Korea is on the cusp of electing a new president, and growing tensions between the U.S. and China raise the risk of war in Northeast Asia.
The walk around Camp Humphries is designed to raise awareness about the need for peace on the Korean Peninsula from the perspective of gender equality.

CAAL to hold free Grant Readiness Workshop
2025-09-03 18:30 - 19:30
A free Grant Readiness Workshop will be held online September 3, 2025, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. (CST) by the Coalition of Asian American Leaders (CAAL).
CAAL is a network of leaders who act collectively to make Minnesota work better for its Asian American community. CAAL’s programs include: network weaving, to allow leaders to meet and network with one another; leadership building outreach and events; and advocating for annual policy priorities in areas like immigration, education, economic development.
The workshop is designed to provide guidance on preparing a strong grant application, give tips for sharpening a proposal, and answer participants’ questions on grant writing. The content is appropriate for prospective applicants who want to build a business and for non-profit leaders who want to expand the community impact of their organization.
CAAL is also launching the second round of its grant fund, CAAL Ignite, with the goal of incentivizing Asian American leadership and prosperity in Minnesota. Applications for the CAAL Ignite grant fund will open later this September.
Learn more and sign up for the workshop, and read about the CAAL Ignite second round fund at: caalmn.org/caal-ignite

Adoptee Hub's annual self-care workshop features kimchi-making, a film, and some drumming
2025-09-27 08:30 - 17:00 | Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, United States
Adoptee Hub is holding its Cultural Identity and Self-Care Workshop at the University of Minnesota on September 27.
The day-long workshop is designed to help adult adoptees recharge and build community with fun cultural activities. Participants will choose four of 12 classes to take including: kimchi-making and mandu (dumpling) preparation; a tea ceremony demonstration; massage; Korean language for beginners; empowerment and the “gratitude effect”; a film with discussion; Korean songs with the K-Breeze kids’ choir; and an introduction to Korean drumming with Shinparam Korean Drum Troupe.
Registration is by reservation only, and the workshop, including breakfast and a Korean lunch, is $50. Registration is at the attached link.
The event will be held at Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Avenue SE, Minneapolis.
More about Adoptee Hub is at its website at: www.adopteehub.org.

Korean adoptees discuss records fraud at live radio event
2025-11-11 18:00 - 20:00 | Arbeiter Brewing Co., 3038 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis, MN, 55406, United States
A panel of four Korean adoptees will discuss the South Korean governments admission of adoption records fraud and its effect on the local Korean adoptee community in a live event Tuesday, November 11, hosted by Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and Twin Cities Public Television (TPT).
The event, titled Mistaken: Minnesota’s Korean Adoptees Grapple with Confessed Systemic Corruption, is part of the North Star Journey Live series. It will be held at Arbeiter Brewing Company in South Minneapolis beginning at 6 p.m.
The panelists, who are all Korean adoptees, are: Ami Nafzger, president of AdopteeHub, which reaches out to adult Korean adoptees with social and self-care programming and birth family searches; Cameron Lee Small, a therapist who works in adoption literacy and counsels adoptees and their families; Matt McNiff, director of the Camp Choson summer Korean culture camp; and Mary Niedermeyer, the CEO of the non-profit organization Communities Advancing Prosperity for Immigrants (CAPI).
See feature story at this link.
Tickets are required. See link below for registration information.

Minnesota Han performing and visual arts event set
2025-12-06 17:00 - 19:00 | Queermunity, 3036 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, 55408, United States
A visual and performing arts event, Minnesota Han, will bring four artists and a Korean traditional performing arts group together for an evening of arts, music, and fun activities on Saturday, December 6 in Minneapolis.

Minnesota Han, featuring five local artists, will celebrate the joy and angst of being a Korean American artist in Minnesota. Featured artists are: Su Hwang, Naomi Ko, Sun Yung Shin and May Lee-Yang. Additionally, artist Heather Kim will premiere new work, and JangMi Arts will perform traditional Korean drumming.

The event will include a small holiday market with Asian American vendors. Attendees can also learn how to make a norigae, a traditional Korean accessory.

There will be Korean refreshments, including Korean-inspired brews from Arbeiter Brewery. The event is free, but RSVP is requested.

Adoptee Hub to hold third session on adoptees dealing with ICE
2026-02-01 12:00 - 13:30
Immigration attorney Greg Luce, founder of the Minnesota-based Adoptee Rights Law Center, will be the featured speaker in a zoom event geared for international adoptees, to be held Sunday, February 1, noon to 1:30 p.m.
The session, the third of four planned sessions sponsored by the Twin Cities-based Adoptee Hub, is intended to inform international adoptees, citizens and non-citizens, of their Constitutional rights under the law, particularly in light of the recent immigration crackdown by ICE in the Twin Cities.
Luce’s practice concentrates on helping individual adoptees with citizenship, access to birth records, and other legal issues associated with adult adoptees. He also works to build and join coalitions to reform and standardize adoptees’ rights and to promote citizenship for all adoptees.
The series is designed to inform and educate adoptees and to allow adoptees to access resources they need, and to stand together, especially in Minnesota, during a stressful time.
The event is free; preregistration is needed to get the meeting link. More information will be available at the website: www.adopteehub.org/events.

Lunar New Year event at Arbeiter Brewing
2026-02-07 12:00 - 22:00 | Arbeiter Brewing Co., 3038 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis, MN, 55406, United States
A Lunar New Year celebration with a special community focus will be held at Arbeiter Brewing on Saturday, February 7, noon to 10 p.m.
In the Korean calendar, it is the Year of the Fire Horse, representing courage, community resistance, resilience and endurance. The Korean-owned brewery posted on its website noted that the characteristics of the Fire Horse are appropriate due to the ongoing resistance of Twin Citians against the excessive force of federal immigration troops.

The event will include vendors such as artist/activist Sean Lim, Myonghee Kimchi, and Project Huson (a project to support a trip to Korea for children of Korean adoptees, initiated by JangMi Arts)
There will be a Korean drumming performance by JangMi Arts at 3 p.m. and a performance by Conner Lee at 4 p.m., who combines rock, pop and jazz with arrangements of traditional music to explore his heritage.
Arbeiter has produced a few new microbrews in honor of the new year, such as Hibiscus Tokki, a Korean rice lager with hibiscus; and Gochujang Stout, a sweet stout flavored with Korean-style fermented pepper sauce.
Karaoke (known as noraebang in Korean) will be sponsored by AK Connection, an organization of adult adoptees.
