Words of Gratitude

Chloe Luo & Johnny Nguyen photo by KateFim

Dear Community, Friends,

We wish you many blessings, good health, and prosperity as we close the year. 2020 has been one of the most challenging times in our existence. We, however, remained deeply committed to advance our art as a creative and social practice, engaging in complex problem solving, community building, collaborative participation, providing inspiration for next generations – a voice for the underrepresented, a powerful vehicle for diverse, connected perspectives. It is our time to rise, and we are.

We endured many changes due to the pandemic, which include:

Letting go of our 945 ArtSpace, a Chinatown storefront space under the auspices of Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC), which was a project of Asian Improv aRts SF in collaboration with Lenora Lee Dance (LLD), API Cultural Center, and CCDC.
All five of LLD’s 2020 projects were postponed due to the catastrophic effects of the pandemic on our artists, collaborators, and organization. We postponed large group rehearsals due to city regulations and health risks facing our 11 dancers.
The pandemic hit LLD artists and administrators extremely hard, with the loss of some or all performing art, arts education, and non-art related jobs. We feel the devastating effects: loss of work, uncertainty about artistic livelihoods and health, being forced to reinvent ways to survive, and moving multiple times or away from the Bay Area temporarily. Much of LLD’s grant income is project-related, earmarked for when the projects start up again.

Hien Huynh & Johnny Nguyen photo by KateFim

Going forward into our 13th Season

LLD continues to work with CCDC on And the Community Will Rise, supported by Creative Work Fund, California Arts Council, Rainin, Zellerbach and Fleishhacker Foundations. It focuses on stories of advocacy and the fight for tenants’ rights by current and former residents of Ping Yuen housing complex and staff of CCDC. We are also being commissioned to create Convergent Waves for Pao Arts Center in Boston, with additional support from National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts, and ArtsEmerson. It celebrates the contributions of activists and non-profit leaders in the fight for affordable housing, eliciting stories of community agency, resilience and transformation. For both, we are in the midst of research, interview and sound score editing, and are considering film versions or outdoor performances of these projects in 2021 / 2022. We will also continue editing the Within These Walls film by filmmaker Tatsu Aoki, inspired by those detained at the U.S. Immigration Station on Angel Island.

Gama Hsu photo by Robbie Sweeny

Your support is critical during this time of survival

We strive to inspire people to engage, to risk, to be touched by the generosity of others, with a fearlessness in knowing artists hold a key to building bridges and creating the foundation for transformation and transcendence. Contemporary segregation exists along color, class, geographic, economic, and material lines. We have to become part of decision-making teams to determine sustainable solutions and build paths to freedom via equality. We need to unobstruct the divide, the fear of indifference, and the resistance to change with risk-taking vulnerability. It is appreciation of diversity, and power in uplifting voices of collaboration into leadership roles that will bring facets of American society together, allow us to dissolve barriers of discrimination & control, and bear witness to our collective abilities to grow, unify, and transform.

We deeply appreciate your generosity and invite you to make a contribution today!

Your gift will directly support the above programs in addition to LLD’s upcoming virtual online programming featuring films, performances, interviews and discussions with collaborating artists, designers and filmmakers. With the intensity of this year, and the myriad of adjustments we’ve all had to make in our lives, we are ever so grateful for your continued support.

Wishing you grace and love,