SEATTLE, WA

Scroll to learn more about Seattle’s Arts For EveryBody project

Photos captured by Scout Tufankjian

SEATTLE, WA

Scroll to learn more about Seattle’s Arts For EveryBody project

Photos captured by Scout Tufankjian

SEATTLE, WA

Scroll to learn more about Seattle’sArts For EveryBody project

Photos captured by Scout Tufankjian

SEATTLE, WA

Scroll to learn more about Seattle’s Arts For EveryBody project

Photos captured by Scout Tufankjian

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Seattle, WA

On July 26, Wing Luke Museum hosted JamFest, a free and all-ages outdoor event in the historic Canton and Maynard Alleys and along Seventh Avenue to highlight the rich historical, cultural, and artistic vibrancy of Seattle's Chinatown-International District. The day included sound baths, Cantonese opera, martial arts and community workouts, performances and demonstrations led by the Seattle Chinese Community Girls Drill Team, cabaret shows, printmaking workshops led by Artist Erin Shigaki, and joyful expression led by event emcee Aleksa Manila. Through music, dance, mixed media installations, murals, games, and more, the event proudly celebrated the community’s Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander migrant roots and culture.

The streets of Seattle’s Chinatown International District will come alive this July during JamFest, an annual summer music and arts event led by the Wing Luke Museum. In collaboration with local businesses and the community’s health clinic this year, JamFest aims to bring joy, belonging, and healing through arts to the neighborhood and will address community needs as well as health and well-being in the diverse Chinatown International District. The call for joy and expression is even more pressing as the downtown neighborhood continues to recover from the pandemic and stands up to disaster gentrification and displacement from city developments.

Meet The Team

Derek Dizon

Artist & Owner of A Resting Place Seattle
Derek Orbiso Dizon is a Filipino American multidisciplinary artist, social worker, and grief counselor residing in the ancestral lands of the Duwamish People (Seattle, WA). Much of his creative works revolve around his path of navigating mourning and remembrance. He uses mediums of storytelling, illustration, and installation, as ritual to commemorate memories of love and ancestry that have passed on. Derek creates art that companions the griever, who everyday survives death over and over again.
Sami

Artist
Once upon a time there was an artist, with a heart located in many places, she called the small world between the 206 & 253 home. She was made up of the histories of friends and family, language and food. She carried her creative soul🌱🌾 in the practice of ease & accessing fullest expression—however which way. Bringing music, expressive illustrations, colorful and organic abstractions of a human experience through painting, mixed media, stickers, songs, and trinket.
Erin Shigaki

Artist
Erin Shigaki is a fourth-generation Japanese American. She creates art that is community-based and often grounded in the World War II incarceration of her people. She is passionate about highlighting similarities between that history and systemic injustices communities of color continue to face. Erin’s activism includes work on the annual Minidoka Pilgrimage to the American concentration camp where her family was incarcerated and with Tsuru for Solidarity, a nonviolent, abolitionist project of social justice advocates. Headshot art by Julie Kim.
Louie Gong

Artist
Louie Gong is a Seattle-based Coast Salish artist raised by his Native grandma and Chinese Grandpa in the Nooksack tribal community. His incredible journey began by drawing on Vans shoes and led to the founding of Eighth Generation, a groundbreaking arts-based business. Today, Louie’s mixed media artwork embodies a fusion of tradition and innovation, reflecting close ties to his cultural roots and an adventurous creative spirit.
Wren Wheeler

Civic Engagement Specialist
Wren Wheeler (she/her) is Wing Luke Museum’s Civic Engagement Specialist. She uplifts creative placekeeping and placemaking efforts rooted in community. In this role she has the honor and privilege of supporting artists working on map redesign, logo and trail marker design, and public artworks. Wren also works in partnership with other museum departments and external partners to honor the history of local AANHPI civic engagement and elevate civics work today.
Vivian Chan

Director of Community Programs
A 2nd generation Chinese American who has worked with artists and community members in the Chinatown-ID for two decades. She thrives in behind the scenes work to make sure the artists and community get to experience amazing storytelling and creativity with little or no interruptions. She is excited to further amplify all the love she has for the C-ID, and to build a stronger community focused on wellness and arts.
Steve McLean

Senior Director of Strategic Communications
Charlene Mano Shen

Senior Community Programs Specialist
Jintana Lityouvong

Community Programs Manager
Joël B. Tan

Executive Director
Cassie Chinn

Deputy Executive Director
Cassie oversees planning and implementation of Wing Luke Museum's exhibition, collection, public programming and education initiatives. In her 25 plus years with the museum, she has worked with numerous community advisory committees and community members to create exhibitions, gather oral histories and produce other museum projects. During the Museum's capital project, she led community-based program planning and served on the Design Team. She is the author of the Wing Luke Museum’s Community-based Exhibition handbook.