A MESSAGE TO OUR DONORS:
Dear friends and family of Genki!
Somehow I blinked and it’s almost the end of 2018. Before the holidays totally land, I wanted to write directly to you, our donors, as the Founder and Director of The Genki Spark. We have had an important year.
Firstly, we turned EIGHT and with our birthday came a big beautiful drum that I personally purchased. After attending the 2017 North American Taiko Conference, where people became instant friends due to a shared artistic passion, I came home to heartbreaking news images of white supremacy rallies in North Carolina. I was deeply shaken by this and knew that as Genki we could do something to counter the divisiveness.
Somehow I blinked and it’s almost the end of 2018. Before the holidays totally land, I wanted to write directly to you, our donors, as the Founder and Director of The Genki Spark. We have had an important year.
Firstly, we turned EIGHT and with our birthday came a big beautiful drum that I personally purchased. After attending the 2017 North American Taiko Conference, where people became instant friends due to a shared artistic passion, I came home to heartbreaking news images of white supremacy rallies in North Carolina. I was deeply shaken by this and knew that as Genki we could do something to counter the divisiveness.
So with your financial help and a renewed commitment to outreach in 2018, we spent less time chasing money, making funny videos, and designing clever graphics and more time developing models of community engagement.
We experimented. We did less stage work and more community work where we handed the bachi to young people, elders, and families and let them play. We wanted to see what would happen if we incorporated more games and discussions and let our audience come up with ideas on how to make friends, counter discouragement, and build unity across the city.
I leveraged my recent appointment as a Boston AIR Artist-in-Residence which opened doors and increased visibility and wrote a grant to The Boston Foundation’s Live Arts Boston program to produce an event called Community: Let’s Build it! Several Genki members (special shout outs to Kumiko, Elena, and Anisha as lead artists) developed and contributed artistic elements that resulted in a more intimate experience in which artists and audience connect and work together--through art.
This year has been experimental and deeply meaningful, yet this work has also signaled a shift in both the culture and direction of Genki. We’re going to spend the next several months re-evaluating who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going. Genki has always been a unique space for Asian women to reflect and share experiences; my question has always been, to what end?
I’ll keep you posted as we go and until then welcome you to make an end-of-year contribution if you are able or be back in touch when we launch our fundraising campaign in Spring 2019. Until then, enjoy the holiday season and have a Happy New Year.
With love and respect,
Karen
Founder/Director
I’ll keep you posted as we go and until then welcome you to make an end-of-year contribution if you are able or be back in touch when we launch our fundraising campaign in Spring 2019. Until then, enjoy the holiday season and have a Happy New Year.
With love and respect,
Karen
Founder/Director
Thank You to our 2017 Donors!
Karen Young, Meera Venkatraman, Sadikshya Nepal, Monique Morimoto, Rhodinne Wang, Doris Chow, Yoshie Keefe, Andrea Heberlein, Phil Chernin and Alicia Hsu, Kumiko Yamamoto, Jennifer Moy, MaryAnn Hibino, Anisha Asundi, Chen Cheng, Ann Brunelle-Willis, Jeen Jeong, Tara Venkatraman, Connie Chow, Payal Sharma, Tori Willbanks-Roos, Linda Uyechi, Miki Akimoto, Satsuki Ina, John Prough, Sangam Barnes, Leslie Yelland, Aashish Bhattarai, Ronald Mah, Miwa Smith, Yurika Chiba, Steve and Karen Fugita, Cynthia Yee, Stanley Yamane, Stanley Shikuma, Barbara Takei, Matthew Constanti, Anna Weick, Christopher Lam, Carolyn Barnes, Patrice Calvelo, Steven Hirabayashi, Akemi Chayama, David Morimoto, Katie Omberg, Maureen Burns-Murtha, Brad Young, Christine Nault, LeeAnn Teylan, James McIlwain, Tyrone Nakawatase, Yukiyo Iida, Junko Kobayashi, Abby Kingman, Jessica Lilang, Kay Fukumoto, Nicole Carter, Aashish Shrestha, Deanna Wong, Alison Payne, Mountain River Taiko, Stephen McMahon, Dew Sung, Nancy Nichols, Derek Oye, Atsuko Nemoto, Ken Nomiyama, Tamiko Ooka, Stephen Whitney, Joe Small, Jess Liborio, Matthew Oxner, Lani Lalwani, Phillip Morimoto, Katharine Ku, Lorna Fong, Elaine Fong, and Deborah Wong
Our Mission:
The Genki Spark is a multi-generational, pan-Asian women's arts and advocacy organization that uses Japanese taiko drumming, personal stories, and creativity to build community, develop leadership, and advocate respect for all.