TEADA 2023 IMPACT REPORT

Thanks to the support of our generous donors, TeAda was able to add two new full-time squad positions this Summer.  Jonny Chang, Marketing & Local Programs and Stephanie Camba, Operations & Diaspora Programs. They join fellow squad member Taloo Carrillo who came on board as TeAda’s Development Director in early 2023.  Together with Founding Artistic Director, Leilani Chan and Associate Artistic Director, Ova Saopeng they are expanding TeAda programming, community outreach, and impact!

TeAda began 2023 working in collaboration with Program for Torture Victims’ (PTV) clientele of refugees and asylum seekers as well as Southeast Asian Youth Empowerment (SAYE), Long Beach in a series of workshops that empower and uplift all participants and culminate in a public performance.

Including our partnerships with PTV and SAYE, traveling internationally, and hosting our first Friendraiser gathering in a couple of years, we served over 750 people in 2023, delivering over 50 workshops as part of arts residencies; partnerships with fellow community arts and advocacy organizations; after and during-school programs from Micronesia to Southern California; the development of our newest touring play; and more.

TeAda ends the year in full-scale development of their new original work, NOTHING MICRO ABOUT MICRONESIA (NMAM), for which research began mid-year with a trip to the islands of Chuuk, Pohnpei, Marshall Islands and Saipan.  NMAM is the follow-up production to MASTERS OF THE CURRENTS, the first major touring play to feature Micronesian actors in development and performance. 

Development for NMAM included workshops with the Micronesian community both in Hawaii and on the continent. We are grateful for the cooperation of organizations such as, A Noise Within, Pasadena, CA, Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum (PIEAM) in Long Beach, CA, as well as locations in Hawaii, UH Mānoa Theater Dept, Waipahu Safe Haven Church, Kaimukī High School and Honolulu Theater for Youth, (HTY).

Nothing Micro About Micronesia will premiere in March 2024 at Honolulu Theater for Youth.

 

THANK YOU TO OUR FUNDERS WHO MAKE OUR IMPORTANT WORK POSSIBLE:

California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Workforce Empowerment Grant, L.A. County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. NEA Grants for Arts Projects, MAP Fund, New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). 

MAHALO to those who continue to reach out, collaborate, volunteer, and support TeAda through many different avenues. To continue supporting our work in co-building spaces for art, personal storytelling, theater-making, and solidarity building, please feel free to send us a donation at:

teada.org/donate.

Here is a list of projects, plays, and collaborations we contributed to throughout the calendar year:

  • January - March: 7th year working with Program for Torture Victims – workshop series, culmination, and collaboration with Program for Torture Victims, TeAda Impact Fellowship and PTV Participants

    • March 4, 2023 Rising Out of Isolation: Stories of Reemergence – Using TeAda Methodologies, performers tell stories of isolation and survival

  • February 13 - 18: TeAda Co-Artistic Director, Ova Saopeng, Director for IN THE CAMPS: A REFUGEE MUSICAL residency and play by Lao American playwright Saymoukda Douangphouxay Vongsay 

  • February 18 - 25: TeAda attends the United Arab Emirates International Theater Institute Congress

  • March 11: Kristina Wong - Sweatshop Overlord Westside Aunties Talkback Q&A Session with TeAda Artistic Director Leilani Chan, Jenni Kuida, Laura Karlin, Preeti Sharma, Jose Madera from Nat'l Day Laborers Organizing Network, and Kristina Wong

  • April 5 - May 24: Refugee Nation Southeast Asian Empowerment: free, public workshops with Khmer Girls in Action, EM3 (Educated Men with Meaningful Messages) and UCC (United Cambodian Community of Long Beach) @ Dignity Health Center

    • May 31 - Culmination Performance

  • May - December: Nothing Micro About Micronesia planning and development

  • May 1 - 7: TeAda Artistic Directors cast in a play directed by Noa Gardner @ Pacific Playwrights Festival

  • May 9: TeAda Guest Lecture at UCLA Academic Advancement Program, hosted by TeAda board member and UCLA Professor, Dr. Carolina San Juan

  • May 21 - 23: Hawaii, Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists Site Visit for CONFEST Strategic Plan

  • June 7 - 30: TeAda Micronesia Arts Residency

  • June 9 - 20: Micronesia Community Workshops - Marshall Islands, Pohnpei, Chuuk

  • June 30 - July 16: O'ahu workshops at Windward Community College, Waianae, Honolulu Theater Youth

  • July 12 - 15: Nothing Micro About Micronesia Theater and Storytelling Workshops, and Auditions (Hawai’i)

  • July 21 - August 5: Workshops at Dolores Huerta Foundation Camp Lyfe @ the National Chavez Center in Keene, California

  • August 11 - September 30: Ova Saopeng, Directs IN THE CAMPS: A REFUGEE MUSICAL in Minneapolis, MN.

  • September 13: Pomona College - Theater for Social Change TeAda guest lecture

  • October 14 - 21: Nothing Micro About Micronesia Theater and Storytelling Workshops at Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum, Long Beach, CA and A Noise Within, Pasadena, CA

  • October 28 - November 11: Theater and Storytelling Workshops for middle school students in SEED Creativity Lab - Long Beach Library Program

  • November 4: Board and Staff Fundraiser at TeAda Studio

  • November 6 - 18: Nothing Micro About Micronesia Workshops and Auditions on Big Island and O’ahu

  • November 13: TeAda Workshop at Pacific Islander Student Association, UC Irvine

  • November 14: TeAda Workshop at CSU Long Beach

  • November 27 - December 9: Nothing Micro About Micronesia Script Writing and Ensemble Casting

  • December 11 - 22: Nothing Micro About Micronesia Script Development with LA and Hawaii Ensembles