AAPI Civic Engagement Fund
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We support and accelerate AAPIs to fully participate in a multiracial democracy through grantmaking, building movement capacity and research.
🎬 Filmmaker and Bay Area-based artist Katie Quan creates work that honors AAPI communities and those who safeguard our histories.
With support from AAPI Fund’s Creative Catalyst Fellowship, Katie’s new documentary “From the Ground Up” explores the intersections of Asian American community, art, and history through the eyes of artists, historians, and archivists. The short film centers four Asian Americans shaping how history is remembered and shared: Leon Sun, Barnali Ghosh and Anirvan Chatterjee, and Caroline Cabading.
We’re proud to invest in artists like Katie whose work reminds us that belonging is built through preserving and sharing our stories.
Follow Katie for more info about upcoming public screenings of “From the Ground Up” and learn more about all of this year’s fellows at the link in our bio.
Watch Nidhi Chanani reflect on what the Creative Catalyst Fellowship taught her and the lasting impact the experience will have on her artistry.
With support from AAPI Fund, Nidhi developed a graphic essay, “Am I Asian Enough?”, exploring AAPI identity and her own lived experiences. We’re so proud to support artists who help our communities feel seen and connected. 💫 💫 💫
Learn more about the Fellowship at the link in our bio.
19/12/2025
Siberian Indigenous Sakha artist Sargylana Cherepanova is using video games as a vehicle for belonging, cultural preservation, and decolonial storytelling.
Through AAPI Fund’s Creative Catalyst Fellowship, she developed SILIS, an interactive game rooted in her experience navigating two isolating environments: Siberia and the United States. SILIS intentionally immerses players in that isolation, echoing the loneliness many felt during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But through gameplay, she transforms that loneliness into community empowerment. Ultimately, through her experience and decolonial lens, she envisions and creates a videogame that reflects on the desire to see the world, where Sakha people and immigrants in general are treated as whole people – not just political subjects or postcolonial subalterns.
🎮 Learn more and explore SILIS at: https://sargylana.itch.io/silis
And stay tuned for more projects from our 2025 Creative Catalyst Fellows! Learn more about each fellow: https://aapifund.org/2025-2026-creative-catalyst-fellowship/
12/02/2025
Applications for the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund’s (AAPI Fund’s) 2025-2026 Creative Catalyst Fellowship Program are due on March 6. This program provides opportunities for independent artists to engage the public in critical issues impacting AAPIs across the country. We will consider various art forms, such as music, video, visual arts, performing arts, poetry, and more.
Up to eight artists will receive $30,000 contracts to produce work with the potential to break through mainstream media and catalyze conversations around themes of In it Together, Belonging, and Voting Together.
To find out more, go here: https://aapifund.org/creativecatalyst/.
05/02/2025
We have an amazing opportunity from an allied partner to nominate five AAPI social media influencers to participate in a year-long program to improve upon their content and increase their reach. Do you know anyone you’d like to suggest for this program?
The criteria is pretty simple. These influencers:
- Are values aligned
- Are rooted in their community
- Regularly post on a social media platform
- Have over 500 followers on any social media platform
- Have a high level of engagement with their audience (comments and likes)
- Create great cultural content that engages, educates, or entertains
- Create content that is not focused on politics
We’ve all seen how our opponents have amped up their use of social media channels. Now is our chance to move more AAPIs into the mix.
Learn more here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_vF80xq49yZcfFjws9w899Jqu_xuwxkDH12lC5pqscY/edit?tab=t.0
Submit your nominations here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/13wj4RYZAHV2BDxZhL8f4HGn6oXDkq4IFACGcv4G4_VI/viewform?edit_requested=true
We need your ideas by Friday, February 14, 2025.
