In an interview for WUKY’s Lex Talk History podcast, Wu said he had spent years being disappointed in a lack of local cultural arts events highlighting AAPI heritage month.
“I never did anything about it – just kind of got cranky every May,” said Wu. “And then last year, around February-March, I started thinking about it. I recruited a whole group of very dynamic friends and, in the span of 8 weeks, we threw together two events that turned out to be very successful.”
“This year, we had a lot more time, and we have created a series of events every weekend in May.”
The celebration kicks off this weekend at the Moondance Amphitheater. Gates open at 6 Friday for a night of local AAPI music, dance, taekwondo, and food trucks. Next weekend, on May 10th, the celebration continues with poetry readings and tea tastings at the Carnegie Center and, on May 17th, a LexArts gallery hop will feature local AAPI artists and a fashion show.
LEX GET HAAPI wraps up with a movie weekend at the Kentucky Theater, with a showing of Yellow Rose on Thursday the 23rd, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle on Friday the 24th, and Turning Red on Sunday the 26th.
Wu says the opportunity to create a month-long celebration from scratch has been rewarding.
“Sometime when there’s the lack of something, like the lack of Asian-American history or the lack of these cultural and arts events, you can be kind of bummed out about it,” says Wu. “Then, on the other hand, you realize, ‘Oh, we can just make this stuff.’ We can create it. We have the space.”
A full schedule of events can be found at gethaapiky on Instagram. To catch the full conversation with Wu, search Lex Talk History on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.