ASIAN
CREATIVE
FESTIVAL

May 20 - May 21, 2023

Industry City, Brooklyn

ABOUT ASIAN CREATIVE FESTIVAL

Asian Creative Festival is a space to celebrate AAPI culture and creatives. With the support of AAPI creatives everywhere, we’re cultivating a place to exchange stories, inspire creativity, and support one another. This year our theme is Be Colorful.

Hear from our all-star speakers by ACF, shop our AAPI artists/small businesses marketplace by ACE, and watch an AAPI directed film screening by Mixed Asian Media and East Side Stories. We’ll close with an exclusive after party hosted by Asian Creative Network 🥳

ORGANIZED BY LEADING NYC AAPI CREATIVE ORGS

WITH THE SUPPORT OF HUNDREDS OF VENDORS, PARTNERS, AND SPONSORS

Organizer

ACE Pop Up

AAPI Creatives and Entrepreneurs brings together AAPI creatives and small businesses to amplify their voices and impact.

Vendor

Cali & Dana

Cali & Dana is a young, ambitious brand ready to design life’s essentials for the modern woman. Our design philosophy is about the fit, but always making it fashion.

Organizer

Mixed Asian Media

Mixed Asian Media focused on sharing stories and celebrating mixed API's.

Vendor

The Boiis Co

A filipinx owned mochi based online dessert shop founded in summer of 2019 by Kert Lasdoce and Aaron Ortega and Rivy-Major Oponda.

Vendor

Goldyn Specs

Goldyn Specs is a modern eyewear brand featuring lightweight classic frames.

Sponsor

Industry City

Brooklyn’s vibrant creative hub along the scenic waterfront of Sunset Park. The location partner and host of the 2023 Asian Creative Festival.

Organizer

Asian Creative Network

Empowering Asian creatives by providing an inclusive, global platform and resources for active community building, collaboration, and growth.

Vendor

Divinity NYC

NYC-based fashion brand that helps people break boundaries in fashion, and feel more confident in themselves.

Organizer

East Side Stories

Sharing authentic expressions of the Asian American & Pacific Islander experience through film, media, and education.

Organizer

Asian Creative Foundation

Asian Creative Foundation is a place where we provide help entry-level creatives navigate their careers, and break into the industry.

Vendor

Sad Boiz Co

Sad Boiz Co. is a jewelry and dorm decor shop started by one of the founders of ACE Pop Up

AND HELP FROM OUR AMAZING SPONSORS

AND PHENOMENAL DONORS & PARTNERS

CREATIVE TALK HOSTS

Hear from leading creative AAPI voices curated by Asian Creative Foundation. This year we’re happy to welcome Rich Tu and Steven Wakabayashi as Asian Creative Festival creative talk hosts.

Rich Tu

Rich Tu is a first generation Filipino-American and award-winning designer and artist residing in Brooklyn, NY. He is the host of the Webby Honoree podcast First Generation Burden, which focuses on intersectionality and diversity within the creative industry, and is the co-founder of the COLORFUL grant with the One Club, dedicated to creating opportunities for early stage BIPOC creatives.

Steven Wakabayashi

Steven Wakabayashi is a queer first-generation Taiwanese and Japanese-American based in New York City. He is currently creating pathways for queer BIPOC creatives into the design industry through QTBIPOC Design, creating safe spaces for BIPOC communities within mindfulness through Mindful Sights, and designing equitable products and experiences for clients with his creative agency Stranger Creative.

CREATIVE TALK SPEAKERS

Meet Our Distinguished Speakers: Industry Leaders and Visionaries

Zipeng Zhu

Chinese-born artist Zipeng Zhu, based in NYC, works with renowned clients such as Apple, Adidas, and Netflix. An award-winning art director, designer, illustrator, and animator, he has been recognized by Art Directors Club Young Guns 13, Print magazine, and The One Show Young Ones. Zhu's work has been exhibited globally in major museums and institutions. He now operates Dazzle Studio and Dazzle Supply, taking his creative endeavors further.

Eric Lau

Eric K.T. Lau, a multifaceted Hong Kongese-American creative director and photographic fine artist, leads the creative department at sparks & honey. With experience at TBWA, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Mcgarrybowen, his campaigns for major brands earned him recognition from Clios, Cannes, and ADC. An accomplished photographer, his work has been exhibited worldwide, and he teaches at prestigious design schools. Lau also co-founded MEC watch and is an overlander with over 1 million views on his vlogs.

Jenny Huang

Awarded as one of the most "Inspiring Women" by Campaign Magazine, Jenny Huang is a concert pianist, brand marketer, DEI leader, and public speaker. She is an experienced marketing and communications trailblazer working with Fortune 500 Clients. She currently leads corporate brand marketing and communications at BBDO and serves as the Global Culture Lead for Omnicom's Asian Leaders Circle. Jenny brings a unique blend of creativity, strategy, and empathy to her multi-faceted career and champions a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive industry.

Sally Chung

Sally Chung (she/her) is a start-up designer, entrepreneur, and educator. Sally started her career as a founding member of Saks Fifth Avenue’s digital design team and eventually co-founded a beauty artificial intelligence start-up called HelloAva. Currently, Sally advises and works with Fortune 100 companies in design-led innovation at Boston Consulting Group Digital Ventures, teaches interaction design at School of Visual Arts, and mentors at NYU Stern’s Entrepreneurship program. She is passionate about applying human-centered design to incubate and scale start-ups. She holds a BFA in Communication Design from Parsons School of Design.

Kim Thai

Kim Thai is an Emmy-winning producer, writer, social justice advocate, and mindfulness teacher. With personal essays published in renowned outlets and appearances on MTV News and podcasts, she founded GaneshSpace to create healing spaces for historically excluded communities and promote social justice education. A student in Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village tradition, Kim, as a queer Asian woman, aims to empower people with liberatory practices for joyful living.

Phim Her

Phim Her (she/her) is the founder of HAWJ Studio, a multidisciplinary design, strategy and life coaching studio. Her previous work incarnations include being a senior product marketing manager and a global marketing solutions manager at The Washington Post, a senior designer at POLITICO and co-chair of AIGA National's Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.She has spoken for the United Nation's Global People's Summit, the AIGA National Conference, the Embassy of Italy and the OCA Asian Pacific American Advocates.

So A Ryu

So A Ryu is a Designer, Illustrator & Creative Director specializing in illustrative storytelling.

She is a generalist who believes that every medium harnesses the power to create a multi-sensoral experience. So A designs in details rooted in human interaction and experience.

She particularly finds influence from work that challenges the traditional sense of design: beyond the grid and the ocularcentric world.

PROGRAM

Day 1

11am - 5pm

AAPI Markets by ACE

4pm - 6pm

Day 1 by Rich Tu : Your Whole Self: Letting Identity Take the Lead (presented by First Generation Burden Podcast)

630pm - 8 pm

AAPI Film Screening by Mixed Asian Media

9pm - 4am

Afterparty by Asian Creative Network and Stilllife

10pm - 12pm

Afterparty by Asian Creative Network

Day 2

11am - 5pm

AAPI Markets by ACE

4pm - 6pm

Day 2 by  Steven Wakabayashi: At the intersection of creativity, mindfulness / spirituality, and Asian identity. (presented by Yellow Glitter Podcast) Steven Wakabayashi

630pm - 8 pm

AAPI Film Screening by East Side Stories

GET INVOLVED

Want to get involved with Asian Creative Festival? Apply as a pop-up vendor, sponsor, or volunteer.

For general inquiries, send us a note here.

LOCATION

Asian Creative Festival will be hosted in a ~10,000 sq. ft creative space at Industry City.

More on Industry City, www.industrycity.com
Address: 33 35th St., Brooklyn, NY 11232

AAPI MARKETS

ACE brings together AAPI creatives and small businesses to amplify their voices and impact through market curations.