Our Mission

“Amplifying AAPI Voices in Baltimore and Beyond.”

Asian Pasifika Arts Collective (APAC) is a nonprofit organization that uses art to advocate representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Indigenous Americans in everyday life while building cross-community relationships. 

About Us

Since its founding in Baltimore, Maryland in 2018, APAC has worked to build a strong Asian arts community with the long-term goal of providing paid work for Asian American artists. We invite artists to create meaningful work across all mediums, exploring themes that celebrate topics such as identity and diversity. Our previous programs include in-person and virtual storytelling events, art galleries, theater productions, storytelling workshops, and an online blog with ongoing submissions. 

As an arts organization, we provide mentorship and arts education opportunities that support the growth and development of young and emerging artists of color, especially immigrant and refugee families and third-culture youths. APAC also strives to strengthen our partnerships with other minority and underrepresented groups, including Black, Latinx, and immigrant communities. 

Our Vision

We envision Baltimore as a city in which AAPI artists can grow in their craft and connect with one another. We want to help build a future Baltimore in which Asians and Pacific Indigenous truly belong, and their stories and experiences are seen, heard and valued. We also aim to acknowledge and honor the presence of AAPI and immigrants throughout the city’s oftentimes forgotten history. Through the work that we produce, the programs that we create and the artists with whom we collaborate, we aim to bring attention to the ways in which Asians and Pacific Indigenous communities and people have contributed and continue to contribute to the story of Baltimore. 

Our Values

1. Advocate belonging of AAPI in Baltimore and beyond.
   Our mission is to amplify the voices and experiences of all Asian and Pacific Indigenous individuals and communities. We focus on providing opportunities and creating safe environments for AAPI to share their stories.

2. Defining our own identities.
   We believe in empowering our communities to define for themselves what it means to be AAPI. We work to disrupt harmful stereotypes and decolonize the ways in which we approach our identities through art.

3. Paying artists and staff.
   We believe that all artists and art professionals should be paid equitably for their work. Our goal is not only to change the way the arts world values artists, but to empower artists to value their own work. 

4. Addressing the experiences of immigrant and third culture kids (TCK).
   APAC was founded by members of the AAPI community who identify as immigrants and/or the children of immigrants. Other members were raised as expats in countries outside of the United States or their passport country. Our goal is to offer to immigrant and third culture families of all backgrounds opportunities to build a community, using art as a means to connect, create and collaborate.

5. Building strong community relationships.
   We believe in the power of diversity. We aim to strengthen relationships within our various AAPI communities as well as build relationships with other communities who are also impacted by the injustices of systemic oppression. 

6. Art as advocacy.
   We believe that representation matters. As part of our mission, we aim to use art as a medium and platform for civic action, not just connection.

7. Nurturing local talent.
   Our goal is to help shape Baltimore into a city in which all underrepresented individuals are given equal opportunities to advocate for themselves, establish successful careers, and thrive regardless of their walk of life.