NYCAASC
From AAA Wiki
Overview
The New York City Asian American Student Conference (NYCAASC, colloquially pronounced "nye-sack") is an annual, day-long conference conceived, planned, and programmed by Asian American college students at various campuses from around New York City. It typically occurs in April, to coincide with Asian/Asian American heritage month celebrations on different college campuses.
The conference typically consists of a series of workshops, ranging from issues of identity to student activism to the work of Asian American organizations around the city, a keynote speaker, a performance, and student attendee discussion groups.
From the NYCAASC website:
Through our conference, we hope to bring all our voices - new and old, heard and unheard - into dialogue with each other, while acknowledging the differences and conflicts that are rooted in divergent experiences and shape vast and rich histories. Over the course of the day, we plan to showcase the stories of APA artists, activists, professionals, scholars, and more. We invite you to join us in our celebration and struggle, so that we may not forget our responsibilities to each other, but empower each other to redefine our identities.
History
NYCAASC's predecessor was conceived by the Asian American Alliance Political Committee, was planned entirely by Columbia students, and was held in Lerner Hall at Columbia University. Themed Do Something!, it was held on April 15, 2006.
Plans for the second conference were altered when students at New York University expressed interest in running a similar conference in conjunction with their Asian Heritage Month. Henceforth, students from both schools joined forces, and the conference became a collaborative effort. Titled Break the Silence: Discover, Inspire, Empower, the conference took place on April 14, 2007, at the New York University Stern School of Business. The keynote speaker was Carmen van Kerchove, the founder of the diversity/oppression training group New Demographic, and a contributor to the blog Racialicious. Performers included the hip-hop/classical/acoustic collective Stone Forest Ensemble, and the R&B singer Vudoo Soul.
In its third year, Columbia and NYU students were joined by members of the Coalition for the Revitalization of Asian American Studies at Hunter (CRAASH) from Hunter College, as well as individuals from both Baruch College and Fordham University. Redefine was held on April 12, 2008 in the Kimmel Center at New York University. The keynote speaker was Dennis Chin, former board member of the National Asian American Student Conference at a program coordinator at the Center for Community Change. Performers included spoken word artist Regie Cabico, singers Heather Park and Kevin So, and hip-hop artist Taiyo Na.
The Third Annual NYCAASC's theme was ACT: empowering our generation.
The Fourth Annual NYCAASC's theme was Change in Motion and was held at NYU on April 17, 2010. With Miriam Yeung from the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum as our keynote speaker, students heard from a plethora of speakers such as representatives from AALDEF, Dennis Chin, Assemblywoman Grace Meng, and Helen Gym. The nighttime concert, emceed by Jen Kwok, featured afterschoolspecial, Thomas' Apartment, and Brown Rice Family.
