#OSAYS 

Our Stories are Your Stories (OSAYS) is a grassroots awareness campaign highlighting Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) voices through video storytelling. The #OSAYS team created videos from members of our AANHPI community and will share their stories throughout the month of May. Their Toolkit describes how you can tell your video story and have it preserved in the Wing Luke Museum’s oral history archives. Learn more about this year's campaign here. Stay tuned for PNB special features this month and revisit our contribution to last year's #OSAYS campaign: a PNB is Listening panel featuring PNB artists speaking about their AANHPI heritage and the stories they share.

Gold Standard Arts Foundation 

The Gold Standard Arts Foundation is the second step in Final Bow for Yellowface's evolution. This new organization launched this month by Phil Chan, Michael Sakamoto, Edwaard Liang, Sarah McCaffery, Georgina Pazcoguin, and Jessica Tong aims to champion Asian voices within multiple creative disciplines. 

Join this new organization and some familiar PNB faces on May 23 at 8PM EST for the Asian American Board Forum. San Francisco Ballet Board member Tim Wu will be in conversation with PNB Governing Trustee Jodi Wong, PNB Young Patrons Circle President & Ex Officio Trustee Jessica Zen, and PNB Young Patrons Circle Board Member Vivian Hsu about the experience of being an Asian American ballet Board member, and the myriad of ways Asian Board members can lead. Click here for more info and register for the online event.

Ukraine Fundraiser

PNB is Listening: BeautyBoiz 

Ronnie Gatsby is a dance artist, choreographer, musician, and producer – longtime PNB followers will remember their 2019 premiere Oshun, performed by Purple Lemonade Collective at Seattle Center’s International Fountain as part of NEXT STEP: OUTSIDE/IN. In our latest edition of PNB is Listening, Ronnie speaks with fellow members of queer production collective BeautyBoiz about finding their community and chosen family, making art in the midst of a pandemic, and the power of sharing creative space.

Heat Stress Prevention Drive: Through May 31 

This drive will help farmworkers prevent heat stress, with donations going to Wenatchee, Lower Yakima Valley, and Skagit Valley. Farmworkers in these communities have expressed a need for pop-up shade tents, cooling bands, hydration packs, and other resources as they work through the hot summers, when fields are typically 8 – 10 degrees hotter than what we see on the weather forecast.

There is a collection box just across from the Phelps reception desk (click here to see the full donation list, with asterisked items requiring batteries). You can also order items to be shipped directly to the Phelps Center:

Pacific Northwest Ballet
ATTN: WashMasks Drive
301 Mercer Street
Seattle, WA 98109

 One Thousand Books for One Thousand Dreams: Ongoing

We are helping WashMasks with their goal to provide one thousand culturally responsive and relevant books to children of farmworkers in Washington State, starting with Lower Yakima Valley. You can view their wishlist for culturally responsive books or purchase directly through Bookshop.org, which gives a portion of profits to independent bookstores. Choose your favorite bookstore to support or support WashMasks partner Estelita’s Library.

We selected these works in an effort to show children themselves as the main character in their own story. We wanted to select inclusive works, from the fantastical to the grounded written by Black, Indigenous, and Latine authors. We believe that it is vital for children to be exposed to as many different realities and possibilities so they can dream their biggest dreams.
-Anasofia Gallegos
(they/them)
WashMasks volunteer & book list curator