Volume 78, Issue 19 | www.elaccampusnews.com | Wednesday, April 21, 2021 | Single copy free - additional copies 50 cents
LACCD reviews campus plans for LGBTQIA+ community BY ZASHA HAYES Staff Writer The LACCD Chancellor ’s LGBTQIA Advisory Committee delved into establishing programs including safe zones for students in the queer community in their recent meeting. The agenda for the meeting included welcoming remarks and comments on the George Floyd Case. To follow this, reports on the LGBTQ+ Certified Business Program and Queer/ Ethnic Studies Intersections and Curriculum were given. In this discussion, guest speaker Chancellor Fransisco Rodriguez spoke on the intersectionality of justice and the services the committee is working on for students in the queer community. These services include safe zones, providing special development training for faculty and staff, mental health services, learning communities, student pubs and hangouts and furthering curriculum development for courses focused on the community. Rodriguez said,“What we’re trying to do with the allocations and resources is create a climate and a culture; a positive change that embraces and supports the LGBTQ community and students. We’re doing this with a focused sense of leadership starting with our board of trustees. (We’re) spreading this idea throughout the state of California and leading by example without apology, without any sense that we should slow this down. In fact, we should accelerate.” “There is a larger sense of purpose and social justice that includes the LGBTQ Community
CN/ZASHA HAYES
ONE LOVE ONE HEART—LACCD members, faculty, and students talk about the upcoming Lavender graduation for the LGBTQIA+ community and allies. towards a more racially and socially just environment both here in LACCD and throughout the state and country,” Rodriguez said. The meeting continued on with talk of bills that will be passed that will include ethnic studies that have LGBTQ elements in each class. Trustee David Vela went on to explain the resource
allocation for an LGBTQ pilot program. The state-wide budget is 10 million dollars and the amount of money that could be given out to students could reach up to $500,000 in scholarships. The money would also be used in the services for the students of the LGBTQIA+ Community. Guest speaker Dean over
Curriculum Dan Keller spoke on the different courses that will be available for transfer. He also spoke of the updated curriculum for social justice discussions and how as the present, there is no real definition of what ethnic studies are. Therefore the courses could be expanded upon in the district as not just studies on ethnicities, but
culture, too. Debrah Harrington spoke on the idea of expanding the definition of ethnic studies. “I wanted to add on to the idea of intersectionality and thinking about the intersections with ethnic studies. I would like to see us advocate and see a relationship between queer studies, LGBTQ studies and ethnic studies because
I do think that in many respects the way that we look at ethnicities on some levels you’re talking about the social construct of that,” Harrington said. Guest speaker Ruben C. Smith from San Fransisco Community College helps expand the idea of spaces for students in the queer community as he is an expert in facilities. Smith said he was teaming together with Long Beach to develop a program for target outreach, but things are just getting off the ground. East Los Angeles College already has courses that promote ethnic studies on the queer community, Rin Kahla a professor of women and gender studies at ELAC, said. Professor of Political Science Felipe E. Agredano showed a presentation as another part of the agenda came up. This part of the agenda was the Faculty Liaison Report and the Lavender Graduation. The report and presentation gave the viewers a look at the activities for the queer community each campus in the district has currently. The rest of the meeting focused on the graduation and the online space queer students can go to if they need help. The link for this student service is as follows. https://www.elac.edu/StudentServices/One-Zone The Lavender Graduation will be on May 17. There are still tickets to be sold and seats to be filled. The link to the event is as follows. h t t p s : / / 2 0 2 1 l a v e n d e rg r a d . eventbrite.com These meetings are hosted quarterly and welcome those who choose to attend.
Vincent Price Art Museum welcomes new director BY BREANNA FIERRO Staff Writer Vincent Price Art Museum welcomed artist and activist Steven Y. Wong as the new director. VPAM interim education program coordinator Natalie Sanchez, welcomed the department of art, the museum studies advisory committee and chancellor Francisco Rodriguez, to a virtual meeting for all to meet Wong. Political rights and social justice activist Steven Y. Wong introduced himself for the first time as the new director and senior curator at the VPAM. The main focus during the meeting was to discuss his previous work, family history and to review his educational background. Wong’s artistic background and expertise comes from fighting justice for Asian American communities. His ultimate goal is to not only continue the Latin exhibitions at VPAM but also focus on the under represented Asian and Chinese communities. This can ensure that these exhibitions make the connection to bring them together stronger than before. He believes his passion, is his greatest strength and is deeply passionate about social justice. In his teen years, Wong witnessed a Caesar Chavez protest that many students including himself attended in support of the farm workers. This is when his passion for the arts and for social justice came into play. As a fourth generation
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Asian American he struggled throughout grade school. While he did not have a realistic path in academic studies, his drive for equality, creativity and passion for the arts is what secured his future. “I think public schools in general lack support for students who are having problems. I think being Asian American definitely hurt me, how that manifested itself is the idea of the mono minority,” Wong said. He believed we are all oppressed. He said, “If one group is oppressed, then we are all oppressed, it's intersectional.” Growing up on the Westside of Santa Monica during the late ‘70s,Wong felt as if he grew up in a non-traditional household. He said, his mother never pushed her language on him. It wasn’t functional in the household. That became the contributing factor in why Wong isn’t fluent in the Chinese language today. In public outings, Wong’s mother would provide Wong crayons and pencils to write or draw with. He said this distracted him from the language barrier faced when attempting to listen to the conversations his father and friends had growing up, which eventually benefited his art. Wong said he grew up as a latchkey kid through little to no supervision, with both parents working—mother worked as a teacher and father at a carpet factory in Lincoln Heights. His parents consistently enrolled him in afterschool programs and daycare programs that were invested with art components. This drove Wong’s passion for art even further. He noticed at a young age that
he thrived in the arts, but always had challenges in the academia department. With no family pressure to attend college, Wong did have social pressure that he witnessed through his friends. He enrolled into a special art program at Santa Monica College and discovered his newfound love of learning. Wong didn’t believe he would be where he is today if he didn’t attend community college, so it helped him navigate the way into an art career. He felt as if Santa Monica College lacked proper representation. Besides being critical about it, he felt it was also important to get his act together, to learn the love of learning, by working hard and networking. It was an opportunity for him to change old habits because the art world began to appear diverse and Wong felt as if there was still work that needed to be done. This challenge fueled his interest and he became passionate about making that change. Dean of UCLAArt Department Henry Hopkins mentored Wong when he was attending Santa Monica college by suggesting and helping him get into UCLA. This is where Wong received his master’s degree in art and Asian American studies. Wong’s first introduction to public art was through graffiti and he continued to curate artists who participate in graffiti art since. He said, during the ‘80s it was less acceptable as an artform and wasn’t necessarily a career path, but he did this art publicly and found a community of artists through being a graffiti artist. His first show, in 2010,
First Year Experience Social Hour
First Year Experience and ELAC Promise will host a social hour tomorrow from 1 to 1:30 p.m. where students can take a break from classes and meet new people. To RVSP go to https://tinyurl.com/FYESOCIAL1
brought together graffiti artists. It responded to immigratio reform and predominantly Latin artists with some Chinese and Asian American artists. This is something Wong was able to bring when working at the Chinese American Museum. When working for the Chinese American Museum, Wong said he realized the primary representation was Chinese American artists and felt as if the museum should represent the whole Los Angeles community so it led him to curate shows for himself. Moving on to the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery where he was hired to diversify the exhibitions, he said the gallery specifically hired him because he was curating artists of color, while the ambition was to elevate diverse artists. He worked there for three years, before moving over to VPAM. Through his academia and throughout the assistance he was provided in schooling beginning at Santa Monica College just motivated him in wanting to give that same appreciation back to the East Los Angeles College. As a former community college student, he felt indebted through the college education he received and wants to continue that work at VPAM. “As a curator you can only do so much in terms of policies and curating shows,” he said, and while a director he can push forward his agenda in making sure VPAM continues to provide high profile shows that focus on Chicano and Latin art. Wong plans to begin to bridge these communities that are in between about collaborating with different communities such
as Asian-American or Chinese communities. “ELAC is a diverse campus, the VPAM staff is diverse, the VPAM board is diverse, but it feels what a lot of institutions have been overlooking are the
collections, how to reframe collection policies of collecting and exhibiting pieces from the collection that are relevant to the student population and to the communities of color,” Wong said.
COURTESY OF VPAM JOE PUGLIESE
MAN IN CHARGE—VPAM welcomes new director Steven Y. Wong and learns about his passions in art and activism.
Sexual Assault Awareness Month ELAC Student Health Center and Domestic Violence and Sexual Assult Support Center will host meetings about dealing wil trauma and more. The last three meetings will take place next week. To RSVP for any workshop go to httpos://linktr.ee/elawc_elac
Auditions for Fall ELAC Productions
ELAC Theatre department will host audition workshops for student actors to meet directors and go over audition material on Saturday at 10 a.m. To attend the meeting ID is: 929 1263 9933 and the Passcode is: 560631