THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021
6:30 PM PST
Virtual Gala
Chinese Culture Center (CCC) invites you to the Harmony & Bliss 2021 Virtual Gala, celebrating 56 years of community service.
The theme of this year’s gala is “WE我們: The Future.” In a time of unprecedented challenge, healing, and mobilization in the Asian American community, we believe that art and artists are integral to a just and equitable future. We invite you to join in honoring trailblazers who have made a significant impact through their commitment to community and paved a path for future generations.
Celebrate the community’s achievements in recovery and the art and creativity that inspires, uplifts, and brings hope during a crisis. We will have special guests, an online auction, and videos specially produced for the occasion.
CCC, under the aegis of the Chinese Culture Foundation, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
For questions about the gala, sponsorship opportunities, or in-kind donations please contact Elka Lee-Shapiro at elka@cccsf.us or call 415-986-1822, ext. 101.
CCC on Sky Link TV
Tune in to watch the 30 minute pre-gala program on Sky Link TV, featuring our honorees' stories: Saturday, May 15th at 6:00-6:30 PM
Sunday, May 16th at 10:00 - 10:30 AM
You can watch LIVE on the Sky Link website, KRON 4.2 or Comcast 193. For more information on how to tune in, please visit: https://www.skylinktv.us/skylinktv-san-francisco
2021 Honorees
Janet Yang
Trailblazer Award
A Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning Hollywood producer with deep roots in China, Janet Yang also sits on the Board of Governors for the Motion Picture Academy and is Chair of the Membership and Governance Committee. Yang’s extensive film and television credits include "The Joy Luck Club”, "The People vs. Larry Flynt”, “Shanghai Calling”, “High Crimes”, “Zero Effect”, and the recent animated feature “Over the Moon” for Netflix. Yang began her career bringing Chinese cinema into North America, and then representing the Hollywood studios to broker the first sale of American films into China. This in turn led to joining Steven Spielberg on the historic production of “Empire of the Sun”.
Committed to fostering global understanding, Yang has been a long-standing member of the Committee of 100, an organization of the most prominent Chinese-Americans; an advisory board member of Asia Society Southern California where she also chairs its highly regarded U.S-Asia Entertainment Summit; and co-founder of Gold House, the non-profit collective of the most influential Asian cultural leaders. She was also recently appointed as a Presidential Fellow at Loyola Marymount University.
Gene Luen Yang
Lifetime Achievement in Community Building Award
Gene Luen Yang is one of the most talented Chinese American writers and artists today. His graphic novel American Born Chinese was nominated for a National Book Award and won the American Library Association’s Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature. His graphic novel Boxers and Saints which tackled the difficult subject of the Boxer Rebellion and Christian missionaries in China won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Young Adults literature. In 2016 Gene was a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur genius grant. His books, focused on topics as wide-ranging as math, coding, basketball, and the Ku Klux Klan, are routinely assigned in middle and high school classes.
Madeleine Lim
Lifetime Achievement in Community Building Award
Madeleine Lim is the founding Executive Director of Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP). As one of a small number of queer women of color filmmakers on the international film festival circuit in the late 90's, she saw that only queer women of color would tell their own authentic stories. Decades ahead of mainstream conversations about gender and racial equity in film, she founded QWOCMAP in 2000 with the belief that a community of filmmaker-activists could change the craft of filmmaking and the leadership of social justice movements. Under Madeleine’s leadership, QWOCMAP’s award-winning Filmmaker Training Program has nurtured the creation of over 450 films, the largest catalog of LBTQ+ BIPOC films in existence.
Madeleine is an award-winning filmmaker with over 25 years of experience as a producer, director, cinematographer, and editor. Her films have screened at sold-out theaters at international film festivals around the world, including the Vancouver International Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, and Amsterdam Amnesty International Film Festival. Her work has been featured at universities, museums, and broadcast to millions on PBS. Her film Sambal Belacan in San Francisco (1997) remains banned in Singapore.
Photo Credit: Leilani Nespiros
Brandon Jew
Lifetime Achievement in Bridge Building Award
Brandon Jew is the executive chef and owner of Mister Jiu’s, a contemporary Chinese American restaurant in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Mister Jiu’s combines the local, seasonal and organic bounty of the Bay Area with classic Chinese techniques and flavors. The restaurant celebrates its place in the historic neighborhood working to evolve and define Chinese American cuisine in the Bay Area. Brandon’s training spans from Bologna, Italy to Shanghai, China and many restaurants within the Bay Area. He considers Judy Rodgers (Zuni Café), Michael Tusk (Quince) and his grandma, Ying Ying, to be his most influential mentors. Brandon has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and on Mind of a Chef, Ugly Delicious, Taste the Nation and Vice Munchies. His honors at Mister Jiu’s include one Michelin star, Bon Appetit #3 on the 2017 Hot 10, San Francisco Magazine Chef of the Year and James Beard nominations for Best Chef West 2018 and 2020.
Photo Credit: Pete Lee
