The Man Behind the 'Asian Oscars'

Photo by John J. Kim

Asian American Arts Foundation founder and chairman Jeff Adachi in front of Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, the site of the second Golden Ring Awards honoring Asian Pacific Americans in the arts.

BY PAUL LEE CANNON

Like many Asian Pacific Americans, Jeff Adachi grew up being encouraged by his elders to become "anything but an artist." So he became a lawyer.

But despite his chosen profession, Adachi, 38, an attorney with the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, is showing the nation, perhaps even the world, the contributions of APAs to the arts community.

In January 1995, with the aid of 14 other active members of the APA community, he founded the Asian American Arts Foundation (AAAF), a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that addresses and supports the need to provide direct financial assistance to APA arts and emerging artists. Since its inception, the organization has already awarded more than $60,000 in grants.

"We [the AAAF] felt the need for an organization that brought people together under a banner that wasn't just focusing on an issue, but what was something all could enjoy, appreciate, and understand,'' Adachi said.

The organization's fundraising efforts got a big boost from the first ever "Golden Ring Awards," a star-studded gala that honored and showcased top-notch Asian Pacific Americans in the arts. In 1995, the ceremony was held in San Francisco and honored stars Joan Chen, Margaret Cho, Oliver Stone, and Wayne Wang, among others. The inaugural event raised $30,000 for the foundation, making AAAF's first grant program possible.

For the second Golden Ring Awards, to be held Saturday evening at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, Adachi hopes to double or even triple the amount raised in '95 for the AAAF Grants Program. He plans to measure the success of the event by the number of seats filled in the 2,700-seat Davies auditorium.

The Golden Ring Awards showcase artistic excellence in all mediums of art and emphasize the importance of giving back to the community and its next generation of artists.

"It won't be a boring awards ceremony," Adachi said. "It may look like a glitzy Oscar-wannabe, but for most Asian Pacific Americans, they don't have the vehicles [like the Golden Rings Awards] to either promote the arts or to even promote Asian American experiences."

A three-minute film that conveys the Golden Ring Awards' theme, "Asian American men in media," will kick off the show. In between award presentations delivered by celebrity announcers, APA entertainers--including singer Jocelyn Enriquez, magician Ray Lum, violinist Rachel Kim, and poet Justin Chin--will perform.

"You will hear and see a wide range of APAs involved in the arts, from an American Ballet Theatre ballerina [Marianna Tcherkassky] to a Daly City hip-hop DJ [Q-Bert]," Adachi said.

In addition to Tcherkassky and Q-Bert, who will receive the Emerging Artist Award, the other honorees are: director John Woo, actress Tia Carrere, actor Russell Wong, performance artist Brenda Wong Aoki, producer Terence Chang, comedian/actor Steve Park, and jazz band Hiroshima, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Music.

The artistic legacy of APA artists has not been forgotten. Adachi anticipates the highlight of the evening will be a special tribute to those who contributed their talents to Flower Drum Song. Playwright David Henry Hwang is flying in from New York to present special awards to author C.Y. Lee, and actors James Shigeta, Nancy Kwan, and Pat Suzuki.

"We felt it was important to recognize the pioneers," Adachi said.

A longtime resident of the Bay Area, Adachi has been involved with grassroots organizing for 15 years and has devoted much of that time to Asian American causes. A former chair of the Asian American Theatre Co., he is interested in and dedicated to providing platforms to promote APA artists.

"Everybody is moving toward the same goal: empowering Asian American arts through the media,'' he said. "We're not the first, the best, or the last. It's part of the natural evolution. I hope by creating the Golden Ring Awards we are able to establish this goal. If we succeed, we can create a vision for people to work towards."

When the National Endowment for the Arts announced in 1995 that it would have to eliminate funding to some APA arts organizations, Adachi knew he had to do something about it. So he and his associates sought representation from leaders of all major Asian populations in the San Francisco Bay Area. The organization also reached out to non-Asians. What they discovered was a gap between the business and art communities that desperately needed to be narrowed.

"I think the lack of media in both the public and private sector is a result of the lack of Asians in the arts. I feel there's a certain imbalance between our communities. I was amazed at how little cooperation there was between them," he said. "Chinatown and Japantown aren't that far apart, yet there was little collaboration between the two."

For Adachi, the Asian American Arts Foundation was a response to the APA community's need to establish a forum in which all Asian ethnic groups could interact, especially given the fluent and dynamic nature of the Bay Area art scene.

"There are so many stories and so many perspectives to be told that you have to show the whole range of experiences to adequately depict how a certain group of people really are," he explained. "AAAF takes a proactive approach to what stories need to be told."

Adachi attributes the relatively small number of Asian Americans in the arts to tradition.

"When our parents and grandparents came here, the emphasis was on survival. They told us to 'be anything but an artist.' As a result, a disproportionately small number of Asians got involved in the arts."

Adachi's advocacy for getting APAs recognized extends to protesting against stereotypical portrayals of APAs in the mainstream media. He grew up in an era when people protested films. He still remembers standing outside a movie theater, chanting his position against Enter the Dragon.

"We don't have the same kinds of resources we need to survive on a different level. We still don't have the means to respond on a national level," he said. "I think it's necessary to our survival--survival in a sense where we have to have the means to respond to what's coming out of the mainstream media.

"We need to regulate this kind of programming and voice our concerns or we could face the danger of being portrayed as subhuman. If you don't balance those kinds of images, you become the No. 1 victim of hate crimes and violence."

Adachi uses recent examples of media images where APAs have taken a direct hit, so to speak. In the recent film Donnie Brasco, which stars Al Pacino, an Asian American gets severely beaten. And there was the notorious National Review cover, on which the president, vice president, and first lady were depicted with stereotypical Asian features and dress.

"If you don't portray people the right way, you increase the likelihood you will not be treated equally," he said.

Adachi says it's not unusual for some APA stereotypes to directly affect his work as a public defender. He has represented young APAs who happen to be gang members, something that makes his job more challenging and demanding.

Besides spending "90 percent of my time trying cases," Adachi said he spent six months planning this year's Golden Ring Awards. Adachi's lighthearted side slips out when he's asked why the show is held every two years.

"It's a tremendous amount of work and energy," he said with a laugh. "Besides, people don't want to see me for a couple of years, anyway."

As far as balancing a "day" job with his AAAF duties, Adachi said he gets to the office early to make calls, sometimes works from home, and puts in lots of late hours. He credits more than 100 individuals who volunteer their time to the foundation, especially his wife, Mutsuko.

Like the clients he serves, Adachi has a whole community to support and defend. And while he admits he's "anything but an artist" by profession, his well-regarded efforts at promoting and showcasing APA artistic talent paint a promising picture for the future.

"The plea I have for our community is that we need to give back to a new generation; so that they can take the lessons we have learned and create new tools and resources so that the next generation of creators will enjoy a better tomorrow."

The Second Golden Ring Awards will be held Oct. 11 at Davies Symphony Hall, Grove and Van Ness, San Francisco. The program, emceed by comedian Henry Cho, will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $50 for general seating and $150 for preferred seating, which includes a pre-event reception. For reservations, call 415-864-6000. For more information, call AAAF at 415-905-9100.

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