Writing Workshop with Leah Wang
During the months of November and December, KSP held a two-part Flash Fiction Workshop led by Leah Wang. Leah is an English and Asian American Literature instructor at Marlborough School.
Thank You for Coming to El Mercadito Mágico!
Last Saturday, KYCC held our first ever El Mercadito Mágico Traditional Healing Arts Festival. KYCC’s Prevention Education, Recovery Services, and Koreatown Storytelling Program staff and volunteers gathered with members of our Los Angeles community to learn diverse traditional healing practices. We welcomed local healing artists, who demonstrated different ways to take care of our bodies including acupuncture, plant-based medicine, and sound bath meditation.
History of Koreatown Workshop
On Tuesday October 8, KSP held our third workshop of the semester: History of Koreatown. KSP Program Director Katherine Kim gave a presentation about the history of this community, from the waves of Korean immigration to Los Angeles to the evolution of the area to become the multiethnic, and multilingual community it is today.
KSP Book Volumes 3 and 4 Out Now!
Volumes 3 and 4 of the Koreatown Storytelling Program Book are out now! These books are comprised of narratives from our 2021 Eldercare and 2023-24 Koreatown Organizing to Reduce Youth Opioid [Use], or KORYO, cohorts.
Indigenous Botanical Dyeing w/ Meztli Projects
On Sep. 28, KSP kicked off our 2024-2025 cohort with an Indigenous botanical dyeing workshop at Harold A. Henry Park. Joel Garcia from Meztli Projects taught us all about indigenous dyeing methods using indigo, Black Walnut, and persimmon.
KSP Goes to Oakland!
In August 2024, the KSP had the amazing opportunity to travel up north to Oakland, CA to document stories from Oakland’s very own Koreatown!
KASxKSP Legacy Project Interviews: Esther Kang
Meet Esther Kang, a researcher, educator, and Professor of Design Studies at the University of Wisconsin. Esther's journey through cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, and abroad in Perth, Australia, and Durban, South Africa, has shaped her understanding of race and equity in design.
KASxKSP Legacy Project Interviews: Laura Park
Meet Laura Park, a hanbok business owner based in Los Angeles. Born to a family that operated a textile store in Seoul’s Gwangjang Market, Laura initially pursued a career as a translator before finding her true passion in business.
California Humanities Grant
KSP is honored to be awarded a $25,000 Humanities For All Program Grant from California Humanities for its project entitled "Traditional Healing Arts in Koreatown." This project will involve interviewing, gathering, and archiving oral history narratives about acupuncturists, herbalists, shamans, botanicas, and curanderas from our primarily limited-income, immigrant community.
KASxKSP Legacy Project Interviews: Kyungbin Min
Meet Kyungbin Min, a chef and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles. Born in Seoul and raised in SoCal, Kyungbin discovered his passion for food service early on.
Snap Foundation Grant
KSP is happy to announce that we have been awarded $150,000 over two years from the Snap Foundation. This award will support Koreatown youth’s creative education and help us document the living traditions of our community artists and traditional healers from Koreatown, Westlake, and Pico Union.
Boyle Heights Beat Podcast
This July, recent high school graduates- Chloe Manilay and Emily Morales from KSP and Angela Caliz and Kathryn Mora from Boyle Heights Beat- collaborated together to create a podcast episode on the transition from high school to college.
Hunter & the Scholar Totes!
A big thank you to stationary shop Hunter & the Scholar for their support of KSP! With their recent Our Spaces are Our Stories collection, Hunter & the Scholar has chosen to support one community program a month in support of the 6 official AAPI neighborhoods in LA through the end of 2024.
KSP at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles
Join KSP, artist Anne Kim, and community elders Cathy Yi, Fransisca Santiago Carranza, Sabina Guzman, and Yang Ja Kim for our OPENING NIGHT & PERFORMANCE on June 20th, July 18th, and July 19th at 7:00 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Koreatown Tour
On Saturday, June 1, KSP Program Director Katherine Kim co-led a Koreatown tour for the 2024 California Preservation Foundation in Los Angeles. To celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month, the tour, which was hosted by the Asian & Pacific islanders in Historic Preservation, explored Los Angeles’s five Asian American historic neighborhoods.
California Preservation Foundation Conference
The California Preservation Foundation Conference, held from May 29 to June 1, 2024, featured a critical session titled "Histories Revealed: Recognizing Culturally Significant Sites in Los Angeles." This session, part of the Engagement, Interpretation…
AAPI Joy: Wellness, Healing, Resilience & Resistance
On Saturday, June 1st, the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) hosted the AAPI Joy Festival, a vibrant celebration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. The event, organized in collaboration with the Koreatown Youth and Community Center (KYCC) and the Korean Senior & Youth Center (KSP), highlighted the rich cultural diversity of the AAPI community in Los Angeles.
KORYO-KSP Culmination 2024
Koreatown Organizing to Reduce Youth Opioid Use (KORYO) recently celebrated the culmination of an amazing year. In 2023, KSP partnered with KYCC’s Prevention Education unit to create KORYO, a youth advisory council focused on increasing and expanding KYCC’s capacity to provide youth with services for opioid use disorder and stimulant use disorder (SUD) in the Koreatown community, and reducing the stigma that presents a barrier to access for those affected.