Virtual Museum of Asian Canadian Cultural Heritage (VMACCH)

We are pleased to let you know that Asian Heritage Month--Canadian Foundation for Asian Culture (Central Ontario) Inc. is preparing a Virtual Museum of Asian Canadian Cultural Heritage (VMACCH) to showcase Asian Canadian cultural expression. It will be launched in March 2009 and is made possible by the generous support of the Canadian Heritage “Gateway” Fund.

Our goal for the project is to show representations of how Asian Canadian communities live and express their cultural identity in Canada in the form of photographs, videos and journals, among others. We hope to provide opportunities to foster the recognition and appreciation of the diverse cultures of Asian Canadian society, not just to promote Asian Canadian cultural expressions. We are also interested in discovering further whether the cross-cultural encounters between Asian Canadians and the rest of Canada can forge new cultural expressions.

If you are able to contribute to the Virtual Museum of Asian Canadian Cultural
Heritage (VMACCH), please provide your contribution to us by e-mailing vmacch@yorku.ca before 30 December 2008. Contributions can also be posted or faxed. Please contact us for further details.

We are seeking contributed written articles (500 to 1,000 words) as well as other text, graphics, photographs and video, on the following topics:

General History of Asian Canadians
o Cultural traditions and storytelling by Asian Canadians from Central Asia
o Cultural traditions and storytelling by Asian Canadians from South Asia
o Cultural traditions and storytelling by Asian Canadians from South East
Asia

Contributions of Asian Canadians to Canada
o Visual Art
o Music
o Dance
o Literature
o Science, Technology and Society

Prominent Asian Canadians’ Portrait Gallery
o Chinese Canadians
o Japanese Canadians
o Indo Canadians
o Footage from the Asian Heritage Month Lectures by prominent Professors

Asian Canadian Cultural History Education
o Policy issues
o Cultural roadshows

Asian Canadian Social History
o Photographs from the Chinese Canadian Photographic Society of Toronto
o Festivals from Central, East, South and South East Asia

Asian Canadian Political History
o Exclusions
o Inclusions
o Multiculturalism
o Ethnic Statistics
o The Way Forward

Milestones in Asian Canadian History
o General Timeline
o Milestones from Central, East, South and South East Asia

Although we are not able to offer any financial remuneration, we hope you would kindly join this meaningful project, which will be used for educational purposes. The materials, of course, will be appropriately attributed.

Thank you very much for your kind support of the Virtual Museum, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Kay Li, Ph.D.
President
Asian Heritage Month--Canadian Foundation for Asian Culture (Central Ontario) Inc.
vmacch@yorku.ca