examples of arts activism in south asian communities:   

compiled by mohan sikka, very cool storyteller/performance artist:  1999

[CHAAT]  san fransisco

• south asian artist collective

[desh pardesh]  toronto

• contact:  amie parikh or vashti pershad
• origins in organizing work done by khush:  south asian gay men of toronto.
• first official dp in 1990, based on call from ian rashid and khush
• first committee:  kaushalya bannerjee, nuzat abbas, amradeep khosla, mohammed khaki, steve pereira

[diasporadics]  south asian arts activism festival in new york

• contact:  sunaina maira
• co-coordinators:  sunaina maira and natasha singh.
• planned as a collective of artists/art organizers that will organize a pilot festival of south asian artists.
• focus on progressive art, art with a political connection.

[project REACH]  new york

• contact: don kao
• focuses on youth and arts/politics, not specifically south asian, involves queer youth.

[SAVAC]  toronto

• contact through desh pardesh
• south asian visual arts collective

[SAWCC]  new york

• contact:  sawcc@juno.com
• south asian women's creative collective
• founded 2 years ago by jaishri abichandani as an artistic space for south asian women to interact.
• monthly meetings open to south asian women: show/critique work, occasional showcase

[SLAAAP!]  new york

• contact:  javid syed/APICHA
• sexually liberated arts activist asian people [i think]
• team of artists and art activists making public art with a community wellness focus.
• co-facilitators are javid syed and dan bacalzo.

pan-asian organizations:

• [asian arts initiative]  philadelphia
• [asian american arts alliance]  new york

....AND a large, disparate community of writers, activists, performers, visual artists, musicians in the diaspora and in south asia, working to make new images of how we view the world and ourselves, and maybe to change the world a little....[or a LOT!]

more links/info?  send 'em to bpdiva@yahoo.com  thanks!