Asian American women comedians urge lawmakers to back St. Paul arts center for people of color

A group of Asian American women comedians is lobbying the state legislature to establish a first-of-its-kind performing arts center on St. Paul's East Side. It would be the nation's first Asian American women-led performing arts and multimedia center.

The Funny Asian Women Kollective (FAWK) is seeking $1 million from a state bonding bill to establish the Asian American Center for Media and the Arts.

FAWK was founded in 2018 by Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay, May Lee-Yang, and Naomi Ko. The St. Paul-based group uses comedy to combat the dehumanization of women from Asian, Pacific Islander and Desi (South Asian) American backgrounds.

Lee-Yang, a playwright, poet, prose writer, performance artist and teacher, said the visibility of Asian people increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and contributed to a rise in anti-Asian violence.

"We use comedy to combat the dehumanization and invisibility of Asian women. And that means, come support our stuff even if there isn't a tragedy happening," Lee-Yang said.

Vongsay said a performance center would create financial and creative opportunities for the East Side arts community. The space would include 300 seats, a multimedia center for videography, a sound stage and a gallery space. The center would also serve as a meeting place for groups like FAWK.

Lee-Yang said they expect the space will also be accessible to Black and Indigenous people and other communities of color. The venue will also offer affordable rental fees to increase its accessibility, they added.

"We don't really have a professional theater in the East Side," Vongsay said.

Other theaters in St. Paul such as the Ordway, the Palace Theatre and Park Square Theatre are concentrated downtown.

Minnesota theaters are also predominantly white-led, Vongsay added.

"Minnesota is home to the largest concentration of Hmong in the United States. We're home to the third-largest Southeast Asian population," Lee-Yang said. "Our Asian American population is very specific and unique — we're super pan-Asian. We're also home to a lot of refugees even beyond the Asian community. And our stories are often not told."

Artspace, a non-profit real estate developer for arts centers hired by FAWK, predicted that the Asian American Center for Media and the Arts would cost $25 million to build.

Rep. Jay Xiong, DFL-St. Paul, has authored a bill to secure funding. FAWK members pitched the idea for the center to the House Capital Investment Committee in April 2021. Chair Rep. Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis, and Xiong proposed including funds for the performing arts center in the bonding bill.

The Walz administration has proposed a $2.7 billion bonding bill focused on capital reinvestment and racial equity in public spaces and infrastructure.

Under Lee and Xiong's proposal, FAWK would receive $1 million to acquire the property, design the center and prepare for construction. Lawmakers are expected to discuss which projects to include in the bonding bill during the rest of the legislative session through May. FAWK members are unsure when they would open the center since they are still trying to find additional funding.

When FAWK was founded, it received funding from the Knight Foundation to launch a comedy series in St. Paul. Every month, 50 to 100 guests attended comedy shows featuring local and national performers, held at Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center in St. Paul.

"We realized we wanted a more formal space to highlight people's work, a space that could host more than 100 people," Lee-Yang said.

The group hosted the FAWK Super Show at the Ordway in 2019 and drew 900 people. It was the first time they saw themselves represented.

"All of us were really excited," Lee-Yang said. "Then the pandemic hit three months later."

Lee-Yang stressed the importance of creating their own space.

"It's weird to hear Asian women yelling, swearing, talking about sex in a way where they're not being victimized," Lee-Yang said. "It's revolutionary for marginalized people, especially Asian women, to take up space."

This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota's immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for its free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox.