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Jade Music Festival Volunteer Opportunity
© 2022 The Society of We Are Canadians Too
Month: September 2022
2022 Jade Music Festival Volunteer Application
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Jade Music Fest
Thank you for your interest in volunteering with 2022 Jade Music Fest.
Jade Music Fest is a global music industry conference being held in the beautiful city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. JMF’s inaugural year (2022) goal is to present a majority of Chinese language artists from Canada, in the hopes of giving the Chinese language speaking Canadians the representation and equal opportunities in the Canadian and international music industry they very much deserve.
We are looking for passionate and like-minded individuals that are interested in music, culture, and the arts to join us. This festival is not only an excellent opportunity to build your resume and gain hands-on experience but also to learn more about the Chinese language music world, right here in Vancouver.
We look forward to working with you!
Onsite Volunteer Positions
Floaters are vital to the festival. You will be the face of our festival, introducing our programs and exhibitions to guests and attendees. Share your passion for languages, music, and Chinese-language music with Vancouver!
Responsibilities include:
- learning and communicating programs
- engaging with attendees about programs/exhibitions
- crowd control
- keeping tables and chairs clear
This role is to help us keep the Festival Hub running throughout the day. Your shift will include supervising the hub and engaging with the attendees about our events and festival schedule.
*Note: Hub Ambassadors must commit to a minimum 2 full day shifts.
Responsibilities include:
- learning and understanding festival programs
- promoting events to attendees
- communicating with staff
- directing guests and attendees
- crowd control
Want to be part of the behind the scenes of Jade Music Fest? Join our wonderful crew to help us get the festival up and running.
Responsibilities include:
- showing up at designated times
- assisting staff with equipment before and after the event
- moderate to heavy lifting
- cooperation with other volunteers
We are looking for dedicated and passionate volunteers to man our box office for indoor events. A great chance to engage with festival-goers face to face and enjoy a show while you’re at it!
Responsibilities include:
- greet guests
- distribute seating tickets
- directing guests and attendees
Office Volunteer Positions
Are you a social media enthusiast? Do you have an eye for what’s in the trend and what’s the latest hashtag?
We are looking for creative individuals to work with us on running and managing our social media pages. We welcome people who like to think outside the box, have an interest in learning new things, and is a team player.
Responsibilities:
- Writing social media posts
- Researching
- Communicating with staff
- Managing social media pages (including posting and monitoring messages)
- Creating/editing graphics and images (experience with Photoshop / Illustrator an asset)
Requirements:
- Fluency in English
- Familiarity with major social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter
- Ability to understand Mandarin / Chinese an asset
- Previous experience in managing social media an asset
This is a VOLUNTEER position, aimed at people who would like to build up their resume with hands on experience. We ask for a commitment of about 3 months, with flexible hours based on your availability. This position is open for remote work.
Want to work in a fun, creative, and ever-evolving environment? Are you interested in arts, culture, and community? Join our team!
Responsibilities:
- Administrative tasks including research and data entry
- Communicating with staff
- Filing and organizing inventory
Requirements:
- Fluency in English
- Ability to understand Mandarin / Chinese an asset
- Familiarity with Google Suite applications, Microsoft Office
This is a VOLUNTEER position, aimed at people who would like to build up their resume with hands on experience. We ask for a commitment of about 3 months, with flexible hours based on your availability. This position is open for remote work.
Want to gain hands on experience building and maintaining websites, and test your creativity to its limit? Join our team today!
Responsibilities:
- Create responsive and custom WordPress websites using Elementor page builder as a foundation, and able to tailor the rest of the site to match mockups
- Upload festival program content to our website using WordPress platform
- Development, debugging and maintenance of existing and new WordPress web projects
- Check website content for accuracy, links, bugs, etc
- Proofread and edit text before publishing
- Frequent communication with website staff to adhere to scheduled updates
Requirements:
- Fluency in English
- Ability to understand Mandarin / Chinese an asset
- Previous WordPress experience a plus but not required
- Willingness to learn and ask questions
- Attention to accuracy and detail
- Familiarity with Google Suite applications, Microsoft Office
This is a VOLUNTEER position, aimed at people who would like to build up their resume with hands on experience. We ask for a commitment of about 3 months, with flexible hours based on your availability. This position is open for remote work.
© 2022 The Society of We Are Canadians Too
Stories of Independence
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Stories of Independence
Harmonia String Ensemble
The songs that define our heritage and our struggles tell stories rooted in the people and the community. More than politics, more than history, music is an experience of culture and identity that continues to echo across oceans. What is the sound of independence? Some of the familiar tunes Taiwanese people thought were their own turned out to have originated from Indonesia; many Malaysian-Chinese artists have their careers kick started in Taiwan. Let’s listen together as we kick off our Dialogue with Indonesia and Malaysia.
FREE ADMISSION
In Partnership with 2022 TAIWANfest
Venue / Time
VANCOUVER
Air Date on Sep 5th
© 2022 The Society of We Are Canadians Too
Homewards: The Children of Immigrants Searching For Their Roots
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Homewards: The Children of Immigrants Searching For Their Roots
Sisi Chang – Lecturer of Southeast Asian Cultures / Author
Sisi’s family is a reflection of ethnic Chinese immigration history. Although she was born and grew up in Taiwan, her memory of “homeland” is always linked with “going abroad.” There are always tough challenges—every family gathering means buying tickets, applying for visas, and submitting documents to governments.
Memories replay while looking through old photos one by one. Sisi and her cousin took pictures in front of a house—jokingly known as the “High-End Resettlement Area ”—that was purchased by middle class people who sought refuge in Hong Kong during the war. They also took other pictures in Central, Hong Kong with another cousin. In these photos, the mark of the Hong Kong Urban Council from the British colonial period was clearly visible. Sisi found her missing childhood in Malaysia, discovered those of shared ancestry in Australia, and found the year “1975” as the shared connection between her and the local people of Cambodia. However, no matter where Sisi is, Taiwan is always a home that she can go back to.
Object Introduction
Object 1: Family map stamps
Long-distance calls were extremely expensive in the past. Due to the time difference, Sisi had to connect with relatives and friends through letters. The printed stamps on the letter envelopes became Sisi’s window to the world.
Object 2: Vietnamese silver brooch
This brooch was in a white paper box inside Sisi’s mother’s drawer. Sisi was not aware until she grew up that the brooch might have been made by a top crafts manufacturer in Vietnam that provided items to the Vietnamese royal court during the country’s feudal era.
Object 3: Indonesian Batik fabrics
When Sisi’s mother was in university, she would ask her fellow overseas Chinese classmates to bring back fabrics from their hometown. Her classmates used those fabrics to make trendy clothes, such as skirts, dresses and shirts. These fabrics have become one of Sisi’s teaching aids in Taiwan now.
Object 4: Malaysian Kebaya
The kebaya is a traditional piece of clothing in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore that combines cultural elements from places such as India, Java, Europe, and China. It is a type of formal dress in the ethnic Chinese community in the region and its popularity has spread outwards from Malacca (Melaka), a diverse city in what is now Malaysia. The kebaya reflects Sisi’s southeast Asian research and the diversity of the “ethnic Chinese” identity.
Object 5: “Hong Kong Add Oil (an expression of encouragement in Cantonese)” head band
“Going back to Hong Kong” has long been a dream for Sisi. After the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement, however, she realized that the meaning of “hometown” she had in her memory no longer existed.
FREE ADMISSION
In Partnership with 2022 TAIWANfest
Venue / Time
VANCOUVER
Sep 4th / 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Granville 700, Downtown Vancouver
© 2022 The Society of We Are Canadians Too
Insomniac Nights and An Aesthetics of Passivity
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Insomniac Nights and An Aesthetics of Passivity
Elizabeth Wijaya – Assistant Professor of East Asian Cinema of the University of Toronto
Tsai Ming-liang’s eight-part Walker series (2012–2018) traverses performance art and film, internet video, and film festival-oriented cinema, held together by the itinerant figure of Lee Kang-sheng dressed as a monk. Tsai’s work carries the sense of the cinematic, as experiential encounters, into arenas outside the cinema theatre. Through the post-retirement Walker series, I consider Tsai’s ever-further alienation of cinematic conventions and expectations and a continued pursuit of an “aesthetics of passivity” within the illusory form of the moving-image. Guided by Levinasian themes of passivity, fatigue, and insomnia, I read the ethico-political possibility of on-screen passivity and passive spectatorship through scenes in the series and the 2016 No No Sleep exhibition at the MoNTUE in Taipei. From a pandemic time where self-isolating is a passive action and form of responsibility for the other, waiting together becomes a temporal practice of the will that has collective, political potential.
FREE ADMISSION
In Partnership with 2022 TAIWANfest
Venue / Time
VANCOUVER
Air Date on Aug 27th
© 2022 The Society of We Are Canadians Too
The Pursuit of Ideas: What You Can Find In Taiwan is the Clash of Civilization or Hope of Civilization in Taiwan
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The Pursuit of Ideas: What You Can Find In Taiwan is the Clash of Civilization or Hope of Civilization in Taiwan
Joshua Wang – Editor of Gusa Publishing
As an immigrant from an empire whose historical glory was denied growing up in a country whose identity as a state is denied, Joshua has always had trouble in answering the question of “Who am I?” either to foreigners or even to my fellow citizens, some of whom tend to see his family, who moved to Taiwan from the mainland in 1949 as waishengren, pathetic refugees, or oppressive colonizers, as enjoying a lot of political and cultural privilege. However, while some Taiwanese view the complexity of their identity and history as a tragedy, he likes to take it as an opportunity. For the past 30 years, Taiwan has evolved to a vibrant democracy and a strong economy, which allows it the freedom to critically explore the problems that lie in the past, the obstacles it is currently facing, and the opportunities it needs to grasp. The special political situation of Taiwan deprives the country of a dominant political power and instead allows it to navigate between two huge civilizational and geopolitical spaces. “What we lack and what we long for is exactly what empowers us.” However, to fully realize Taiwan’s potential, it still needs to be more optimistic and assertive. In this Hope Talk, Joshua will use his personal story to explain this bizarre journey.
Object 1: Shandong steamed bun
Family is from Shandong, can not speak the Taiwanese dialect, is not familiar with Taiwanese religion and customs, yet has relative cultural capital. Joshua does not like this steamed bun, which represents a transformation of recognition from other waishengren.
Object 2: 《Lao Zi》& 《Four Books》
The two books that symbolize Chinese culture. Can Chinese culture have modernity? Can China integrate freedom and democracy? This discussion is ongoing……
Object 3: University of Utah Sports Uniform
The most interesting thing about America to Joshua is that it is a conflict-filled nation; it was once a moral compass, but it is now a declining force.
Object 4: Computer
The success of the Taiwanese model is reflected in the development of its electronics industry: combining American and Western technology with the massive labour force in China. In the midst of the trade war between China and America, does Taiwan plan to decouple from China?
Object 5: Steel coffee mugs/hiking supplies
Not only is hiking a way to appreciate Taiwan’s natural environment, it is also self-challenging, stress-relieving exercise. Most importantly, to go far, you must have a companion!
FREE ADMISSION
In Partnership with 2022 TAIWANfest
Venue / Time
VANCOUVER
Sep 5th / 1:45 pm – 2:45 pm
Granville 700, Downtown Vancouver
© 2022 The Society of We Are Canadians Too
The Things That language And Dialogue Taught Me
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The Things That Language And Dialogue Taught Me
Kai-Chun Huang – Translator / Author
Kai-Chun has loved learning languages since she was young. Languages have also brought her to many unexpected places.
Born in Tainan, she grew up in a Taiwanese speaking family. In high school, she visited many Indigenous Taiwanese tribes because of an Amis language course, which surprised and gave her different thoughts as someone who grew up in the city, but opened her eyes to learning about other cultures. In university, Kai-Chun learned to speak Arabic and went to Egypt to further study the language, leading her to fall in love with Islamic culture. The topic of the hijab also inspired her thinking on feminism, rethinking for her what it meant to be a woman.
After graduating, Kai-Chun entered the publishing industry, her current job—book translation—is still related to languages. Language allows Kai-Chun to break the boundaries between herself and other ethnic groups. Travelling and communicating between two cultures brought infinite inspiration and possibilities to Kai-Chun, and from it she learned more about others and herself.
Item introduction
Item 1：Taiwan Culture Team uniform
Clubs in high school were the key to changing Kai-Chun’s life. From that point on, she was not just a top-tier student who only studied for exams, but she learned to “return to the start”: to witness the beauty of different cultures and change her perception of Taiwan.
Item 2：Sikau crochet backpack and “graduation certificate”
During university, Kai-Chun went on a hiking trip to learn about mountains and forestry with the Indigenous Paiwan people. After their first training, every participant was given a branch and were told it was their “graduation certificate.”
Item 3：Ticket from Egypt
One of the little traces of Kai-Chun’s first time living in a different cultural environment for a long period of time
Item 4：Hijab
Among the different styles of hijabs she has collected, the most important one to Kai-Chun is a khimar that was made when an Egyptian friend took her to a fabric shop.
Item 5：Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time
Kai-Chun’s first independent translation work. Being able to be in a line of work where she can connect two different languages and cutlures always makes her feel lucky and blessed.
Item 6：Taiwanese textbook
Hoping to gain a deeper understanding of her original culture, she started to re-learn Taiwanese in 2022.
FREE ADMISSION
In Partnership with 2022 TAIWANfest
Venue / Time
VANCOUVER
Sep 4th / 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Granville 700, Downtown Vancouver
© 2022 The Society of We Are Canadians Too
Nothing But Culture
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Nothing But Culture
Tsung-Te Tsai – Ethnomusicologist
Economy and technology can improve the standard of living momentarily, but only culture and art can build up national identity and confidence—a distinct phenomenon especially observed in an immigrant society.
When immigrants leave their home country for a brand new land due to economic, political, religious, or other reasons, they usually bring their customs and rituals, religion, language, culture, and arts along with them. They also try to gain acceptance in their new country by blending in with local society, speaking the local language, adapting to native foods, and learning local arts and culture. They work hard to build a cultural identity that belongs to the immigrant.
Dr. Tsai will attempt to compare the immigration process of early Chinese immigrants in Indonesia to recent Indonesian immigrants in Taiwan, exploring what role performance arts plays among these immigrants and how it is used to construct their cultural identities.
FREE ADMISSION
In Partnership with 2022 TAIWANfest
Venue / Time
VANCOUVER
Air Date On Sep 4th
© 2022 The Society of We Are Canadians Too
Taiwanese Social Activism in Indonesia
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Taiwanese Social Activism In Indonesia
Eden Liu – Soesmans1866 Co-founder
Eden is the co-founder of Soesmans1866 and also has a full-time job as a manager in a traditional manufacturing factory in Indonesia. Despite his studies in business management, he discovered his passions as a heritage renovation consultant or entrepreneurship coach. At first, his job was to assist the local government in renovating historic buildings based on the case studies of Dihua Street and Huashan Creative Park (both successful renovations in Taiwan). In the blink of an eye, he has worked in Indonesia for nine years.
Soesmans Kantoor is a heritage site more than 150 years old left by the Dutch in central Java, the biggest island of Indonesia. Semarang is the third city he has been to in Indonesia. It is here that Eden wants to share why such a charming city would be a good base for a new startup company, with its unique cultural value and potential market opportunity.
FREE ADMISSION
In Partnership with 2022 TAIWANfest
Venue / Time
VANCOUVER
Air Date On Sep 4th
© 2022 The Society of We Are Canadians Too
