What is Chinatown Greetings?
We are an artist initiated community project and fundraiser centering Chinatown, organized by Emily Chu and Shawn Tse. We use the power of Art and engage with local artists to get involved in projects that radiate appreciation and bring awareness to YEG Chinatown. Emily engages with her art network to work on creative, while Shawn helps as a cultural liaison to engage and bridge ideas with the Chinatown community - Ultimately navigating ways to build a healthy relationship between Artists and the Chinatown community for sustainable long-term work.
Photo from an Untouchable Chinatown project gathering on Jan 7, 2023
Current Project
Our 2023 project is titled "Untouchable Chinatown", a collective photography project co-organized and curated by Jordon 寶軒 Hon. In November 2022, disposable cameras were given out to 11 participants. After a few gatherings and thought exchanges, photos and written pieces, under the theme of "Untouchable Chinatown", were then curated into a book which is set to be released on May 20, 2023. This diverse group of perspectives and stories explore the "untouchable" aspects of our comforting yet complicated Chinatown.
2021 Project
We worked with local designer, Ray Dak Lam to create a collection of art goods- 100 illustrated banners for the community to display, and merchandise to sell with 100% of proceeds going towards future art/community initiatives in Chinatown. We introduced the collection at The Royal Bison on Sept 10-12, followed by a virtual launch on Sept 24th and Chinatown event on Oct 2-3, 2021!
The Chinatown Transformation Collaborative (CTC) sponsored our merchandise for the soft launch (banners, posters, stickers, pins, tote bags). Their kindness in covering some initial merchandise costs allows for more $ to go towards community projects.
How did it get started?
In early 2021, Emily received a small Artist Grant from the Edmonton Arts Council to conduct art research in Chinatown. She completed the project by hosting 6 on-location sketching sessions involving storytellers Lan Chan-Marples and Wai-Ling Lennon. Emily also created a small series of drawings, which turned into prints raising $1250 to donate back into community initiatives. Through conversations and consultation, Emily re-invested the funds into art initiatives, by hiring Ray Dak Lam to create an illustration for Chinatown, which is now the first collection for Chinatown Greetings.
Why now?
During the pandemic, Chinatown has lost approximately 30% of it's businesses. It continues to face many challenges. In a time of disconnect and low foot traffic to the area, we hope to show Chinatown some more love. We hope that this project creates a ripple effect for other artists to get involved with community work in sustainable, responsible, mutually beneficial partnerships. The ultimate goal of our project is to help increase foot traffic in the community.
Our Aims
- Celebrate Chinatown and its heritage.
- Build relationships with local artists for collaborations, to encourage more artist/community partnerships.
- Network and build a directory of local Asian and Chinatown-supporting artists, connecting community/organizations/businesses to creative resources.
- Fundraise to sustain arts-community initiatives long-term in Chinatown.
- Ultimately help bring more foot traffic into Chinatown through our events, and use this platform to share other events happening in the community.
Support Our Project!
Purchase goods! Help us to invest towards more community-arts projects in Chinatown, and feel great sporting art-with-a-cause by Edmonton's top artists!
Collaborate with us as a creative, or list yourself on our artist directory! Send us an email to get involved at chinatowngreetings@gmail.com!
Sponsor our project! We pay all of our artists and merchandise suppliers fairly, as we believe in the value of artists and the power of visual communications. Fair pay is a gesture of building sustainable, long-lasting partnerships. Sponsorship helps us maintain healthy partnerships and increase our proceeds!
Sell our goods! Please send us an email at chinatowngreetings@gmail.com for all wholesale inquiries.
Volunteer with us! All organization duties have been done as volunteer work. We can always use an extra hand :)
Spread the word! Share our posts on social media, invite your friends to our events. Our ultimate goal is to increase foot traffic in Chinatown and appreciate this vibrant, multi-cultural community with more folks who care!
Community photos taken by Shawn Tse, at Emily Chu's sketchclub events in the Spring of 2021.
Illustrations created by Ray Dak Lam and art directed by Emily Chu.
Illustrations created by Ray Dak Lam and art directed by Emily Chu.
Thank you for your support!
Follow our project on instagram from news, events, and future collections!