Celebrating our 25th year anniversary! Let us grow together! Support the Asian Culture Center at IU Bloomington!
By Melanie Castillo-Cullather, Director of IU Asian Culture Center
Our story began in the 80s and 90s, when a group of IU Asian American and Asian international student leaders, along with many student groups, advocated for meaningful changes on campus. These changes on campus included establishing a nurturing home -- a place where students could gather to learn, celebrate, and affirm their Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American heritages. They envisioned a place where their talents and passions could be recognized, their stories and voices heard, and where they could be seen and celebrated! The ACC was born on October 3, 1998, with all these goals in mind.
This fall 2023, the ACC will be celebrating its 25th year on the Bloomington campus. To this day, we continue to strive to live up to the students’ aspirations, past and present.
Throughout the 25 years, the ACC has been steadfast in fulfilling its mission.
With support from students, faculty, staff, and community members, we continue to hold stimulating discussion programs including Over a Cup of Tea, Who Are Asian Pacific Americans, and Hearabouts: Asian American Midwest radio podcast. We organize leadership and identity development retreats such as Retracing Our Roots, and host cultural and workshop events, including cooking demos, henna, calligraphy, and origami. We also bring students to educational field trips like DestinAsian and offer free Asian languages learning classes and tutorials. And most importantly, we listen and advocate for the needs of our students.
In the summer of 2020, we conducted a “Self-Assessment Survey” using the “Guide for Multicultural Student Programs and Services” model. The resounding result of that survey is for the ACC to expand and grow! What would that growth look like? It would mean bringing our programs and services to Hoosiers beyond Bloomington, building partnerships with more Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, and serving people across Indiana. We can only accept this challenge with your support!
Please join us as we celebrate our 25th year and share our dream of expanding and growing for the next 25 years. By contributing $25.00, $250.00, $2,500, $25,000 or more, you can help us reach our vision of serving the many generations of Hoosiers.