Centre County group aims to ‘celebrate APIDA joy,’ elevate Asian American voices

With Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month coming up in May, a new group is finding ways to elevate the voices of Asian Americans in Centre County and help people learn more about the diversity of Asia.

The PanAPIDA Circle formed in 2020 when Nalini Krishnankutty, now a State College Borough Council member, and District Judge Donald Hahn, who was mayor of State College at the time, were on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, and they wanted to increase representation of the APIDA community.

The APIDA community is the largest racially minoritized group in Centre County, making up a little more than 6% of the population.

APIDA stands for Asian Pacific Islander Desi American, and Krishnankutty said she wanted to name the group PanAPIDA Circle to include anyone who identifies as Asian but may not traditionally be considered Asian by others, such as people from the Middle East.

In April 2021, Krishnankutty said she got a group together on Zoom to talk about their personal experiences and sense of identity within the community. Krishnankutty is a first-generation immigrant who spent the first 21 years of her life in India.

“Asian American is a very externally constructed identity. There are no Asians in Asia,” Krishnankutty said. “There are Indians and Pakistanis and Nepalese and Bhutanese and Chinese and Japanese and Koreans, right? There’s no real (overarching) identity.”

Hahn said he believes there’s a “fragmentation of identity” between Asian Americans because “each group considers itself somewhat separate from each other” due to the fact that the individual Asian American communities are so small.

He said that’s why it’s important for not only non-Asian community members to appreciate the APIDA community, but for different Asian groups to interact and understand each other’s cultures.

“I think that hopefully this will result in a greater understanding but also greater knowledge of how to help each other,” Hahn said, “and break down the isolation of each discrete group of Asian Americans.”

Krishnankutty said she and Hahn reached out to local government, school districts and other organizations to speak about the Asian experience, but when COVID sparked Asian hate around the country, their efforts shifted to spreading anti-hate messages.

The PanAPIDA Circle participated in State College’s LION Bash and created a flyer on how to report hate and bias in Centre County.

“We didn’t want to only be a group that’s standing up against something; we also want it to be for — like elevate the voices and experiences, and also, let’s celebrate APIDA joy,” Krishnankutty said.

The organization then partnered with the Bellefonte Art Museum to create an exhibit called “Into the Light: A Tapestry of Art and Culture from Local Asian Pacific Islander Desi Americans.”

The group was looking to connect with artists in the area who identified with the APIDA community to showcase their talents, and by the time the exhibit was up last spring, about 21 artists’ work were displayed.

The PanAPIDA Circle’s other goal is to connect with groups like the Penn State APIDA Caucus and set up booths at local events.

The caucus reached out to the PanAPIDA Circle for help with planning State College’s first-ever APIDA Heritage Festival, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza downtown.

The celebration will feature food vendors, local art, performances, henna and photo booths to showcase the diversity within the Asian community.

“What’s beautiful about this is this festival is going to be one where we really are going to have a town and gown collaboration,” Krishnankutty said. “This is also about the students claiming the town as their own and the community group helping to bring both the APIDA residents who live here to come and participate as well as organizations.”

Tehreem Syed, vice president of the Penn State APIDA Caucus, said she’s looking forward to the festival because it gives students and locals a chance to learn about other cultures.

Syed is a senior studying biology and is also the vice president of the Penn State Pakistani Students Association. She lived in Pakistan until she was about 14.

“Heritage month, to me, is just appreciating everything, like where I come from, all the traditions, everything,” Syed said. “It’s just special.”

Cecil Houseknecht, an intern for the PanAPIDA Circle, said he stayed in State College after graduating from Penn State last spring because he saw there was APIDA advocacy work to be done.

“I’ve worked with a lot of people that oftentimes feel invisible, and it could be in educational spaces or in other spaces throughout the community,” Houseknecht said. “They don’t feel like they’re represented necessarily in the best way.”

He said the festival will give the APIDA community a chance to “feel seen” and will help teach other people about the diversity of APIDA culture to make State College a “safe and welcoming space.”

Looking at the PanAPIDA Circle’s future plans, Houseknecht said the group hopes to continue building a presence on social media and getting involved in more programming and events in the area.

“The APIDA community is here. It’s thriving in State College, and we want to continue expanding spaces and opportunities for these communities,” Houseknecht said.

Krishnankutty said her hope is that Saturday’s festival and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month will “give visibility to an experience.”

“My hope with all of this is that the APIDA community begins to see themselves in all facets of life in Centre County,” Krishnankutty said, “and all of us that live in Centre County begin to see how the APIDA community is an integral part of it.”

For more information on the PanAPIDA Circle, visit its website or Facebook page.

This story was originally published April 21, 2023 at 8:49 AM.