Asian Heritage Month Festival 2025
Presented by Asian Heritage Month-CFACI
At a glance | Asian Heritage Month Festival 2025
Virtual Museum of Asian Canadian Cultural Heritage (VMACCH)
Senator Dr. Vivienne Poy signing the Asian Heritage Month Declaration
Message from Her Worship Olivia Chow, Mayor, City of Toronto
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1. Asian Heritage Month Opening Ceremony | “Fostering Understanding and Solidarity Through Combatting Anti-Asian Racism Education”
Date: Saturday May 3, 2025 | 1pm – 3pm
Please arrive at 12:30pm to tour the exhibition.
Venue: City Hall Rotunda, City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto. Map
FREE ADMISSION | Please register at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/asian-heritage-month-opening-ceremony-tickets-1326185349079
O Canada – Music: Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Soprano: Dr. Vania Chan
With photography on Magnificent Canada by Tam Kam Chiu and Stephen Siu
Opening remarks
Her Worship Olivia Chow, Mayor, City of Toronto
The Honourable Dr. Vivienne Poy, former Senator who tabled the Motion in the Senate of Canada, and Founding Patron, Asian Heritage Month-CFACI
Mr. Justin Poy, Honourary Patron of Asian Heritage Month-CFACI, and Chinese Canadian Legend Award holder
Asian Heritage Month Lecture
Mr. Justin Poy, Honourary Patron, Asian Heritage Month-CFACI, Chinese Canadian Legend Award Winner
Combatting Anti-Asian Racism Through Music
World Premiere: “Love Makes Us One” – New Composition by Professor Chan Ka Nin, lyrics by Ms. Jodelyn Huang ( Toronto Catholic District School Board), Soprano: Dr. Vania Chan
“Man Jiang Hong” – Soprano: Dr. Vania Chan
“Diversity and Inclusion – A Photographer’s Perspective”
Stephen Siu, Chinese Canadian Legend Award Winner
2. “Empowering Communities Against Racism: Asian Canadian Photography Exhibition with Demos, Workshops and Talks” | Asian Heritage Month Photography Exhibition by Award-Winning Asian Canadian Photographers at City Hall Rotunda
Date: April 28 to May 4, 2025
Venue: City Hall Rotunda, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto. Map
FREE ADMISSION
3. Photo Exhibition | Burma Seen Through The Lens of Award-Winning Photographer Mr. Tam Kam Chiu
Date: May 1 to May 31, 2025
Venue: City Hall Branch, Toronto Public Library, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto. Map
FREE ADMISSION
4. “Empowering Communities Against Racism: Asian Canadian Photography Exhibition” | Asian Heritage Month Photography Exhibition by Award-Winning Asian Canadian Photographers at Metro Hall Rotunda
Date: May 7 to May 13, 2025
Venue: Metro Hall Rotunda, Toronto, 55 John Street, Toronto. Map
FREE ADMISSION
5. Annual Asian Heritage Month Concert 2025
“Promoting Inclusion and Unity: Being an Ally – Love makes us one” |
Date: May 8, 2025, 7pm
Venue: Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto, 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto. Map
FREE ADMISSION | Please register at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/asian-heritage-month-concert-2025-tickets-1334211776339
Artistic Directors: Professor Chan Ka Nin, Ms Alice Ping Yee Ho, Dr. Vania Chan
Welcoming speech by Mr. Justin Poy
I. Excerpts from The Monkiest King
Scene 1 Birth Song and The Race
Librettist: Marjorie Chan
Composer: Alice Ping Yee Ho
The Canadian Children’s Opera Company
Conductor: Teri Dunn
Patty Chan, Erhu Wendy Zhao, pipa
II. Once…first movement “Little Bird” by CHAN Ka Nin | World Premiere
Jiyun Song, daegeum
This work is supported by grants from the Ontario Art Council, Toronto Arts Council, Art Council Korea, and Liquidsound
III. Guzheng Performance
1) Lake one Cultural Association & Lyra Music
Blossom on a Moonlit River in Spring 春江花月夜
Performers: Esther Zhu, Austin Zhu, Mikayla wen Chen, Brianna Wong Calliope Chuck
2) Bayin Ensemble
Performers：Amely Zhou (Erhu), Di Zhang (Yangqin), Annora Anqing Sui (Percussion) + two Guzheng
Galloping Horses
General’s Command
– Erhu, Yangqin, Percussion, 2 Guzheng
IV. “Love Makes Us One” World Premiere
Text: Jodelyn Huang
Music: CHAN Ka Nin
Vania Chan, soprano, Adelyn Griffin, Baydon Griffin, Ryland Griffin, Charlie Karantjas, Naomi Karantjas, Theo Karantjas, actors, Alice Ho, piano
V. Once…, second movement “Go my own way” World premiere
Jiyun Song, daegeum
VI. Vocal Pieces
“听雨” (Listening to the Rain) by Zhao Yuan Ren
“教我如何不想他” (How can I not think of her?) by Zhao Yuan Ren
鴛鴦(Tea-coffee) by Hong Kong poet 也斯 Leung Ping Kwan (1949 – 2013) World Premiere
Music: Hippocrates Cheng
Duet “La ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”.
Vania Chan, soprano Matthew Li, bass Alice Ho, piano
VII. Once…, third movement “Curiosity”
Jiyun Song, daegeum
VIII. Excerpts from The Art of Vanishing by Lynne Kutsukake
Lynne Kutsukake, author and reader
Music: Jiyun Song, Daegeum player & improviser
IX. Ayame Kai Japanese Dance group
3 Japanese Dances under the direction of Susan Nikaido
- Aka Tonbo – Isla Miller, Emma Tingle and Kiyomi Yep
- Kojo – Mizuki Shimozato and Amaya Nakashima
- Kokoro Zake – Yiko Zhang and Olivia Yoshimoto
6. “The Chinese Head Tax: Untold Stories Mark 140 Years”
Date: May 14, 2025 | 6 pm
Venue: Toronto Reference Library, Toronto Public Library, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto. Map
Speakers: Arlene Chan, Judy Fong Bates, Kwoi Gin, Susan Crean
FREE ADMISSION | Please register here.
7. School Workshops
Music workshop by Bo San Karantjans
Story telling workshop by Catherine Little
FREE ADMISSION | FOR SCHOOLS ONLY
8. “Pan-Asian Diversity: Once upon a time in Chinatown | The Evolution of Chinese Desserts” | Asian Heritage Month talk at North York Central Library
Date: Wednesday May 21, 2025 | 7pm
Venue: North York Central Library, Toronto Public Library, 5120 Yonge Street, Toronto. Map
FREE ADMISSION | Please register here.
Speakers: Gordon Lam, President, Lem Si Ho Tong Society; Roy Wong, Vice President of the Wong’s Family Association; Chiyi Tam, Toronto Chinatown Land Trust, and Koby Song-Nichols, PhD candidate from University of Toronto Asian Studies. Produced by Professor Chef Leo Chan.
9. Asian Heritage Month Education Roundtable: “Asian Sports: A Unifying Force for Health and Wellness”
Date: May 29, 2025
Venue: University of Toronto
FREE ADMISSION | FOR SCHOOLS ONLY
10. “Efforts to challenge stereotypes in Asian Canadian Films” | Asian Heritage Month Film Festival programmed by Reelworld
Date: May 29, 2025 | 7:30pm
Location: Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto, 2 Sussex Avenue, Toronto. Map
FREE ADMISSION. Please register here.
Feature documentary
New feature documentary “Exclusion: Beyond the Silence” with Q&A with the producer and director
EXCLUSION: Beyond the Silence is a feature documentary that reveals the human impact of a discriminatory immigration policy that caused lasting intergenerational trauma to Chinese Canadians, their culture and family life. Two Chinese Canadian women set out on a journey across Canada and to China to learn more about the sacrifices of their grandmothers and their fight for family reunification in the wake of the discriminatory Exclusion Act. The film looks at the continuing impact and resonance of the Chinese Exclusion Act in the lives of contemporary descendants within the Chinese diaspora by unearthing the deeper stories of two women who lived and raised their families in that time, one in Canada and one in China.
Q&A with producer Justin Poy, director Keira Loughran and Helen Lee (tbc)
Asian Heritage Month Festival is partially funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Asian Canadian Artists in Digital Age is funded by Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund
Supporters of Asian Heritage Month 2025
Main Partner: Toronto Public Library
- Canadian Heritage Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage Program
- Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund
- Toronto Arts Council Digital Communities Fund
- Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto
- Cambridge Food and Wine Society
- Canadian Foundation for Asian Culture
- Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, University of Toronto
- Chi Ping Dance Group
- Chinese Canadian Photographic Association of Toronto
- Chinese Collective Arts Association
- City of Toronto
- City Opera Vancouver
- Justin Poy Agency
- Moon Pointer Production Inc.
- Reel Asian Film Festival
- ReelWorld Film Festival
- Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library
- Toronto Arts Council
- Toronto Catholic District School Board
- Toronto District School Board
- Toronto Public Library