Kollaboration Boston 1 on April 16, 2011 was not only the first Kollaboration event in Boston, but also the first city-wide Asian-American talent show to ever hit the city. Over 1000 people packed into the John Hancock Hall in downtown Boston to support what the Kollaboration executive director and MC for the night, Roy Choi, called the “empowerment through entertainment” movement. Guest performers Ahmir, Jane Lui, Sam Kang, D-Pryde, and Erika David helped to hype up the crowd as nine hopeful finalists performed for judges Lui, Vudoo Soul, Sarah Elentukh, Giles Li, and Enrique Novales. At the end of the night, the Boston-based dance team Synergy took second place and Tufts University’s Blackout Step Team was named the Kollaboration Boston winner.
Though the night went so smoothly that it almost seemed effortless, the Kollaboration Boston team worked tirelessly behind the scenes for months to ensure that they could successfully bring Kollaboration to its 12th city. channelAPA got the chance to talk to some of the E-Board members to learn more about their experiences, their goals, and the challenges of being a Kollaboration team composed entirely of college students and young professionals.

Kollaboration has established itself as an incredible, empowering event for the APA community. How does it feel knowing that you’ve helped to successfully bring Kollaboration to Boston?

Eric Nam (Executive Director): I often told my team that working with Kollaboration Boston was like working in a startup where you always had to be on your toes and ready for things to deviate from the plan. Having said that, I am very pleased with how Kollaboration Boston 1 came together and am so thankful for all of the support from friends, family, and the community.

Shannon Pan (Programming Director): It is incredibly empowering to be part of the team that [brought] Kollaboration to Boston for the first time in history. Boston has a large APA community, but there is still a lot work to be done when it comes to bringing Asian American talent to the forefront. Knowing that we are making progress and are striving for a positive change brings me immense happiness because I know I am part of something phenomenal.

Haylee Thikeo (Programming Director): Just knowing that I am a part of Kollaboration Boston’s history is astonishing. I still can’t even believe it myself. Nine months ago, the Kollaboration Boston team came together as strangers with a vision for a unified show. It just goes to show how hungry the East Coast is for events to showcase the APA movement.

What have been some of the highlights of your experience?

Sue Byun (Public Relations Director): My favorite part of the experience was working with an amazing team of spunky passionate people from all different skill sets and backgrounds. Another was really being able to take pride in what we were doing – showcasing truly amazing vocalists, dancers, beatboxers, rappers, and musicians at a world-class performing arts venue.

Eric: The finalists are all amazing people and it was a pleasure getting to know them and working with them throughout the process. Even now, after the show, we are in touch with them, are friends, and they are collaborating (no pun intended) on side projects as they continue on their paths as artists. For me, it was not only the relationships with the finalists that were meaningful, but also the strong bonds that I was able to build with my Kollaboration Boston team. I like to think of them as my family and it was a true pleasure getting to know each and everyone of them as we pursued the same goal.

Qian Chen (Associate Director): We sold out just hours before the show but those numbers didn’t really hit me until I saw the full house, and then I realized that my team and I made it happen. It definitely was an incredible experience. We had put nine months of work into this and a lot of it was behind the scenes, so seeing it all come together was awesome.

Can you describe what it was like working with such a young team as well as some of the challenges you had to overcome to make Kollaboration Boston happen?

Qian: One of the biggest challenges that we faced was the distance and spread of our team. In order to make it a true Kollaboration Boston, we pulled together a team from all campuses in Boston. We had people driving in an hour to come to meetings. A lot of our work was done over Skype or phone calls, which made communication difficult at first. However, in spite of all these difficulties we grew as a family and got used to waking up and sleeping to Kollaboration Boston.

Sue: Making something materialize essentially out of thin air was definitely the biggest challenge. We worked closely with LA headquarters, who really mentored us in terms of the big picture and made sure we worked within Kollaboration’s tried and true success formula that has worked so well in 12 cities so far. Still, our team was guided by little more than the big picture idea: bringing Asian American entertainment into the mainstream by putting on a show of epic proportions.

What kind of message do you hope Kollaboration Boston will send out to the wider community?

Shannon: I hope Kollaboration will be an inspiration to the young Asian Americans of Boston. We need to be proactive, passionate, and committed because we are a generation that can make a difference.

Eric: As cliché as it may sound, if you have the passion, the inspiration and the drive to pursue something, you can achieve it. I hope that Kollaboration Boston will be an annual event that will serve as a rallying point – not only for the APA community but also for the greater Boston community – as it continues to celebrate the arts and the various talents in the community.

Qian: I think one thing that distinguishes the city of Boston is that most of the younger generation here are not locals. We have no real ties to the city except for the fact that we spend four years here for college and some get jobs here afterwards. However, we are dedicated to the city and we still want to help it grow as much as we can. As college students, we grow to love Boston as our own and as Asian Americans, we need some stronger representation in the mainstream media.

Haylee: I hope that the APA community in the New England area learns from Kollaboration that the best ammunition for fighting against negative stereotypes in the media is to create events that celebrate our accomplishments and talents. I hope that events like Kollaboration Boston inspire people to take activism into their own hands in a positive light. Not only can someone just sit there and blog about the issues, but we got to take direct positive action as well. We got to go out there and make a difference!

Kollaboration Boston 1 performers interview