9th Annual Knox Asian Festival
This project was supported in part by federal award number 21.027 awarded to Knox County by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Arts & Culture Alliance.
Mission
Our mission is to create a welcoming community by sharing our Asian Arts and Cultures. The Festival strives to bring together people from various cultural backgrounds, to promote peace, harmony, unity and a healthy lifestyle. We are promoting a diverse and harmonious society that prepares today’s children to take the stage as true global citizens.
What People Are Saying
What’s Happening in 2022
The 9th Knoxville Asian Festival is going to be on August 28th, at the World’s Fair Park from 10 AM till 6 PM. We also have Knox Asian Film Festival on Aug 27th at Central Cinema.
History
The Asian Culture Center of TN (ACCTN) was founded in 2014 with the aim of promoting culture, diversity, and unity in the community. There is so much that a community benefits from every time there is a cultural event organized. People not only develop an open mind about other people and their cultures, but the host community also becomes a center of interest for individuals and organizations looking to boost the economic capacity of that particular community. Therefore, as a highly focused organization interested in developing cultural diversity and understanding in our Tennessee community, we have strongly focused on popularizing the Asian culture, which has grown popular in the area.
The Asian Cultural Parade starts at 10 AM at the water fountain on the park lawn and ends at 10:30 AM at the Amphitheater stage. Our new project this year is to sing “We are the World” after the parade. Clayton-Bradley Academy in Maryville will bring a student Orchestra.
Performances
We are especially proud of the featured performance art that includes traditional Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, and Philippine dance & music.
For the first time, we will have traditional Indonesian Music: Angklung, which is one of the most famous instruments in Indonesia. It is made up of a number of bamboo tubes fixed on a bamboo frame.
We also showcase various martial arts demonstrations, Thailand Traditional Dancers from Washington DC, K-Pop and J-Pop performances, Kimono Show, a bonsai exhibition, a cosplay contest, a Japanese tea ceremony, and the Japanese drum group, Taiko Drum, from Disney World, and Korean Fan Dancers from GA. You can learn a Japanese summer dance. Many of our artists will travel to Knoxville from all over the country and from various Asian countries to participate in this year’s festival. 1,250 seats will be available under the Amphitheater tent for the big stage performances.
Education
The Asian Festival also includes a strong educational component. We recently implemented “Asian World,” where visitors travel through various booths that are named after Asian cultural interactive activities and feature traditional foods and art for each one. Children and adults will receive a stamp on their festival passports for each cultural booth visited. Everyone is encouraged to visit all cultural booths to learn about the diversity of cultural traditions.
Asian Film Festival
Another new project this year is the Asian Film Festival at Central Cinema on August 27th. We will show:
1. The documentary Far East Deep South, which zooms in on the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and its profound impact on generations. It’s an eye-opening film.
2. Taiwan Documentary Pakadavai, in which you can learn about Taiwan tribes.
3. Rashomon, the first Japanese film to receive a significant international reception
4. Memories of Murder, a 2003 South Korean crime thriller film co-written and directed by Bong Joon-ho.
5. The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, a documentary about Studio Ghibli.
Check the Central Cinema website for more info: https://centralcinema865.com/production/asian-film-festival-2022/
Order T-Shirt of Winning 2022 Poster Design
Congrats to Jamie Matsuura, winner of this year’s poster contest! T-shirts featuring the design are $20 and can be ordered online now, or at the festival on August 28th. If you purchase a t-shirt online, bring your receipt to the main information booth (it will be a yellow tent) to receive your shirt.
Please Register for FREE Festival today for your chance to win ONE FREE RAMEN Bowl from the Ramen bones food truck who serves authentic Japanese Ramen noodles. 30 registered participants will be selected at random.
Prohibited Items & Rules
- No motorized vehicles or scooters (unless necessary for persons with disabilities)
- No picnic supplies or coolers
- No outside food/beverage or alcohol
- No skateboards, bicycles, skates, skate shoes
- No tents, canopies
- No firearms, laser pointing devices or weapons of any kind
- No remote-controlled vehicles or aircrafts, including drones
- No stickers
- No soliciting
- No unauthorized vendors will be allowed
All attendees and their bags/belongings are subject to search and prohibited items will be removed at the discretion of security staff. At the gate, We might ask BAG CHECK.
We suggest you do not bring a big bag or backpack.
Knox Asian Festival is an outdoor venue and we use a weather data team to monitor weather conditions hourly on event days. Weather & event updates will also be posted on Facebook and pages and MC will make the announcement on stage in the case of extreme weather. All events are rain or shine. We offer no refunds or exchanges in the event of rain. Raincoats and ponchos are allowed. In the event of severe weather conditions (thunder/lightning, etc.)during events announcements will be made from the stage concerning the status of the event due to weather conditions. Information will be posted on Facebook. We ask all patrons to remain calm and listen to these announcements.
Guests visiting the Knox Asian Festival agree to assume all responsibility for their health and well-being and not hold Knox Asian Festival and its agents, employees, representatives, partners, sponsors, executors, and all others acting on its behalf responsible in any way with respect to COVID-19. If you are exhibiting any COVID-19 symptoms, please do not enter Knox Asian Festival. Common symptoms of the COVID-19 virus may include the following: High Fever, Headaches, Loss of Energy/Fatigue, Cough, Sore Throat, Runny Nose or Stuffy Nose, Body Aches, Diarrhea and/or Vomiting. Those visitors that exhibit any of these symptoms will not be allowed access into Knox Asian Festival.
NOTICE OF FILMING AND PHOTOGRAPHY
When you enter Asian Culture Center of TN event or program, you enter an area where photography, audio, and video recording may occur.
By entering the event premises, you consent to interview(s), photography, audio recording, video recording and its/their release, publication, exhibition, or reproduction to be used for news, web casts, promotional purposes, telecasts, advertising, inclusion on websites, social media, or any other purpose by Asian Culture Center of TN and its affiliates and representatives. Images, photos and/or videos may be used to promote similar Asian Culture Center of TN events in the future, highlight the event and exhibit the capabilities of Asian Culture Centre of TN. You release Asian Culture Center of TN, its officers and employees, and each and all persons involved from any liability connected with the taking, recording, digitizing, or publication and use of interviews, photographs, computer images, video and/or or sound recordings.
By entering the event premises, you waive all rights you may have to any claims for payment or royalties in connection with any use, exhibition, streaming, web casting, televising, or other publication of these materials, regardless of the purpose or sponsoring of such use, exhibiting, broadcasting, web casting, or other publication irrespective of whether a fee for admission or sponsorship is charged. You also waive any right to inspect or approve any photo, video, or audio recording taken by Asian Culture Center of TN or the person or entity designated to do so by Asian Culture Center of TN.