What’s your connection to Bristol and what makes the city so special in your opinion?
I forged a dual connection with Bristol from the very beginning: I moved to Bristol last September from Hong Kong for my exchange year at The University of Bristol, but knowing well that I was moving here in the long term too. I had known about Bristol Old Vic as early as six years ago when I first visited the UK as a wide-eyed theatre student. I was in awe of this play called ‘The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk’, which was co-presented by Bristol Old Vic after watching it at Shakespeare’s Globe. For the longest time, I was also fascinated by this mysterious street art rebel called Banksy, of course, and his origin from Bristol. Visual arts were my first love of all art mediums, and I absorbed everything my art teachers used to tell me. These encounters with Bristol-related art are pins on the world map for me to make sense of this city I have never been to. Funny enough, as a long-time Swiftie, finding out that Taylor Swift’s boyfriend Joe Alwyn studied Theatre & English at the University of Bristol only reinforced the image of Bristol as cool and artsy. So, to me, Bristol had almost become synonymous with creativity and the arts, and I wasn’t disappointed. Here, I have met so many fellow talented filmmakers, musicians and creatives. Organisations which celebrate creativity and people working there have also been very welcoming, say, Watershed, Babbasa, Trinity Centre, ACE, Arnolfini. I have learnt that we can all foster our own creative spaces and flourish, even though it takes time to forge the connections.
For those who don’t know, tell us about Moon Fest and Made on the Moon and why you decided to set them up…
MOON FEST is a festival celebrating East & South East Asian (ESEA) creatives through art, performances, short film screenings and delicious food! We’ve just created the first MOON FEST at Arnolfini on September 10, which was also the traditional mid-autumn festival weekend, an important occasion for many ESEA cultures which symbolises reunion with families and friends. Our festival also falls in September because it is the ESEA Heritage Month initiated by besea.n, the biggest ESEA community group in the UK. Made on the Moon is currently myself in the capacity of a producer – I produce music, films and events under the name. However, I constantly have new ideas as to what’s to come next so I want to leave its definition relatively open, except for the vision that any project it creates aims to bring a meaningful imprint on our society.
Whilst Bristol is a very creative city and I am flourishing in that regard, I could not help but wonder where the artists of Asian heritages were. One hand is all it takes to count every Asian artist I’ve met in the past year. For sure, in an ideal world, we wouldn’t need to search for people who look like us or share similar heritages, because diversity would be so normalised that everyone shares equal appreciation and opportunities with each other. But that is yet to come, if ever. Microaggressions, racism and differentiated treatment that I have experienced – from the streets of Bristol, gigs to networking events – really drive this desire within me to meet other talented Asian friends.
It even dated back to when I first started writing songs in English at 11 alongside Cantonese: I thought that I could never be an English-language singer-songwriter as my profession because there is no place for an Asian girl like me in Nashville. It wasn’t until when I was 18 and discovered artists like NIKI and Joji that I realised there are artists of Asian heritages in the English-language music industries, and that I stand a chance to be part of it. A lot of these thoughts subconsciously imprint themselves into our minds, so I hope that our peers, children and future generations who come across MOON FEST and the circle of ESEA communities will know that they too have a place in the English-language creative industries.
In the beginning, I was preparing to put money from my pockets into MOON FEST for it was quite impossible to predict how the response would be, with the festival being the first of its kind in Bristol. In the end, tickets were not only sold out, we also had to turn away many people who came on the door. We were covered by BBC News, BBC Points West and Bristol Post. Yet, ultimately, what means the most is really the friends who brought it to life together with us – from performers, filmmakers, artists, food makers, volunteers to Moonlanders. We could feel that MOON FEST was the welcoming, inspiring home for both ESEA friends and the wider community that we had been in search for. We even got messages from people who are in other European countries asking for MOON FEST to be there!
Just speaking for myself, I don’t usually get stage fright when I perform my music, and I’m used to half-drunk people swaying to my songs in bars and pubs. After singing the prologue to my performance at MOON FEST, everyone in the theatre was staring at me with full concentration. I was so stunned that for the first time I slurred a lyric – opps! The energy of connection and warmth permeating the theatre was surreal.
How can people get involved in Moon Fest and Made on the Moon? How can our readers support you/your projects?
Message us! We are always looking for new friends (particularly those of ESEA heritages) who have better knowledge and experiences in areas that are fundamental to event organisation, from budgeting to graphic design. Before each MOON FEST, we will launch an open call to invite artists and food makers to sign up. Follow MOON FEST’s Instagram and other social media platforms if you’d like to follow our journey! You are also very welcomed to sign up to our mailing list so you will be the first to know about any important updates from the MOON. To fund next year’s MOON FEST, please feel free to donate on our KoFi page too. As an independent arts festival, we truly appreciate any support to create an even better MOON FEST.
What other projects are you currently working on at the moment? Are you performing/singing in Bristol this month?
We have already started planning next year’s MOON FEST! Let’s keep this an exclusive secret between you and me. I’m also producing new music – including tracks that document my experiences in Bristol so far – though it is certainly taking its sweet time especially with me moving between places all the time. Also, properly settling down in the UK and my final year of university…if they count as projects too? For the immediate future, as in next week, I’ll be speaking at the Encounters Film Festival at Watershed as a pre-selector of Depict Short and MOON FEST’s founder, and I can’t wait to watch fellow MOON FEST filmmaker Clarenz Gutierrez Badlis’s new film at the festival too.
Where in Bristol do you go to be entertained/inspired?
Anywhere in Bristol that I have yet to be. I love learning new things about this city and our society. The other day, I took the train to Cotham for the first time (somehow) and I wasn’t aware of how multi-cultural it was before. I walked into this Korean supermarket, met its gracious silver-haired Korean owner, talked about being migrants, his grocery store business, practiced my beginner level Korean and got a hotteok-making kit! Meanwhile, Ashton Court is my favourite forest to go to when I want to recharge and feel connected with myself and nature.
What are you reading/watching/listening to at the moment?
I promise I’m not told to say this (!) but I’ve been listening to fellow MOON FEST performer Thomas Kam’s podcast, which was part of Making Tracks, a partnership project between Trinity Bristol, Basement Studios and Aspiration Creation Elevation (ACE). I’m feeling very inspired by the deep conversations he has with fellow musicians, many of whom are Bristol-based. I’ve also been reading Minor Feelings to further acquire the language and concepts to articulate my experiences of being an Asian person in a Western country, for lack of a better word.
What is your philosophy in life?
That my philosophy will forever be evolving because that’s just how life works.
Follow MOON FEST’s Instagram: @moonfestoffical. If you would like to help fund next year’s MOON FEST, donate at: ko-fi.com/moonfest
