We’re doing it again! This year we’re excited to offer a special goodie bag for the first 100 attendees! Want one of these awesome Mixed Remixed Festival water bottles? Then get there when the doors open at 9:30am and be one of the first 100 people at Mixed Remixed this year! You’ll also have a chance to receive Festival stickers and special discounts from our sponsors! Be there and claim your goodie bag first thing on June 10! See you soon!
Mixed Remixed Festival 2017 Presenter Highlight: Elizabeth Hudson, physician and mom
I had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth when she came to the Mixed Remixed Festival. I also knew her as a listener of the podcast, The Mixed Experience. She’s even been a guest host of the program a couple of times. Her warmth and wisdom is abundant. We are very glad to have her serve on a panel this year called On Bullying and the Race Talk: How to Support Your Mixed Kid. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.
What are you?
I’m a mixed-race physician mom with a love for travel, music and politics. My background is quite diverse with West Africa, British Isles, Eastern, Europe and even some Southern European and Scandinavian heritage mixed in for good measure.
What is your mixed experience?
I am a mixed-race woman married to a white man and am raising a multiracial son
What is the most important thing you want people to know about the mixed experience?
For me, it’s important for others to understand that the mixed experience is different for all. We are not a monolith, as mixed persons, but we all share the knowledge of being a part and separate at he same time. Having a place where we are understood, fundamentally, as we are at the Mixed Remixed Festival, is a wonderful respite.
Do you remember when you first started thinking about the mixed experience? Was it because of a certain moment or event?
When I was a kid, I remember being asked ‘what are you?’ This struck me such an odd question as I knew who I was: Elizabeth. As time went on, I realized that our society likes to be able to pigeonhole people into categories immediately, and when you are more than one thing, it creates a cognitive dissonance for those who encounter you. As there are now more mixed people, and these images have spread across the country and world,
the idea of being more than one ethnicity is not as hard for most to grasp. This doesn’t mean I am still not ( on a daily basis) misidentified, but it is real progress that I have seen in my 45 years on this planet.
What was your experience when you attended the Mixed Remixed Festival? Why did you want to come back?
I first visited this festival three years ago. When I entered the door, I was struck by a few things. First, I’ve never been around so many people who look like me! All the women, with curls just like mine: it was amazing. Second, I never felt like I had to explain who I was, or that I was going to be misidentified. Everyone was like me: it’s a mixed-race wonderland!
What are you looking forward to most at the Festival this year?
I am so happy to be a part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Lovin v. Virginia decision. I am also looking forward to seeing David Oyelowo as he receives the Storyteller’s Prize! His portrayal of MLK in Selma was spellbinding!
Mixed Remixed Festival 2017: Film Finalists
There were so many wonderful films that we wanted to share with you at the Festival but because of our limited programming time we were not able to.
But we still want you to know about these talented filmmakers and their films!
Here is a complete list (in no particular order) of our 2017 Mixed Remixed Festival Finalists:
- The Other Race, dir. Terrence Flowers
- Stranger, dir. Barbara Mamabolo
- Master of the Sky: The Life and Art of Sam Koji Hale, dir. Sumiko Braun
- Alien Citizen, dir. E. Liang
- Blasian Narratives, dir. Jivan Atman
- Sweeter, dir. Emily Eaglin
- Service to Man, dir. Aaron Greer
- My Identity, dir. Yasmin Mistry
- The Hanji Box, dir. Nora Jacobson
- The Commitment, dir. Albert M. Chan
- Voices from Mixed Race America, dir. MJ Engel
- Mixed Match, dir. Jeff Chiba Stearns
- Milshake, dir. Sangjin Ko
FESTIVAL CELEBRATING MIXED-RACE FAMILIES REVEALS 2017 SCHEDULE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Heidi Durrow
Phone: 213-293-7077
Email: heidi@mixedremixed.org
Website: www.mixedremixed.org
Twitter: @mixedremixed
Instagram: mixedremixed
#mixedremixed
FESTIVAL CELEBRATING MIXED-RACE FAMILIES REVEALS 2017 SCHEDULE
LOS ANGELES, CA, May 08, 2017 — The Mixed Remixed Festival, the nation’s largest gathering of mixed-race and multiracial families and people, will take place at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown Los Angeles (514 S. Spring Street), June 10, 2017.
The Festival celebrates stories of multiracial Americans and families, the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. A free public event, the Festival brings together film and book lovers, innovative and emerging artists, and multiracial and multicultural families and individuals for workshops, readings, performances, and film screenings.
The Mixed Remixed Festival attracted close to 1,000 people from across the country last year and featured dozens of writers, scholars and performers including TV and film star Taye Diggs. This year the Festival–now in its fourth year–celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court decision that allowed people of different races to marry nationwide.
The Festival, a non-profit arts organization — is produced by The New York Times best-selling writer, Heidi Durrow, and a talented team of entertainment professionals and artists.
“It’s exciting to finally see mixed people and families in mainstream media and to connect with each other on-line,” says Durrow, who calls herself an Afro-Viking because she is African-American and Danish. “But the Festival is the only nationwide cultural arts event where we get to meet each other and share stories.”
The event is free and open to the public. Registration is now open. The complete Festival schedule can be found online at www.mixedremixed.org.
FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
- The Festival hosts the largest West Coast Loving Day Celebration, Saturday, June 10, 2017, at 6:30 p.m. with the annual Storyteller’s Prize presentation and live show. The Festival will present the Storyteller’s Prize to film star David Oyelowo as part of a dynamic live show featuring comedians, musicians and spoken-word poets.
- Families can enjoy interactive craft activities, free face-painting and storytelling events led by the beloved Santa Monica bookstore, Books and Cookies, as part of the family activities.
- The Festival will feature a special program featuring a family for whom the Loving decision came too late. Recently, a young law student in Virginia, Katrina Callsen, uncovered her own side of the story, with the help of modern science – a genetic test from 23andMe. Katrina and her father share her discovery and the ripple effect it’s had on the family.
- The Festival will present several notable short films including the award-winning Silences (dir. Octavio Warnock-Graham). Immediately following all the screenings there will be Q & A with the filmmakers and scholar-led discussions that connect a humanities perspective to contemporary storytellers’ work.
- The Festival includes author readings by New York Times bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims (How To Raise An Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap And Prepare Your Kid for Success, and the forthcoming memoir Real American) and award-winning writer May-lee Chai and many others.
- More than a dozen esteemed panelists will speak on diverse topics related to the mixed-race and multicultural experience, including one of the youngest TED Fellows, musician/filmmaker Kayla Briet; and Tehran, comedian and host of the popular shows Comedy Bazaar and All-Star Comedy at The Laugh Factory.
Festival sponsors and funders include: 23andMe, Mixed Chicks, Buntoppers, Final Draft, Wood Ranch BBQ & Grill, Six Flags, the Leo Buscaglia Foundation, and the Puffin West Foundation. This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Mixed Remixed Festival Team 2017: Meet Casey Fearn, Intern
We started a limited internship project last year in order to involve younger people with the Mixed Remixed Festival. This year we’re lucky to have Casey Fearn as part of our team helping out with social media.
What are you?
Being the only black girl in my grade at school it has been difficult for me to come out of my shell and embrace who I am and what I am. After many years of trying to find my place at school, I realized that I don’t necessarily need a place but rather a platform to express what I am and what my experience has been. I am half black and half white, I am a writer, I am determined, and I am ready to share my story.
What is your mixed experience?
I have had a unique experience as a biracial girl for the past 3 years because I am the only black girl in my grade. Also, I have blonde hair and blue eyes so people often don’t take me seriously or believe me when I tell them that I am half black. It has been really difficult for me to share my story and be who I am at school because I feared that people wouldn’t take me seriously or that I wouldn’t be welcomed into the black or white communities. Hearing people say things like “oh but you’re not actually black, right?” as if being black is a bad thing or having to endure judgmental and confused stares whenever I go out with my dad, who is full black. Maybe people don’t have malicious intent when they act this way towards me and my family, but these words and actions have had a serious impact on me. Words do burn into my memory and have an emotional impact on me and confused stares make me want to shrink and hide. However, I have learned speak up and let people know when their actions are offensive. This has in return fueled my passion to speak out and let my voice be heard. I have a story and my experience has given me the passion to let my story be heard.
What is the most important thing you want people to know about the mixed experience?
The mixed experience isn’t a choice of two world’s or identities, although at times it can be quite the identify crisis. No mixed person should have to choose between being black or white, for example. I am black AND white and that should never have to be a choice.
Do you remember when you first started thinking about the mixed experience? Did it happen because of any particular moment or event?
I first started thinking about the mixed experience when I entered high school and felt isolated as one of the few black girls in my school. Sometimes I felt like I should ignore the fact that I am half black and reduce my self to only white to fit in. However, this was very miserable and hard for me to simply ignore who I am. The mixed experience has been a frequent conversation that I have had with both my mom and dad because I only have distant black relatives now and my close relatives are mostly white.
I started talking to my dad about my own desire to get more involved with the black community and how I could help future mixed or African American girls at school not feel like they have to change to fit into school. This conversation was one that I quickly became very passionate about. I started journaling about my experiences and talking to adults at my school about ways to get involved and share my story.
Why did you want to be a part of the Mixed Remixed Festival? How did you get involved?
When I first heard about Mixed Remixed Festival I knew it could really help me learn about the mixed experience. Immediately, I wanted to get involved and help because I had never heard of anything like it before. As someone who has struggled with my identity, I really appreciated that Mixed Remixed celebrates the mixed experience. I decided to reach out to Heidi to find a way for me to help. I talked to Heidi about my own experiences and desire to get involved and now I am an intern for Mixed Remixed.
What are you looking forward to most at the Festival this year?
I am really looking forward to hearing stories from people who I can identify with. This is a new experience for me and I have never been a part of anything like this before. This is such and exciting opportunity to spend time with people who have my shared experience. Mixed Remixed brings all of together to share our experience and learn from one another and that is really exciting. I look forward to being part of this wonderful event.
Join us June 10, 2017 at the Mixed Remixed Festival at the Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown Los Angeles for a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia. FREE!
Mixed Remixed Festival 2017 Presenter Highlight: Dr. Greg Kimura
We are very pleased that Dr. Greg Kimura, who now serves as the Rector of an Episcopalian priest, will join us for an important roundtable conversation The Mixed-Race Conversation: Is it a Wrap? on June 10, 2017 at 3:00pm at the Mixed Remixed Festival. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.
What are you?
Hapa. Half Anglo, half Japanese
What is your mixed experience?
Biracial, raising two multiracial children
What is the most important thing you want people to know about the mixed experience?
The search for the meaning of mixed/hapa identity is the next frontier of identity politics.
Do you remember when you first started thinking about the mixed experience? Was it because of a certain moment or event? Please tell us about that.
I was five or six and called a racial epithet by a man of my grandparent’s age. This happened in a store in the Midwest.
What was your experience when you attended the Mixed Remixed Festival before? Why did you want to come back?
I was the president/CEO of the Japanese American National Museum, which hosted and supported the Festival for several years.
What are you looking forward to most at the Festival this year?
Hearing the stories of others.
Mixed Remixed Festival Team 2017: Meet Kyla Kupferstein-Torres
We are lucky to have Kyla Kupfurstein-Torres on the Mixed Remixed Festival Board and as one of our go-to on-site volunteers at the Festival. Learn more about Kyla and her mixed experience! And make sure you register for the 2017 Festival now! Spaces are limited in many sessions.
What are you?
I’m a Jamaican Jew.
What is your mixed experience?
I’m biracial – a Black Jamaican mom and Ashkenazi Jewish dad.
What is the most important thing you want people to know about the mixed experience?
The mixed experience is an American experience – almost more central to our story as a nation than any other.
Do you remember when you first started thinking about the mixed experience? Did it happen because of any particular moment or event?
I’ve always been thinking about the mixed experience. I lived in a deeply multiracial, immigrant family, in a diverse city, and attended a diverse elementary school. Gradations of difference have been central to my life experience.
Why did you want to be a part of the Mixed Remixed Festival? How did you get involved?
I got involved with the Mixed Remixed Festival through the founder, Heidi Durrow. Her passion and commitment to making the mixed experience visible is infectious!
What are you looking forward to most at the Festival this year?
I’m looking forward to hearing the voices of young people living the mixed experience. I’m the mother of a four year old who is even more mixed than I am, and I’m eager to hear how young people are redefining what it means to be mixed in the United States.
Are you coming to the largest nationwide gathering of mixed-race and multiracial families and people?
Registration is now open for the Mixed Remixed Festival 2017 and we want to make sure you don’t miss out. Here are some of the many folks who have already registered! It’s time for you to register too! Spaces are limited in many sessions! Did we mention it’s FREE!
Mixed Remixed Festival 2017 Presenter Highlight: Writer Maria Olsen
We are lucky to have writer Maria Olsen join us again this year for the Mixed Remixed Festival. In 2016, Maria participated as a children’s book author. This year she will speak on a special parenting panel on how to deal with bullying of your multiracial child and having the Race talk. The panel is scheduled for 3:00pm on June 10, 2017 at the Mixed Remixed Festival, the largest nationwide gathering of mixed-race and multiracial families and people. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.
What are you?
Half Filipina and half Caucasian (English, Irish, Slavic, French)
What is your mixed experience?
Biracial
What is the most important thing you want people to know about the mixed experience?
For someone like me, who has hovered in the space between cultures, Mixed Remixed is a place where I feel understood and that I belong. No explanation needed. So grateful to have found Mixed Remixed!
Do you remember when you first started thinking about the mixed experience? Was it because of a certain moment or event? Please tell us about that.
As a young child who grew up brown in a sea of white, I always felt other. Kids can be cruel, and I endured the jokes because of my appearance and mother’s ethnicity.
What was your experience when you attended the Mixed Remixed Festival last year? Why did you want to come back?
My experience was fabulous. Met amazing people and made friends there that continue to help me both professionally and personally. I recommend it to every mixed person I know.
What are you looking forward to most at the Festival this year?
The workshops. Such deep thinkers. The festival means so much to me. I fly across the country to be here. It’s so important and I hope it will continue every year. I hope to bring my grandchildren some day!
Mixed Remixed Festival 2017 Presenter Highlight: Writer May-lee Chai
We are extremely pleased to have writer May-lee Chai as part of our Featured Writers Reading. You can hear her read on June 10, 2017 at 1:00pm at the Mixed Remixed Festival. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged.
What are you?
Mixed-race Asian-American, specifically Chinese-Anglo/Irish/German.
What is your mixed experience?
I am biracial, daughter of a Chinese father and White Irish-Anglo-German American mother.
What is the most important thing you want people to know about the mixed experience?
We are not half anything, we are wholly ourselves. Our families have a right to exist and we have a right to celebrate our existence and to see our families represented in American culture in a positive way through a non-racist lens.
Do you remember when you first started thinking about the mixed experience? Was it because of a certain moment or event? Please tell us about that.
I had to think about the mixed experience for survival’s sake when I was 12 and we moved from the NYC-area to rural South Dakota and people started driving by our house to stare at us, shout racial slurs, and eventually to shoot and kill our dogs. I had to assert my right to exist when monoracial adults and their children told me God didn’t want the races to mix and that I by my existence was a sign of the “End Times” and Satan’s reign on earth. I learned to insist upon my family’s right to exist and our right to be represented in American culture in a positive light rather than through the lens of racism.
Is this your first time attending the Mixed Remixed Festival?
Yes
Why did you want to be a part of the Mixed Remixed Festival? What do you hope to gain?
I want to represent my family, I want to tell my story, I want to meet other mixed-race writers and artists and families.
What are you looking forward to most at the Festival this year?
Meeting everyone and hearing all the stories!
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