Voice ESEA events coming up in Manchester and beyond!

If you’ve been following me across social media since at least or before the start of 2023, you might know I organised and hosted a?Lunar New Year event in Manchester in January?that aimed to help people learn a bit more about this special holiday as well as the issues that affect the ESEA (East and Southeast Asian) community.

Now, I’m happy to say I’m working with non-profit group Voice ESEA as we aim to put together more events for the community. Two we are specifically working on ahead of?ESEA Heritage Month?in September include a webinar entitled “Is your company ready for ESEA Heritage Month” and a full-blown?in-person Festival?taking place in Manchester - "ESEA x MCR Festival"!

The webinar on 27th July predominantly targets HR and ED&I (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) professionals and senior leaders - though is open to anyone in work - and aims to help them better support, include and celebrate their East and Southeast Asian colleagues during ESEA Heritage Month and beyond. I'll be using my expertise and knowledge gained working at Culture Shift and my lived experience to deliver the webinar. Tickets are available with a donation - which goes towards helping to fund Voice ESEA’s vital work and bear in mind I would normally charge a single organisation ￡300 for the same session! In addition, even if you sign up and can’t attend you’ll STILL get the slides and recording, which most organisations wouldn’t do at all. So there’s no excuse!

Also, if you?live in the UK and identify as East or Southeast Asian (including those who are of mixed race heritage), are in employment or have been and are NOT the owner or founder of the business, we need your help to gather much-needed data on the workplace experiences of ESEAs. If you can spare 5 minutes, please fill out our survey here. If the conditions don’t apply to you please do not fill it in but feel free to share with others to whom they may apply to.

The Festival on 3rd September at?Grub?is an exciting celebration of all things ESEA-related and the first of its kind - not just in Manchester - but perhaps the UK. Voice ESEA have put this together with the help of partners? On Your Side ?and? Be Inclusive Hospitality . There will be food, drink, makers and crafts stalls, arts and crafts workshops, storytelling for children, exclusive film screenings courtesy of?MilkTea?(including one ahead of it's nationwide release), local and national charities attending and exhibiting, and panel discussions feature special guests, so it’s absolutely an event not to be missed!

Venue tickets for those who are 13+ are ￡8, ￡4 for children aged 5-12 (free for under 5s) and tickets for are workshops extra, while the panels and films are free to attend and watch with an entry ticket. Revenue goes back into Voice ESEA and On Your Side. There will also be goodybags for the first 100 people through the door, which include exclusive gifts! What’s not to like? This year’s ESEA Heritage Month is set to be another amazing union of our communities and allies with more events and celebrations everywhere and hopefully a catalyst for a continuously growing annual time that sees it enjoy the same vigour and longevity of Black History Month in the UK (October) and AAPI Heritage Month in the US (May).

Additionally, stay tuned for a Manchester-based ESEA LGBTQ and their allies meet-up, kindly supported by the Manchester Pride Community Fund! To stay updated on this, the other two events and more we have coming up during and beyond ESEA Heritage Month, please?subscribe here. And if you're interested in joining Voice ESEA as a part or full-time member of the voluntary team across the UK as part of our research, data or events departments, please reach out to me!