This summer Bristol has been host to the first-ever WOW Asia events.
The dedicated Asian Arts Platform launched in January this year with Asian Summer Sundays commencing in May.
Founded by Natalie Leer and Kari Simpson, the summer Sundays events are sponsored by Korean soju brand Jinro.
The pair launched the self-funded platform with the aim of providing support for Asian creatives from Bristol as well as widening the understanding of Asian cultures in the city.
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Taking place at The Thunderbolt in Totterdown every first Sunday of the month from May until September, WOW Asia has spent the summer making waves in the community with its monthly-changing roster of food, drinks, art, music and activities from countries including China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.
Ms Leer and Ms Simpson spoke to BusinessLive about the growing business and community, plus its plans for the future.
Ms Simpson explained: “We have some visual artists that are selling their art as well as artists that have worked with us to create collaboration merchandise that we also sell. Then we have food that is from one of the Asia food pop ups in Bristol and then there’s music playing as well, which is again Asian music, so it’s not like Top of the Pops, or anything like that, it will be what is popular in different Asian countries.
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“In May our food pop up was Miyabiya, which is one of our artists’ food pop ups, who is Japanese. So there’s Japanese food and I played some Japanese music.”
Ms Leer added: “At each event, the music that is played will change depending on the food pop up and the artists we have to reflect their culture, their heritage.”
Neither Ms Leer or Ms Simpson are Asian but the women saw something special in the South West city and wanted to give artists a platform as well as educate the wider population on Asian culture and heritage.
“If you ask the average person on the street to name five Asian artists I think they would struggle, whereas if you were to ask them to name five British artists or American artists they wouldn’t struggle as much,” said Ms Leer.
She continued: “There is so much talent in Asia and Asian talent in the 海角视频 that is just not getting seen. So I do think there is definitely a need for something like WOW.”
'WOW Asia has given me exposure and has helped me improve my networking skill'
Over time WOW Asia will not only host events but it wants to help artists and the community grow their ideas and own a platform.
Ms Simpson explained: “One of our supported artists is actually a young artist named Ashni Wilson, who is a recent graduate from Falmouth University. Who didn’t know what to do with her degree. But we came around and said ‘we have loads of ideas, there’s loads of things that we can do, whatever you want we can help you get there’. And she jumped on with that.”
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Ms Wilson’s networking skills have grown since she collaborated with the WOW Asia team and she has been able to further progress as an illustrator.
She said: "WOW Asia has given Asian creatives and fans of Asia a platform to express themselves, whether that's through art, music, and performance, or simply an opportunity to embed one's self in its diverse and unique culture.
“WOW Asia is great as it helps to support these creatives in taking the next step towards their creative journey and what direction they want to take. This is prevalent for people such as myself who struggle with this. It's really good as it's the first known platform based in Bristol that supports Asian creatives, a city known for its colour, diversity and flair.
“WOW Asia has given me exposure and has helped me improve my networking skills! It's given me the opportunity to meet fellow creatives, who give me further creative advice on how to progress as an illustrator, all while feeling represented. I've had the great opportunity to stall and sell my own work at WOW Asia's Summer Sunday events, which has been super fun and has allowed me to meet really interesting people from all backgrounds!"
Another artist who has benefited from the first summer of events has been Jenny Lee.
Ms Lee commented: "WOW Asia gives a platform to Asian creatives to showcase their artwork while celebrating diversity.
'There is so much talent in Asia and Asian talent in the 海角视频'
“WOW Asia gave my artistic career more exposure and I had the opportunity to increase my connections as well as selling my art!"
WOW Asia was thrilled when Jinro offered to sponsor them. As the largest manufacturer of Soju in Korea the brand’s 海角视频 team is dedicated to supporting culture events across the country.
Ms Leer said: “It was a slow burner at first, but once we started the ball rolling we suddenly had lots of people that were interested. But we are always looking for people. The more people we have on board the easier it is to build this; as much as we are a business we are a community.”
The pair are now looking towards winter and have been talking about hosting a series of performative winter events, which would also take place at The Thunderbolt in Totterdown.
Ms Leer added: “We’ve also talked about doing retreats for creatives as well as art gallery showings, we’ve got a lot of plans.”
She said that in the future she would like to host a festival in Bristol.
Already WOW Asia has had performers come forward saying that they would like to get involved with the events.
Ms Simpson added: “WOW Asia is a bigger platform, so in terms of the artists we’ve been working with so far, many of them only really have their work seen through social media and they will do markets here and there maybe.”
Ms Simpson added that eventually they want to expand to the whole of the 海角视频 and bring Asian artists from the Asian countries to the 海角视频 to show their work.
Ms Leer added: “It’s great that people are open and take an interest in learning about other cultures, that is why we wanted to do this.”
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