Due to the small and personal nature of the event, this questionnaire is longer and more in-depth than most, because we want to get to know you better. Please share as much as you feel comfortable sharing. There is no min/max length for responses and no pressure. We only ask you to share what you feel is ‘enough’. We will follow up with more questions or a phone call if we need more information.

All of your answers, including your name and basic info, will be kept in full confidentiality.* Only the leadership team will have access to your application. The more the team learns about you, the more informed their decision about selection can be.

Participant selection will be based on multiple factors, including prioritizing the inclusion and representation of a diverse participant body. Space is limited. If you do not get selected immediately, you may be placed on a wait list if space becomes available.

* Please note that if you are selected for the Jam, your name and bio will be shared with the other participants of your Jam just prior to the event. Following the Jam, we will put this information up on our website so that you can participate in the alumni community, unless you request otherwise.

Full Name (required)

Nickname (what you prefer to be called, if different):

Your Email (required)

Organization or Organizational Affiliation (if applicable):

Website of Group (if applicable):

Street Address (required)

City (required)

State / Province (required)

Zip / Postal Code (required)

Country (required)

Phone (required):

Birthday (Month/Day/Year) (required)

How did you hear about the Jam? Please list sources by name — we want to give them a shout-out of thanks if possible!:

A Note on the Use of “API”

We are using the broad terms “Asian & Pacific Islander” and “API” as a contested—not settled—identity and organizing framework. Our intention to co-create an inclusive and welcoming space is aspirational with the intention to include as many as possible who want to be here. However, we recognize that identity can have deep personal, interpersonal, and systemic significance and it is very easy to flatten and essentialize the very complex, unresolved, and conflicting histories within our communities.

With “API”, we welcome (and are not limited to) anyone who identifies as East / South / Southeast / West / Central Asian; Filipinx; Polynesian / Micronesian / Melanesian; indigenous to these areas; stateless; and/or part of a diasporic community with multiple migrations. We welcome adoptees, refugees, people with mixed and multiracial ancestries, and individuals with any or no immigration status in North America.

We, too, know the heartbreak of feeling invisible in spaces where our hearts wanted so much to be seen. So we are sincere about imagining this space as one in which both ease and challenges regarding “API” identity can be explored and engaged with gentleness and curiosity, if those questions are present for you. And we are still exploring whether “API” is the right framing for this Jam. So we hope you will join us with wonder and openness to consider what this Jam could be in the future!

Who You Are

The people in the room are the focus of the Jam. Sharing our stories, experiences, dreams, and challenges, through different formats, is how we engage and learn together. The following series of questions is meant to be a taste of this principle. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar or eloquent articulation, or what is politically or spiritually correct. We just want to get a sense of who you are and where you are at this time, with the understanding that we are all ever-evolving, so no answer is a fixed answer. Please know that we, too, are exploring questions these questions ourselves — even as we ask about them! We look forward to entering this exploration together.

How do you identify? (gender, race+ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, class, anything else that makes you who you are.) We ask because we want to create a safer space that is welcoming for you:

What are your gender pronouns?

What language(s) do you feel most comfortable speaking?

Do you have any disabilities or other access needs? We aim to make the space as accessible for you as possible.

What does your current work (or play) look like in the world? What are your skills, interests, passions? Where do you find joy?

What questions are you living through right now? Where are you growing and where are you struggling?

What is your relationship to being a person of Asian and/or Pacific Islander* descent living in North America? What is meaningful for you? What is challenging?

What aspects of API community, whether-present day or ancestral, do you wish to explore? What are your hopes and dreams for yourself in API community? What challenges do you see?

What does API solidarty mean to you? What does it look like, feel like, conjure up for you?

Why do you want to participate in the API Jam? Why does it feel valuable at this point in your journey? What are you hoping to receive? What are you excited to share with others?

Please share any concerns, fears, or reservations you have about attending the Jam. What would help make the Jam welcoming and accessible for you — physically, emotionally and/or spiritually? Anything else you’d like to tell us?

Please give us a mini-bio (a paragraph version of your story) written in the third person (for example, using “they,” “she”, or “ze” instead of “I”). Talk yourself up! Include contributions you’ve made, any awards or accomplishments, organizations you’ve been involved with, etc. This is the bio that will be shared with other participants of this Jam. (You can always modify it later.) :

Costs of Attending

The total costs of the API Jam are $1,000 per participant ($500 for food, lodging and supplies, $500 for program costs of organizing and facilitator honorarium, childcare). Are you or your organization in a position to pay the $1,000 tuition? We are asking for people to contribute a sliding scale of $500-$1,500, given your relative income level. How much are you able to contribute?

Some partial work trades may be available. Are there other non-monetary ways that you might be in reciprocity with the Jam (any particular skills, other in-kind contributions, etc.)? For example, future fundraising for the Jam, graphic design, website and social media skills, airport shuttling (requires a car), and/or donations of food, workshop materials and art supplies.

We never want money to be a barrier in participating in a Jam, so we will do everything we can to make it work for you to attend. We work out with each participant a unique combination of payment, scholarship and work trade. Additional donations above the event price are welcome and help us provide scholarships to support the broad spectrum of participation on which this event thrives (they are also tax-deductible). We can also work with you to create a monthly payment plan, which could be $25/month.

Travel expenses are the responsibility of the participant (the closest airport is San Jose, but Oakland and San Francisco also work well), and we will aim to arrange carpools from all airports to the Jam site. If you are accepted, we will follow up with you to ask about diet, housing, travel plans, etc. We want to be sure to meet your needs at the Jam.

Thanks for applying to the API Jam!

We’ll be in touch as soon as we can.

Questions about the API Jam? Contact us at apijam[at]gmail[dot]com