All right. So who would like to speak first . Seriously fits fine seriously thank you, very much. Im honored to be here thank you very much. I think im going to be back i will be. clapping . Thank you im the Vice President of at t for external affairs im proud to be a part of the celebration of at t has now in the last few years but were joined by members of our asian group. Please stand up you do great work for at a t and t and we also have the next level of sponsors i want to invite them up for an appreciation gift calling names we have folks from mcdonalds. Thank you very much. clapping . All right. Thank you supervisor chiu, i hope all of you will have a chance to look at the appreciation gift their original hand crafted pieces of art. In fact, they were handmaid by linda herself thats an amazing art just using pieces of paper. We want to only a our sponsors. calling names big round of applause. clapping . We also want to thank our spons sponsors calling names . And our business supporters and San Francisco federal credit union thank you. Last but not at least weve received support from nonprofit professional Community Organizations our organizations sponsors are asian Fire Departments association and Police Department association. Filipino chamber of commerce and local 35 union and 0 c a chapter and asian coalition. San francisco Sister Committee and San FranciscoSister Committee thank you all for your tremendous support. Those of you who have been joining us before its been said that great distances are great because of their passion. The john car distance Company Units many indian folks and every member believes that the world is filled with expression joy and free speech. Please welcome dance company. Welcome. clapping . clapping . Give another warm welcome to those folks. I need to work out again. I used to be in shape. All right. By the way, i thought i saw form mayor willie brown just walk in. Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much. Now the special moment weve been waiting for the American Heritage ward for individuals who have made an impact theres being presented in 3 categories where we have the Lifetime Achievement wards. Nominations were submitted on line and then 3 judges made the final selection. calling names the first award is inspirational leadership and is printed to an individuals who has made grounded breaking achievements and has used their talent to give back in supporting opportunities to enhance the communities performance to help the next generation of arts. And to help with this, please welcome billy wong. clapping hello good evening. Oh, come in combg. Oh, its such an honor to present the very first award i remember grouping not being so proud to be asian to being here im making my mom proud and im proud to be a part of this community so thank you everyone. Ill very, very pleased to announce this inspirational leadership each of you have accomplished in making contributions to the community. I can read more about the nominees in our book. And its my pleasure to announce the recipients in inner leadership brenda wong. Please step up and we want to invite our co chairs to help with the presenting of the awards and also to invite the lady from Southwest Airlines and theyre continuing to give 2 round tickets to each receipt. Thank you so much. clapping . Wow. This is a huge honor. My families been in San Francisco since the 19 hundreds. Many of you know that im Chinese Japanese and i didnt know i was asian because im mixed but the family has been here and is one of the founder of the town and my grandmother was a leader in the garment district. We went to the restaurantsful through the backdoor and ill plays with the chickens and fish and grandpa would bargain for the sea weeds. But the thing we also went in the kitchen door and in honor of my grandparents i get to go through the front door. You, you know, we stand on the shoulder of giants and i want to thank all the people here. Thank you all the committee and all the judges and everybody else whos here i also want to thank my friends and i want to say if it wasnt for tom at the foundation and stan and giuliani with the foundation and keri and grants for the arts and all those people support our with work i want to thank my husband the artist. There were folks traveling around the country we weve done this. The reason we do the work we do in art i preserve memories and history and you pass down the love of your grandparents to your children and your childrens children and its this love that makes the people strong and when were strong in love we can all make a better place. In the the reason why all the arts do the work we do thank you for honoring not just me but art. Thank you clapping congratulations briand next is the Community Award okay. I, do this. Which have achieved through the performing arts and providing opportunities to artists that have successfully helped with the mainstream to perform outside their own ethics communities. Please welcome lisa stevens thank you im very honored to be here. We have probably more Asian American students than any other Art University in the United States were when people say wow, you have so many asian students theyre the best students and the future as i see it of this country. So i thank you for your love and art which you carry with you. Thank you. Im honored and delighted to be part of the judges this year each the outstanding organizations has achieved a great impact in advancing the opportunity for apa performing artists. You all have this great program. Thank you billy for loaning me. The asian week foundation, collaboration San Francisco. Asian american that is right workshop and asian improve arts. Its now my pleasure to announce the Heritage Award in the Community Impact category is asian improve art. The co founders please join us on instantly to receive the award on behalf of the asian in proud arts. Well, maybe ill get it started here and john will bring it up. Im francis wong and together we founded the asian improve arts were celebrating our history in the San Francisco area. And its quite on honor to be standing before you and to see how the idea of a group called asian entertainment were not an we do improvise and i dont want to repeat a lot of things but were a group for creativity and we want to acknowledge and applaud the committee to recognize the performing arts we offer not only in entertainment but to effect the patterns of thought how do we think about solving the problems and envision a new world . We find in our work as im arts were part of envisioning this new world and were standing on the shoulders of our immigrant forebearsors my patent landed by at t park and were raising another generation. This is a real honor and privilege to engage in the act of promoting Visionary Leadership in the arts. Thank you very much clapping its just wonderful to work with somebody like francis wong. He does so many things one of the artists is to define the past and envision the future. And when i look at the past, you know, francy was talking about is improvision bruce lee was an inspiration he said to enter the dragon is Like Fighting without fighting so the i am provision is an important skill in terms of entrepreneurship and leadership. We can go on all night but im going to keep it short im not going to do the silly arching thing thank you all. clapping . All right. This years nominees have dedicated 25 years in the San Francisco bay area by creating break through arts to the arts together we present the pioneer in the art and entertainment a community is our spokesperson. Thank you. Im very, very delighted to be part of this years celebration. Partly too my dad would be excited im here representing the filipino heritage. clapping so having one award from those groups of the individuals was not easy each of them should be honored from what he or she has achieved. The final lift in the Lifetime Achievement category are robert, the team of john calling names this recipient of the Lifetime Achievement word is peoples. Ive prepared a speech im glad im going to be using it so i want to thank the Asian Pacific community and this years for their dedication of the heritage month celebration. My gratitude goes out for the panel of judges for relating me. I admire the folks here today. Behind the success of every person is a village of supporters mine is my family headed by my mother. Mom. She taught me to love unconditional. My son anticipate and my beautiful daughter theres the reasons for my living my friends who keep me wellbalanced with the happy hours and thousands of students who have inspired me to be a better person and lately my god and safer who guided me everyday. Im very grateful for this recognition clapping and congratulations and thank you to all say judges and congratulations for the recipient for their important work and contribution on behalf of our community. clapping . Now because of the special theme of honoring choechlts the committee has decided to present a special recognition award. Lets role the