Consider it a baptism by fire. Within just 72 hours of being notified about the reduction in their federal funding from the Center for Asian American Media, Donald Young assumed leadership of the organization.
"It’s an extremely perilous period. Public media faces intense criticism as they try to cut funding for CPB, which is why CAAM was originally established," Young explained to the Chronicle, referring to the organization. Trump administration’s executive order To cut funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. "Our aim was to establish an entity capable of being fully involved in public media. Therefore, we're quite worried about this."
However, he is ready for this challenge. Having served CAAM in different roles for three decades, Young was named the new executive director during the opening-night ceremony. CAAMFest 43 At the AMC Kabuki 8 on Thursday, May 8. His initial scheduled start date at work was Monday, May 5.
He succeeds Stephen Gong , who attended the organization’s inception in 1980 as the National Asian American Telecommunications Association, and has held the position of executive director for the last 18 years prior to announcing his retirement plans in December.
“I’m not anxious about CAAM’s future; we will thrive and we’ll do great work,” Young told the Chronicle. “But I am anxious about the moment and the space that we all inhabit together, not just the Asian American community, but our partners in independent film and public media.”
Young, 57, was approved unanimously by the nonprofit organization’s board members after a nine-month nationwide search conducted by the executive search firm Koya Partners. He was most recently CAAM’s director of programs, and programmed CAAMFest 43 , which continues until Sunday, May 11.
"Don's experience has demonstrated his role as more than just a creator of groundbreaking films focused on Asian American stories; he also emerges as an advocate for equitable representation within the realm of independent documentaries and public media," stated board co-chairs Dipti Ghosh and Vin Pan jointly.
A young executive was behind the production of "Rising Against Asian Hate" (2022), which was nominated for a Peabody Award. They also produced the groundbreaking PBS five-episode documentary series "Asian Americans" (2020). Wayne Wang’s indie feature “ Coming Home Again "(2019)." He holds memberships in both the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Since 1982, over 200 movies and TV shows created by CAAM have been broadcasted on public television. Nearly half of these were released just within this decade. Young expressed his belief that this trend will persist despite the hurdles posed by the federal administration.
“We’re still trying to understand how this is gonna play out,” said Young, who added that CAAM was notified at 8 p.m. Friday, May 2, that a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Arts would not be coming through. “Understandably, people feel very targeted and concerned and anxious, as well as mad, frustrated. But we have a festival (this week) and that is the very best way to demonstrate what we can do .”
Born in San Francisco, Young is a fourth generation Chinese American who was raised in San Rafael. He, his wife Lisa Nguyen and their daughter Hannah live in Palo Alto.
Young noted it was an honor to succeed Gong, whom he called “a mentor, confidant and role model.” He added that their time working together was “an amazing partnership.”
“We’re going to miss him,” Young said. “It’s the first time in (CAAM’s) history that somebody who was part of our founding is not going to be a part of the organization.”
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