The Blue Heart Creator’s Fund supported the CA Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative’s art contest, which sought to educate the young adult population (age 18-30) on the issues that nail salon workers face and to engage them with creating new and affirming narratives for nail salon workers.

 

We are excited to announce that CANSC accomplished their goal of targeting family members of nail salon workers and Asian American/Vietnamese American communities within school campuses through art-driven engagement, in partnership with the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA).

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CANSC chose a judging panel to include one staff member from VAALA, one Collaborative Steering Committee member, a salon worker member from Northern CA, and a salon worker member from Southern CA. After tallying the scores, the top three winners emerged, all of whom were Vietnamese American female artists.

 

They created pieces that aimed to subvert the traditional narrative about workers in the nail salon industry. CANSC awarded the winners with cash prizes, and incorporated the winning pieces into new, bilingual outreach materials, including posters, postcards, and stickers (see images). These materials, especially the posters, will be distributed to our nail salon worker members through our leadership meetings and health and safety trainings. The materials will be used to engage students during our outreach events (i.e. film screenings, tabling) at local colleges and universities and will be circulated on their Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook accounts.