On Tuesday, March 1, 2016, Pyong Gap Min (Director of RCKC and Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center) gave a talk titled "The Intergenerational Progression of the Korean Community: The Problem of Ethnic Attrition." This event took place at KCS (Korean Community Services), located at 35-56 159th Street, Flushing, NY 11358.

Most studies of the acculturation of immigrant ethnic groups have focused on intergenerational socioeconomic mobility. Additionally, many studies have also examined younger-generation Americans' retention of ethnic culture and identity. However, these studies have neglected to look at the flipside of this, which is ethnic attrition or a reduction of ethnic characteristics. Even though acculturation into the host society helps the second generation move up socioeconomically, it coincides with a concomitant reduction in ethnic characteristics. Ethnic retention and ethnic attrition can be understood in different ways, even though they mostly deal with the same phenomena. Professor Min talked about and made some predictions about how quickly Korean ethnic attrition can occur within the Korean community as generations increase. Additionally, he made some policy suggestions regarding pathways toward increasing ethnic retention and slowing down ethnic attrition without compromising immigrant communities' ability to acculturate to the host society. 

On Wednesday, January 20, 2016, the Research Foundation for Korean Community (RFKC) held its annual New Year's Party at the Grandview II at Riverwalk in West New York, New Jersey, which is located right on the Hudson River in the New Jersey Palisades. The event was organized and hosted by the Organizing Committee of the RFKC: Henry Hong Kyun Jung, Young Ki Ham, Hyo Sang Yang, Peter Kihyo Park, Yung Duk Kim, and Hae Min Chung. The event included dinner, karaoke, and dancing.

The Research Foundation for Korean Community (RFKC) is a non-profit foundation that was established to financially support and oversee the research activities of the Research Center for Korean Community (RCKC). RFKC collects donations from the community and regularly organizes fundraising events on behalf of RCKC. We at the RCKC look forward to a productive 2016, and we would like to thank RFKC and its dedicated members for their support. 

On November 24, 2015, there was a small ceremony to acknowledge the donation of JoongAng Ilbo newspapers from 1986 to 2000 to RCKC. Jongsuk Sung, the former editor-in-chief of JoongAng Ilbo from 1985 to 2004, was kind enough to donate over ten years of archives of the daily newspaper. These issues are a nice addition to RCKC's large archive of books, academic journals, and newspapers focusing on Korean Americans that are housed within our center's mini-library. A few years ago, we received issues of The Korea Times from 1977 to 1988. Since most Korean-language newspapers' online archives start at 2001, there was a twelve-year gap between 1988 and 2000 prior to receiving these papers from Ms. Sung. The 1986-2000 issues of the JoongAng Ilbo will bridge this gap nicely, and along with the old issues of The Korea Times, they are important historical documents for the Korean community.

The ceremony was attended by a current reporter from the JoongAng Ilbo, Pyong Gap Min (Director of RCKC), Jane Cho (Director of Administration, Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College), Jae Gi Kim (RCKC Visiting Scholar from Korea), Yongshin Cho (Queens College Visiting Scholar/Artist from Korea), some students from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, and staff members of RCKC.

We would like to thank Ms. Sung for her wonderful gift, and we will put the newspapers to good use in our current and future research.

We would like to announce an upcoming group art exhibition that will be held at the Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College from February 1 to March 12, 2016. The 9th Hoyeon Art Group Exhibition will feature paintings by 15 Korean immigrant members of the Hoyeon Art Association of New York (HAANY). However, this year\'s exhibition takes on new meaning following the death of association founder Joo Sang Kim Lee (professionally known as “Hoyeon”) in December 2015. The works span a variety of themes and styles, from monochrome calligraphy to colorful representations of flora, fauna, figures, and landscapes. The exhibition will also include 30 works by the late Hoyeon in a second-floor exhibition space, accompanied by her portrait and a guestbook where visitors can share their memories of her life and work. Hoyeon began teaching the traditional art of brush-and-ink painting to immigrant Koreans in 1994 to help them reinforce their cultural identity and to help them relieve stress and express themselves through art in their adopted home of Queens.

An opening exhibition will take place on Saturday, February 6, 2016 from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.

Exhibition hours are Monday-Thursday, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM and Saturday, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The museum is free and open to the public.

WHAT: 9th Hoyeon Art Group Exhibition

WHEN: February 1, 2016 to March 12, 2016

Opening reception on Saturday, February 6, 2016, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.

WHERE: Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College

EXHIBITION IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

For more information visit www.gtmuseum.org