Throughout the month of May, EA's ASPIRE ERG will bring awareness to Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Heritage Month by celebrating the API community at Electronic Arts.  This month is an opportunity to engage in history, emerge in culture and make an impact within the EA community. 2020 was a challenging year.  2021 taught us to be resilient and bold by empowering all API colleagues to find our voices  by advocating for ourselves, our communities, and allies.  With this year’s Unapologetic theme, we are unapologetically speaking up and speaking out by pushing the narrative for thoughtful and meaningful conversations around self-advocacy in the face of oppressive behaviors and racism.  

We kicked off API Heritage Month by celebrating the Hawai’ian culture and aloha spirit through our May Day Celebrations where we took a deep historical dive and discussed traditions.  We ended the first week with Better Know a Mayor, an empowering conversation and fireside chat with Mayor Ellen Kamei, of Mountain View, CA.  This interactive and authentic conversation taught us the importance of leading with authenticity, representation and making space for grace.  Mayor Kamei closed with the final remarks of “We’re not going to be silenced, and you can’t share our story for us”.  The ASPIRE Language Study Program was featured as a live event, to educate the EA community by sharing daily words and phrases from the Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Turkish languages!

The latter half of the month is filled with programming centered around Identity, Representation, & Mental Health in Games, Community Outreach with the Sikh Society of Florida, Silencing the Shame of Mental Health and an end of the month wrap party, featuring a Haiku poetry slam, a celebration of Asian & Pacific Islander representation in our games, and a virtual music festival! 

Over the past year, we felt a groundswell of support across the company in our contributions of $400,000 to organizations committed to stopping hate, elevating curated resources for API Allyship, uplifting our communities and allies, developing our leadership capabilities, and providing support for our EA India family throughout the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis.  

Throughout the month, we will embark on experiences with powerful messages to spark joy, unity, healing and courage.  Together we will influence API cultures around the globe!

- ASPIRE API Heritage Month Planning Committee