In 2025, June Hsu was selected to receive the Steven B. Jung Award, established by Steven’s wife, Wendy, and children, Brendan and Stephanie after his passing in 2021.
The Steven B. Jung Theatre Artist Fund is an annual award given to an emerging Asian Canadian theatre artist to further develop experience in the field of costume or set design or technical theatre. Read what June said about receiving this award:
I am greatly honoured to be the recipient of [last] year’s Steven B. Jung Award. With the generous support from Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre and Wendy Lee, I have been able to actualize my research project:
“To research ways audio and video can co-exist as both separate entities and interactive elements– in conversation with each other to create diverse and unique artworks.”
In the beginning of my research, I was stumped, without actual funding and with only an idea, I found myself unable to start. The Steven B. Jung award made it possible for me to start my research as it funded my time and costs of each program that was used: Isadora, TouchDesigner, QLab, and Loopback.
My research has not been completed and is still ongoing, as art is an ever growing process. I was able to figure out a way in Isadora and TouchDesigner where if you sing a certain frequency, it will trigger and interact with a visual. I am still figuring out how a system/program can take a specific word and recognize it as a “trigger word” to play the connected visuals. For example, if the performer on stage says “dog”, we’re able to see a dog on the screen without an operator triggering it. Since completing the first portion of my research, more questions have arisen such as “How can we make the video be 3D interactive to sound?” and “Is there a way to trigger sounds to play on a phone through QLab?”.
I am so grateful for the support from Wendy and the family of Steven B. Jung, my fellow colleagues and artists who sat with me and lended invaluable insights for this project, and vAct, Derek Chan, Annie Jang, Leslie Dos Romedios, and Stephanie Wong. Not only has the Steven B. Jung Award helped fund this project, but it has also helped broaden and deepen my research. I am looking forward to what comes next! Thank you so much.
If you would like to make a contribution towards the Steven B. Jung Theatre Artist Fund, you can do so at this link. Thank you!
