When all of the other kids would trade sandwiches at lunch, Paul Kim would mockingly be offered snails in exchange for the Korean food his mom packed him.

“I grew up one of the only Asian kids in the neighborhood, and everyone would make fun of me. I always felt left out,” Kim said.

The lack of Asian American role models to look up to in the media didn’t help.

“When I watched TV, there wouldn’t be any Asians on TV. And I loved music but there weren’t any Asian Americans [in music],” he said.

Many Asian Americans can identify with Kim’s childhood feelings of isolation and cultural confusion.

“When we’re here, we don’t fully fit in, but when we’re in Asia, we don’t fully fit in either. We’re the ones caught in between,” said Kim.

These feelings inspired Kim to create Kollaboration 9, a nonprofit organization originally designed in 2000 to be a way for Korean Americans to express themselves and break into the entertainment industry.

Now, almost 10 years later, Kollaboration has become a national springboard for all Asian Americans aspiring to forge their careers in the entertainment industry, drawing thousands to its shows in Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and New York. This year, Kollaboration will premiere in two more cities: Washington, D.C. and Toronto.

“It basically provides a stage for Asians to positively capture our Asian-American identity,” Kim said.

This year’s Kollaboration 9 in Los Angeles will be the largest Asian American talent competition in U.S. history. It will take place at the Shrine Auditorium on Feb. 21 and feature guest performances by international pop star BoA; Kaba Modern, Fanny Pak and Team Millennia of “America’s Best Dance Crew”; and Comedy Central’s Jo Koy.

The competitors include seven up-and-coming independent artists: David Choi, a professional songwriter and YouTube sensation; Paul Dateh, a hip-hop violinist and singer-songwriter; Kenichi Ebina, a dance performer and two-time grand champion of Showtime at the Apollo; Lilybeth Evardome, a vocalist and concerto protégé of Andrew Robinson of the L.A. Philharmonic; Kina Grannis, a singer-songwriter and winner of the 2008 Doritos Crash the Super Bowl Contest; Jazmin, a four-sister singing group that appeared on MTV’s Top Pop Group and NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; and Jane Lui, an award-winning singer-songwriter.

At stake is a first-place prize of $3,000, but for some of the competitors, the prospect of performing at the Shrine in front of 6,300 people is reason enough to be nervous.

“It is the largest audience I’ve ever played for,” said Lui. “I’ve been practicing a lot, but mostly I’ll just go up and do what I’ve always done — show them who I am. I’m half excited and half stage-frightened.”

This year’s judges include: Printz Board, producer of the Black Eyed Peas and Natasha Bedingfield; James Kyson Lee, actor in NBC’s Heroes; James Ryu, editor-in-chief of KoreAm Journal and Audrey magazine; Welly Yang, director of the Asian Excellence Awards; and Teddy Zee, producer of “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “Hitch.”

“I’m really excited to be a part of [Kollaboration],” said Grannis. “I just want to enjoy all the other awesome acts throughout the night, share my music with everyone and meet some new people.”

Following the event, the Shrine Expo Hall will host 4,000 people in the official Kollaboration 9 after-party, which will include guest performances by Roscoe Umali, a rap artist with 2008’s No. 1 independent record; Nylon Pink, an L.A.-based pop-rock band; Tatum Jones, R&B finalists on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”; and five college dance crews.

The massive event is entirely coordinated by a team of volunteers.

“People have no idea how much goes into Kollaboration. It’s an entire year of planning,” said Kim. “It’s a complete labor of love. If people were to break down the numbers, we’ve actually lost a lot of money. So it means a lot to us if you come and support.”

For the volunteers, advancing the Asian American movement is worth the hard-won effort. And while it is still not common to see Asian faces on TV, in the movies, or on album covers, Kim has witnessed definite improvements in the industry since Kollaboration started nine years ago.

“Now there’s so many more Asians on TV — people like Yul Kwon, John Cho, Bobby Lee. All the kids, once they see that, will start to believe they can do this, too,” he said.

Kim compares the influx of Asian Americans in the entertainment industry to the breaking of the four-minute mile.

“Throughout history, no one ran the mile in four minutes or less. And then in 1954, Roger [Bannister] ran the mile in four minutes, and after he ran it, all these runners began breaking the four-minute mile. It’s like a mental barrier,” he said.

Indeed, the scarcity of Asian Americans in entertainment does not owe itself to a shortage of talent or desire among the population but to precedent. The hope is that with the help of eye-opening events like Kollaboration, this will soon change.

“Objectively speaking, Asian Americans are a minority in the entertainment industry, but ... things are dramatically changing,” said Lui. “We won’t have our skin color as an excuse to hold ourselves down much longer.”

While Kollaboration got its start as a platform for Asian Americans to launch their careers, Kim hopes the event will continue long after the much-anticipated day when Asians will be a norm in the industry.

“I want this to go on as long as possible,” he said. “Hopefully, that will be forever.”

 

Kollaboration 9 will be held at the Shrine Auditorium on Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. The after-party will take place across the street at the Shrine Expo Center at 10 p.m. Tickets are available on www.kollaboration.org.