The Astounding Accomplishments of Nic Cha Kim

Sometimes you hear of an individual who makes a difference. One who cares for the people and community in which they live. Nic Cha Kim is one of those people. He wears many hats. Writer, producer, director, curator and activist. Unlike many people who claim to do things that they often do not do, he does all these things and more.

In 2003, Nic founded Gallery Row in downtown Los Angeles with a few friends. Serving as Co-Chair of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council’s Arts, Aesthetics and Culture Committe, he was committed to rebranding an historically dead part of Downtown into a creative district. He wrote a proposal and presented it to Councilmembers Jan Perry and Antonio Villaraigosa.

“It’s an initiative. We’re trying to get people to come together and be sincere about downtown – we want more galleries, yoga rooms, theaters, darkrooms, anything that’s art oriented. There should be an arts district downtown rather than in NoHo or J-town.”

LA City Council approved the Gallery Row proposal and the district was officially unveiled to the public in May 14, 2004 and Gallery Row Organization (GRO) was formed. Since its inception, Gallery Row grew from 3 galleries to over 45 art galleries, museums, and public art installations and GRO has helped many artists by fundraisers, sponsorship, organizing festivals, and initiating the very popular Downtown Art Walk, which draws over 30,000 people every month.

You would think that transforming an area of Los Angeles into a thriving cultural community was enough but Nic Cha Kim seems to have no limits. Nic also served as Resident Producer of Lodestone Theatre Ensemble from 2004-2009 and produced numerous main stage theatre shows featuring many notable Asian American talent. He went on to form Niche.LA Video Art which provides services to local artists. Digital and video artists are invited to showcase their latest techniques, concepts and creations in their virtual exhibitions. For local music artists, production services are offered. Screenwriting and cold reading classes are offered by industry professionals and an 18-seat screening room is available for private screenings
Niche.LA Video Art is also a member of Dogmeat, a video collective of LA based filmmakers. Part collaborative, part social-gathering, Dogmeat meets monthly to discuss creative projects. Every member is a producing filmmaker and co-owner of their own production company. The goal of Dogmeat is to practice the video-making craft by supporting every member’s personal projects.

Now, he is also producing music videos full-time for director Eric Heights through Niche.LA Video Art. Niche.LA Video Art is a full-time music video production company based in Downtown Los Angeles offering full service production and post production services. Need to shoot and edit? Please check out their portfolio:

www.niche.la/portfolio/music-videos

Asiance readers are welcome to read more about Nic Cha Kim at the following websites:
Gallery Row Organization: www.galleryrow.org
Niche.LA Video Art: www.niche.la
Nic Cha Kim official website: www.nicchakim.com

Photo Credits: NCK at Niche – photo by Kent S. Hwang