Nic Cha Kim


Nic Cha Kim is an American television reporter, documentary filmmaker, playwright, and cultural activist, also known as the Founder of Gallery Row in Downtown Los Angeles.
Kim is a reporter for the weekly news series SoCal Connected, a weekly news series on KCET. In 2017, Nic won two Los Angeles Emmys for Information Segment and Informational Series.

Early life

Kim was born in Lakewood, California but was raised in Arcadia, California. After graduating from Arcadia High School in 1992, Kim studied English at University of California, Berkeley but dropped out in 1998 and moved to Los Angeles.

Career

Niche.LA Video Art

In 2005, Kim opened the first art gallery in Los Angeles dedicated to video art. Based in Gallery Row, Niche.LA Video Art exhibited over 50 art shows curating video art, digital art, 3D mapping, glitch, dadamoshing, cyberart, nanoart, fractal art, and light art. A regular participant of the monthly Downtown Art Walk, Kim often used his gallery to convince creative entrepreneurs to open art galleries in Gallery Row to become part of the Downtown L.A. art scene. Kim closed the gallery in 2012 to pursue documentary filmmaking.

Art Battle L.A.

Produced by Nic Cha Kim, Art Battle L.A. is a 52 min. street art documentary that chronicles graffiti artists Mear One, Man One, Inkie, and Eine as they spend a week together painting murals all over Los Angeles under the direction of L.A. Freewalls to support Hollywood Arts, a nonprofit dedicated to helping emancipated foster children living in the streets by teaching them employable arts skills. Art Battle L.A. premiered on KCET's Open Call and is currently available on Snagfilms.

Songs in the Key of Los Angeles: The Bedrock Sessions

Songs in the Key of Los Angeles: The Bedrock Sessions is a multi-platform collaboration between KCET, Library Foundation of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Public Library, and USC professor Josh Kun that brings to life the Library's Southern California Sheet Music Collection. Consisting of sheet music pieces that range from the 1840s through the 1950s, the Collection offers a singular portrait of Los Angeles history and culture rendered in music and visual art. Produced by Nic Cha Kim, KCET presented a 5-part short documentary series featuring musicians Aloe Blacc, Petrojvic Blasting Company, Julia Holter, I See Hawks in L.A., and La Santa Cecilia that aired together as a special on KCET's transmedia arts and culture series, Artbound.

Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras

Co-Directed and Co-Produced by Nic Cha Kim, Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras follows deported and displaced Guatemalans as they reintegrate back into their home country. Day Labor Theater Without Borders is a program of Cornerstone Theater Company where they perform plays based on stories from day labor communities. Teatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras was nominated for the 67th Los Angeles area Local Emmy in 2015 in the Feature Segment category.

SoCal Connected

Kim works at KCET as a television reporter for the weekly news series SoCal Connected and is the winner of 2 L.A. Emmys from the Television Academy, 3 Golden Mikes from the Radio & Television News Association, and the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award and a SoCal Journalism Award from the L.A. Press Club.

Theatre

Kim originally moved to Los Angeles to become a playwright before becoming a documentary filmmaker. He joined the East West Players where he participated in the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute and worked as Resident Producer for Lodestone Theatre Ensemble from 2005-2010. Kim joined Company of Angels in 2012 when he participated in the annual L.A. Views series. His plays Trapezoid, Like Yesterday, RE:verse, and Rise Up have all been produced for the stage.

Filmography

Journalism

Season 8
  • “California Condors” - Reporter
  • “Landfill Fight” - Reporter
  • “Loving Joshua Tree to Death” - Reporter
Season 7
  • “Simple Solution to Help the Homeless” - Reporter
  • “‘Feathers of Fire’: A Spectacular Shadow Play" - Reporter
  • “Hyperloop: Tube Travel at Near Supersonic Speed” - Reporter
  • “A Great Use for UC Irvine’s Garbage” - Reporter
  • “Urban Tree Canopy Benefits LA Communities, Some More Than Others” - Reporter
  • “A Tiny House is a Work of Art” - Reporter
Season 6The Restoration and Revival of L.A.'s Hollyhock House - ReporterBringing CicLAvia to South Los Angeles - ReporterClare Graham's 'Warehouse of Wonders - ReporterRadio Personality Art Laboe - ReporterGrand Central Market: Past and Present - ReporterA Labyrinth of Books, Art, and Records - ReporterArt or Ad? L.A.'s Mural Law Written in Gray Ink - ReporterThe Bottle Tree Ranch - ReporterThe Future of Leimert Park - ReporterA Moveable Feast at the Brewery Art Colony - Reporter

Short Documentaries

The Spirit of North Shore - Director, ProducerTeatro Jornalero Sin Fronteras - Co-Director, Co-ProducerMy Moby Dick - Producer, Story EditorSongs in the Key of Los Angeles: The Bedrock Sessions - Producer, Story EditorThank You For Coming - Producer, Story EditorArt Battle L.A. - Executive Producer, Producer, Writer

Feature films

Art Battle L.A. - Executive Producer, Producer, WriterQwerty - Associate ProducerThe Mikado Project - Associate Producer

Short films

Vignette - Executive Producer, Director, Producer, WriterSketch - Executive Producer, Producer, WriterEqual Opportunity - Associate ProducerPollen - Executive Producer, Producer, Writer

Plays

  • "a.l.a. "
  • "Hyperbola"
  • "Like Yesterday"
  • "Point"
  • "RE:verse"
  • "Rise Up"
  • "Taste of Home, A"
  • "Trapezoid"
  • "Tuba Player, The"