After being relocated twice already, the Asian Arts Initiative has
finally moved out of the path of the Pennsylvania Convention Center
expansion. Please note our new mailing address:
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: (215) 557-0455
The Asian Arts Initiative hosts
in collaboration with the Philadelphia Chinatown Development
Corporation, the Swarthmore College Lang Learning Center for Civic and
Social Responsibility, WHYY Learning Lab
Chinatown Youth Radio Philadelphia
Come CELEBRATE Chinatown Youth Radio Philadelphia's first ever CD release party!
Friday, August 15, 2008
5 pm – 7 pm
Gallery Space at
Asian Arts Initiative
1219 Vine Street
RSVP to chon@asianartsinitiative.org
Or call 215.557.0455
Chinatown Youth Radio Philadelphia (ChYRP) is an intensive, 3-week
summer experience for high school students to create a blog and podcast
featuring radio stories of Philadelphia Chinatown. During the
course of this summer pilot program, youth learned the skills involved
in creating a radio story, engaging community members, and the new
media technology involved in radio podcasting.
Listen to our work!
Learn with us!
Celebrate!
The ASIAN ARTS INITIATIVE issues a CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS for our
2008 ARTISTS EXCHANGE
:: examining the theme of Community Development and Displacement ::
Application Deadline: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2008 Learning Retreat Weekend: November 14th-16th Final Performance Weekend: December 5th-6th
The Asian Arts Initiative invites artists of all disciplines and backgrounds to apply to participate in our 2008 Artists Exchange focusing on the theme of Community Development and Displacement.
The Artists Exchange begins
with a weekend-long Learning Retreat (November 7-8th) where artists
will share some of their existing work and sources of inspiration with
each other; and participate in workshops to explore and gain topical
knowledge as the basis for creating individual new works around the
theme of Community Development and Displacement. As part of the Asian
Arts Initiative’s relocation to our new home in Chinatown, we are
interested in exploring our pivotal role as an intersection between the
arts community and our local neighborhood.
Some of the questions that will be explored include: What keeps
communities rooted? Who stands to benefit from economic development and
who is exploited? How will gentrification and economic development
affect reconstruction of areas where Asian Americans and other
communities of color live? How are patterns of gentrification similar
or different to economic policies enforced outside of the U.S. through
globalization? How can Asian American communities build together with
other communities of color to address the experiences of gentrification
and forced relocation?
Participants will have a month following the Learning Retreat to
conduct research on their own and to create new work that will be
showcased in a series of public performances December 5-6th.
We are seeking up to 15 artists of color, with emphasis on the Asian
American community, representing diverse disciplines—including
but not limited to dance, music, spoken word, and theater. Preference
will be given to artists with a commitment to the Philadelphia area,
though all artists are invited to apply. We will provide $150
honorariums to working artists that are selected to participate.
Partial travel stipends will be available for artists living outside
the Philadelphia-area. Artistic groups and collectives are invited to
apply though stipends and performance time will be limited.
Please click here for full application. The ASIAN ARTS INITIATIVE issues a CALL FOR ARTISTS:
TRANSPLANTS EXHIBITION
October 2008 – January 2009
TRANSPLANTS is a dual site multi-artist exhibition organized by the
Asian Arts Initiative and curated by Sean Stoops. The exhibition will
be based at the Asian Arts Initiative's new home at 1219 Vine Street in
Philadelphia, with a video art installation at the International House
Video Lounge, a space programmed by InLiquid Art & Design Network.
The exhibition is scheduled to be open from October 2008 through
January 2009.
Exploring experiences of migration and displacement, those both chosen
and imposed, Transplants will examine life-changing journeys made by
artists and communities 'transplanted' from one place—whether
physical or conceptual—to another, revealing the critical and
creative roles that culture, immigration, exile, and home play in our
ideas of ourselves and our world. Transplants will show the
complexities and particularities of communities’ and
individuals’ stories and representations of movement through
space and time.
The theme of Transplants is particularly close to home for the Asian
Arts Initiative, who in June 2007, due to the expansion of the
Pennsylvania Convention Center, alongside several other arts and
cultural organizations was forced to move from our former home in the
now-demolished Gilbert Building. In a struggle to survive and grow
despite the displacement, the Initiative moved to a temporary space and
then was forced to move yet again from the unheated space during the
winter. Now we are looking forward to our final move into our newly
renovated home at 1219 Vine Street in Philadelphia’s Chinatown
neighborhood.
TRANSPLANTS will be the inaugural exhibition at the Asian Arts Initiative's new gallery.
The Asian Arts Initiative invites submissions of visual and media art
work for the ‘Transplants’ exhibition. We are accepting
proposals for existing or new work, including site specific
installations created for the exhibition.
Please click here for full application. Please contact Amy Danford,
Visual Arts Coordinator, at gallery@asianartsinitiative.org if you need
an extension on the deadline.
The Asian Arts Initiative hosts in collaboration with the City of Philadelphia Big Picture
Mural Arts Program a year-long mural-making workshop for youth
October 6th- December 12th, 2008
3 days a week/ 3:30-6:30pm
Asian Arts Initiative Salon Space
1219 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107
This workshop is free and open to all interested youth ages 10-18.
Register Now! Contact Chon at 215.557.0455 or chon@asianartsinitiative.org
The Asian Arts Initiative Oral History Project is underway!
The Asian Arts Initiative’s Oral History Project celebrates the
Initiative’s 15-year-long dedication to promoting social justice
and change through the arts. We’re busy gathering testimonies of
15 interviewees to illuminate their experiences as artists, community
activists, staff members, and program participants within the orbit of
the Asian Arts Initiative. This exciting “look back” is a
way to preserve our organizational and local history--sharing visions
of social justice and strategies for making change through the arts,
while simultaneously highlighting a diverse spectrum of voices from the
Philadelphia community.
Many thanks to our committed staff, volunteers, and community members
who are participating in this live history of the Asian Arts
Initiative; and to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
for project funding. Congratulations to the cast
and crew of Flashpoints/ Unbreakable Objects and the Re:location Video
Collage Project in the culminating performance on Saturday May 31,
2008. Photo of Flashpoints cast by Jen Cleary
Flashpoints Cast: Regie Cabico Lovella Calica, Misia Denea, Jo Louie,
J. Mason, Charles Ramirez, Manny Son, Omar Telan, Hannah Utain-Evans,
and Tyrell White.
Re:locations Crew: Anula Shetty, Dina Dashiell, Robert Hill, Hakeem
Jefferson, Elizabeth Powers, Danny Seng, Amarjeet Singh, Larry Staton,
and Arif Zahir.
The "Re:location" workshop with
Anula Shetty was made possible in part with a grant from the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Arts in Education
Partnership. Regie Cabico's residency in Philadelphia and the
"Flashpoints" workshop were made possible in part with grants from the
Artists & Communities program of the MidAtlantic Arts Foundation;
and the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, a program of the Philadelphia
Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and
administered by the University of the Arts.
Welcome to the Asian Arts initiative's new home at 1219 Vine Street.
We've (finally) arrived! Center building with green window trim.
Please sign our on-line petition
to urge City and State repre-
sentatives to support the Asian
Arts Initiative's multi-tenant arts
facility in Chinatown: