About

Our Mission

Asian Arts Initiative (AAI) is a community-based arts center in Philadelphia dedicated to advancing racial justice and social change through the arts. Created in collaboration between Asian and Black poets in response to the national concerns about racial tension following the Rodney King verdict in 1993, AAI serves a diverse constituency and explores the experiences of all communities, including Asian Americans, through exhibitions, performances, artist residencies, community events, and youth workshops. As a community gathering space for experiencing and creating art that reflects our lives, AAI is proud to present programs that inspire critical thinking about the future we want to build for our communities.

Neighborhood History

Chinatown North/Callowhill has served as home to an ethnically, socio- economically, and educationally diverse community of people, despite its reputation as an underdeveloped industrial area. Cut off from the commercial core of Chinatown and Center City when the Vine Street Expressway was built in the 1980s, the neighborhood also celebrates its vibrant history of community organizing, and defeating proposals for a federal prison, baseball stadium, and casino.

Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

Asian Arts Initiative recognizes the original people and stewards of this land, the Lenni Lenape. We acknowledge that before Asian Americans migrated and settled here, that our indigenous ancestors have taken care of this land, historically known as Lenapehoking (Lun-nah-pay-hawk-ing). We are honored to carry on their legacy by recognizing the rights of this land, and by continuing to make space for BIPOC communities.

Funders