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Asian Arts Initiative

The Asian Arts Initiative is an organization which currently exists in Philadelphia, PA, United states. It is a non-profit organization composed of artists and performers, youth and parents, poets and writers, directors and actors, and musicians and dancers who are trying to raise awareness about the Asian culture and community in the United States.(1)

The Asian Arts Initiative is significant because it is one of the very few Asian-American community art organizations and centers in the country. (2)

History

The Asian Arts Initiative association started as a program of the Painted Bride Arts Centre in 1992 by a woman named Gayle Isa. (3) The program started as a comeback to social concerns of Asian Americans regarding race in the city of Philadelphia. In 1996 it separated from the Painted Bride Arts Center and became an independent non-profit organization which moved into a private community building (currently located in the heart of Philadelphia’s historic China Town) in 1997. In the same year, the Artists in Communities Training (ACT) program was introduced as a way to develop the skills of different artists who were interested in joining, and who would later be able to teach and lead the Asian Arts Initiative workshops. (4)

In 1998 another program was introduced which was called the Youth Arts Workshop, and it offered different creative courses that youth could get involved in. Courses such as creative writing, visual art, and video-making for high school-aged students were offered to youth of different ages and backgrounds. (5) The same year, Rap Series premieres started to be offered as a time for meeting and discussion for Asian American poets, filmmakers, and performers. Every third Friday of the month, people can meet in order to share their talents and present dialogues about community issues. The Youth Arts Workshop program is a safe space for teens to explore and express their experiences and connect with others through different types of art making. Most of the youth workshops are running in the evenings and on weekends during the school year from September through June. Some of the newer projects that are currently being offered by the program are hip-hop dance and DJ Techniques. (6)Youth may also get involved in the Chinatown Youth Radio Philadelphia project which is another new project the intention of which is to engage young people in radio production and to inspire young people to think more critically about their community and the world around them. Another program that is currently offered in called Youth Artist Chillin’ Day. It is held every first Friday of the month, and is a free two-hour program for Asian American youth to share their art work, to communicate and to play games. (7)

Starting from fall of the year 2000 art shows started to appear in the Asian Arts Initiative building thanks to the Gallery program, which was organized by a group of volunteers who plan a season of exciting exhibitions every year. (8) The first exhibition that was displayed in the Asian Arts Initiative building, in September 2000, was called, “Chinatown and Resistance”, and it high lightened rebellious art work of artists from Philadelphia, New York, and other cities. This exhibition was inspired by a community disagreement with Mayer Street’s sketch which proposed a baseball stadium project just north of Philadelphia's Chinatown. In the exhibition, artists address the negative outcomes of building a stadium in Chinatown, starting from the slowing down of a large growing community, to the guaranteed load of high taxes that would have been placed on taxpayers. The exhibit was also a good chance for the community to speak out about the history of Chinatown’s existence, which was threatened by several urban renewal and redevelopment projects in the past thirty years. Some of the works exhibited were The Big Bail Out, a shadow puppet performance designed by Shoddy Puppet Company, and Field of Schemes, authors Joanna Cagen and Neil DeMause who are addressing the displacement of urban communities by modern stadiums. The gallery also presented the premiere screening of InvAsian, a 12-minute film directed and edited by local teens documenting Chinatown’s struggles. The community protests and the exhibition lead to the successful cancellation of the Chinatown stadium project. Other art work was displayed in the “Chinatown and Resistance” show as a way to comment on other current and past political actions in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. (9)

The Gallery space, which is provided by the Asian Arts Initiative, is a place for contemporary Asian American artists from Philadelphia and across the United States to exhibit their art work. The Gallery program concentrates on communities in the process of making art and on getting the public interested and involved in learning about art of different Asian cultures. The Gallery program has a wide number of exhibitions and workshops every year, where visitors and participants get involved in viewing and learning about different artists and their art work. (10)

Today the Asian Arts Initiative is an active organization which is open to the public. The organization has an yearly budget of approximately $650,000, and is rapidly growing. (11) The organization has also developed a new multi-cultural, multi-tenant arts resource in Philadelphia’s Center City/Chinatown neighbourhood which is in effect today. Every year, the organization offers many interesting programs, shows and workshops for people of all ages and backgrounds. The organization is always looking for sponsors and for people who would want to get involved, so it is simple to register and become a member or a donor on their website. (12)

References

(1)	“Asian Arts Initiative website” - "About Us." Asian Arts Initiative. 2009. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(2)	““Asian Arts Initiative website” - "History and Mission." Asian Arts Initiative. 2009. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(3)	“Gayle Isa Biography” - "Gayle Isa Biography." Culture Shapes Community. 2008. Sprout. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(4)	“Asian Arts Initiative website” - "10th Anniversary Timeline." Asian Arts Initiative. 2003-2004. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. 6 Mar. 2009. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(5)	“Asian Arts Initiative website” - "Youth Arts Workshop." Asian Arts Initiative. 2009. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(6)	“Asian Arts Initiative website” - "Youth Arts Workshop." Asian Arts Initiative. 2009. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(7)	“Youth Artist Chillin’ Day and AAI” - "Philadelphia and the Countryside, Asian Arts Initiative." GoPhila. 2009. Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(8)	“Asian Arts Initiative website” - "10th Anniversary Timeline." Asian Arts Initiative. 2003-2004. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. 6 Mar. 2009. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(9)	“Chinatown and Resistance Advertisement” - Selvaraj, Shivaani. "News Advisory, STADIUM IN CHINATOWN CONTROVERSY INSPIRES." Asian Arts Initiative. Asian Arts center. 29 Sept. 2000. Asian Arts Initiative. public. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(10)	“Asian Arts Initiative Gallery Space” - "Gallery." Asian Arts Initiative. 2009. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(11)	“Asian Arts Initiative yearly Budget” - "Job Ennouncements, Asian Arts Initiative, Director of Finance and Operations." National Performance Network. 2008. Creative Forces Youth Educational Theater Corps, Transforma Projects. 6 Mar. 2009 .

(12)	Asian Arts Initiative Now” - "Whats Going On, 2009 Spring Season." Asian Arts Initiative. 2009. Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. 6 Mar. 2009 <http://asianartsinitiative.org/