Public Performances

Check out our calendar for upcoming performances!

Some of our public performances and events include:

Artists & Performance in Action (APIA) Residency Program

Motivated by proposals and pleas we've heard from artists wanting to create new work and craving the opportunity to collaborate, and needing the time and space to do so, the Asian Arts Initiative has designed the APIA Residency Program to provide performing artists with increased access to the Initiative's resources-physical rehearsal space, a presenting season, and a little bit of money-to support the development of new performance and interdisciplinary work.

The APIA Residency Program is also intended to expose and in turn inspire our constituency of youth, artists, staff, and other community members to a diversity of creative processes and performance. On a broader level, the Asian Arts Initiative is also committed to presenting artists and artwork that sparks community dialogue and action around social issues and concerns.

Two APIA Resident Artists have been chosen for these two seasons:

Fall: October through January, with performances on January 26-27, 2007 Featuring Alsion Roh Park!
Spring: March through May with Asians Misbehavin'!

 

Artist Exchange
2006 Artist Exchange Focuses on Gentrification and Displacement

The Project and the Call

The Asian Arts Initiative’s Artist Exchange (Artists X Change) is a forum for Asian American artists to gain topical knowledge as the basis for creating new work—this year focusing on the impact of tourism on the Asian American community, in the context of larger forces of economic development and cultural commodification that influence immigration and travel in Asia and the U.S., and in the face of the immediate relocation being forced upon the Asian Arts Initiative by the expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Up to 15 Asian American Artists from the Mid Atlantic Region will be invited through an open call process to participate in a retreat weekend with workshops led by Mango Tribe; and then given mini-commissions to create new work-in-progress that will be performed and spark discussion with the Initiative’s broader audiences.


Friday, January 20 - Sunday, January 22: Artist Exchange Retreat
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The Asian Arts Initiative hosted its 2006 Artist Exchange retreat.  The Asian Arts Initiative’s Artist Exchange is a three-part project that begins with a weekend retreat, when artists share some of their existing work and participate in workshops to explore and gain topical knowledge as the basis for creating new work.  This year’s retreat focused on the impact of gentrification and displacement on artists, and how artists either fall victim to or facilitate these conditions.  These issues are particularly relevant in the face of the immediate relocation being forced upon the Initiative by the expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Friday night (1/20) kicked off the weekend with an Artists’ Showcase, which featured existing work from each artist.  The house was packed and enthused about the diverse performances ranging from spoken word to modern dance!  Saturday (1/21) and Sunday (1/22) were filled with workshops, discussions, activities, and a walking tour through Philadelphia’s Chinatown to explore the Chinatown In/flux exhibition.  With new ideas and inspiration from the retreat, the artists returned to their home cities to process the weekend’s events.  The artists will now create new work in response to themes raised during the retreat and will return to the Asian Arts Initiative on March 17th to share their new work with a public audience.

The 2006 Artist Exchange retreat welcomed 17 performance artists from across the U.S. and Canada, including six members of the multidisciplinary performance troupe Mango Tribe, who acted as the Artist Exchange facilitators.

Congratulations to those accepted into the 2006 Artist Exchange!

Mango Tribe - Jen Cendana Armas (Queens, NY), Kay Barrett (Chicago, IL), Sarwat Rumi (Chicago, IL), Marian Thambynayagam (Brooklyn, NY), San Tong (New York, NY), Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai (Brooklyn, NY)
Sham-e-Ali al-Jamil – Cary, NC
Rodney Camarce – Philadelphia, PA
Ching-In Chen – Boston, MA
Mytili Jagannathan – Philadelphia, PA
Pradeepa Jeevamanoharan – Minneapolis, MN
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha – Toronto, ON
Achinta McDaniel – Venice, CA
Michelle Myers – Swedesboro, NJ
Alison Park – Philadelphia, PA
Hanalei Ramos – Jersey City, NJ
Kristina Wong – Los Angeles, CA

Friday, March 17 - Saturday, March 18: Re:location

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Event Details: March 17, 2006 at 8pm; Asian Arts Initiative, 1315 Cherry Street, 2nd Floor; $8 admission, $6 for members of the Asian Arts Initiative

The Asian Arts Initiative will present Re:location, a multidisciplinary performance showcase featuring 17 artists from across the country and Canada.  Each artist will present new work in response to themes surrounding the issues of gentrification and displacement—and the role of the arts in fighting or furthering these complex dynamics.

The 2006 Artist Exchange welcomed 17 performance artists in January for the retreat, including six members of the multidisciplinary performance troupe Mango Tribe, who acted as the Artist Exchange facilitators.  The artists were then commissioned to create new work in response to the retreat weekend, and are being brought back to Philadelphia on March 17th to showcase their new work.

The issue of displacement is particularly relevant in the face of the immediate relocation being forced upon the Initiative by the expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.  The 5 non-profit arts organizations and 25-30 individual artists who are tenants in the Gilbert Building at 1315 Cherry Street will have to find new homes by the end of 2006.  The Asian Arts Initiative has been a tenant in the building for 8 years.

The Asian Arts Initiative is a member of the National Performance Network, comprised of arts organizations located throughout the United States.  NPN and this presentation of Mango Tribe have been made possible with major funding from The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency).  Swarthmore College’s Intercultural Center and Multicultural Office has also provided support for the Artist Exchange.