The Asian Cultural Council supports cultural exchange between Asia and the United States in the performing and visual arts, primarily by providing individual fellowship grants which allow artists, scholars, students, and specialists from Asia to travel to the U. S. and Americans to travel to Asia for study, research, travel, and creative work. Grants are also awarded to arts organizations and educational institutions for specific projects of particular significance to Asian-American cultural exchange. In addition, the Council awards grants which support regional exchange activities within Asia.

A publicly supported operating foundation, the Asian Cultural Council was established in 1980 to continue the work begun through the Asian Cultural Program of The JDR 3rd Fund, which was created by John D. Rockefeller 3rd in 1963. Over the past 47 years, the ACC and The JDR 3rd Fund before it have provided grant assistance to more than 6,000 Asians and Americans in the arts. Funding for the Council’s programs is derived from a combination of endowment income and annual contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations in the United States and Asia.

The ACC is active in an extensive area of Asia ranging from Afghanistan eastward through Japan. Because of funding limitations, however, it currently gives priority to applicants from East and Southeast Asia. Grants are made in the following fields, including both traditional and contemporary arts: archaeology, architecture (design, theory, and history), art history, arts administration, arts criticism, conservation, crafts, dance, design (not commercial), film, installation, literature (Japan-U.S. Arts Program only), museology, music, new media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, theater, and video.

When awarding individual grants, the ACC also devotes special attention to arranging programs tailored specifically to the needs and professional objectives of each grantee. Members of the ACC’s staff advise grant recipients on cultural resources and activities, prepare itineraries, schedule meetings with arts specialists, arrange appropriate academic and research affiliations, and encourage grantees to explore interdisciplinary relationships among the arts in both Asian and American contexts. The ACC thus functions both as a grantmaking foundation and as a service organization for the field of Asian-American cultural exchange.

ACC Fellowships and Projects

A limited number of the Asian Cultural Council’s grants are awarded with unrestricted funds, primarily to support artists and specialists from East and Southeast Asia pursuing research, training, and creative programs in the United States. Unrestricted funds provided support for thirteen grants to individuals and eight project grants in 2008, and eleven grants to individuals and five project grants in 2009.

The majority of the Council’s grants are awarded in several named programs that have been established with funds restricted for specific purposes. These ACC programs are described below.

American Artists and Museum Professionals in Asia

American Artists and Museum Professionals in Asia is a grant program established in 2007 through the support of a three-year donation from The Henry Luce Foundation. The program provides individual fellowships to American artists and American museum professionals for research, study, and creative and collaborative projects in those countries of Asia extending from Burma eastward through Korea and Indonesia. In 2008 thirteen individuals were supported through this program. In 2009 ten individuals and two project grants were supported through this program.

Asian Art and Religion Fellowship Program

This fellowship program focusing on the relationship between the artistic and religious traditions of Asia was established with an endowment gift from Laurance S. Rockefeller. The program enables American scholars, specialists, and artists to conduct research and undertake projects in Asia involving the interdisciplinary analysis of religion and the arts. In 2008, three grants were awarded for research in Laos, India, Thailand and Japan. In 2009 two grants were awarded for research in China and Burma.

Ford Foundation Fellowship Program

The ACC’s Ford Foundation Fellowship Program provides grants for training and research in the United States by individuals from Asia engaged in the study, documentation, and preservation of Asian traditional arts. Funded by an endowment grant from the Ford Foundation, this program supports short-term research trips, professional internships, and graduate study. Seven individuals and two projects received Ford Foundation Fellowship Program grants in 2008. In 2009, seven individuals and five projects were awarded grants with funds from the Ford Foundation Fellowship Program.

Hong Kong Arts Program

The Council’s Hong Kong Arts Program, made possible by donations from a broad group of supporters in Hong Kong, provides fellowships to especially promising artists, students, and scholars from Hong Kong and other parts of China for research, study, and creative work in the United States. Limited support is also available for projects sponsored by Hong Kong institutions that involve Hong Kong-United States or Hong Kong-Asia cultural exchange. The Asian Cultural Council awarded thirteen grants to individuals and two project grants through the Hong Kong Arts Program in 2008. In 2009, eight grants to individuals were awarded.

Humanities Fellowship Program

Intended primarily to support American scholars and graduate students, the Humanities Fellowship Program was initiated with a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and matching funds from The JDR 3rd Fund and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The program assists American scholars, doctoral students, and specialists in the humanities to undertake research, training, and study in Asia. Fellowship grants range in duration from one to nine months. The program also supports American and Asian scholars participating in international conferences, exhibitions, visiting professorships, and similar projects. In 2008 ten grants were awarded through the Humanities Fellowship Program and in 2009 eight grants to individuals and two project grants were awarded.

Japan-United States Arts Program

The Japan-United States Arts Program provides grants to individuals and institutions in Japan and the United States for exchange activities which encourage the study and understanding of Japanese art and culture. This program is made possible with funds contributed by the Saison Group and provided to the ACC through an endowment gift from the Japan Foundation. Additional support is provided through the ACC’s endowed Blanchette H. Rockefeller Fellowship Fund in Japan, and the Saison Foundation contributes annual supplementary funding for the program. These grants enable Japanese artists, scholars, and specialists to travel to the United States for research, observation, and creative work and allow their American counterparts to visit Japan for similar purposes. The Council also provides limited assistance for performances, exhibitions, and other projects of unusual importance for the development of Japanese-American cultural exchange. During 2008 the program supported fourteen individuals and eleven institutional projects. In 2009, the program supported nine individuals and eight institutional projects. Information in Japanese.

Mekong Region Fellowship Program

The Mekong Region Fellowship Program, supported with funds from the Rockefeller Foundation, assists individual artists, scholars, and specialists from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and China’s Yunnan Province in undertaking research, training, and creative projects in Asia. The program also provides funds for special projects that encourage regional collaboration and partnership. Six Mekong Program grants were awarded in 2008 and 7 grants were awarded in 2009.

Philippines Fellowship Program

The Philippines Fellowship Program emphasizes support for artists, scholars, and specialists from the Philippines undertaking research, study, and creative work in the United States. Some grants are also made to Americans pursuing similar activities in the Philippines and to institutions engaged in Philippines-U.S. or Philippines-Asia exchange projects. The Philippines Fellowship Program was formally inaugurated in 2000 in association with the ACC Philippines Foundation, a foundation established in Manila to collaborate with the ACC in raising funds and making grants for Philippines-U.S. cultural exchange. In 2008 six grants were awarded in the Philippines Fellowship Program and in 2009 the program supported three grants.

Starr Foundation Fellowship Program

The contemporary visual arts of Asia are the focus of the ACC’s Starr Foundation Fellowship Program, made possible by a series of three endowment gifts from the Starr Foundation. Assistance is provided to artists and arts specialists from Asia for creative activity, research, training, and observation in the United States. In 2008 fifteen Starr Foundation Fellowship Program grants were awarded. Fourteen grants were awarded through this program in 2009.

Taiwan Fellowship Program

The ACC’s Taiwan Fellowship Program was created in 1995 in collaboration with the Sino-American Asian Cultural Foundation (SAACF), a foundation established in Taiwan specifically to serve as the ACC’s partner in raising funds and making grants to artists, scholars, and specialists from Taiwan for research, study, and creative work in the United States. The program also supports American and Asian arts specialists visiting Taiwan to participate in cultural exchange projects organized by local arts institutions. Fundraising, application procedures, and grantee programming are administered with the assistance of a joint ACC-SAACF office in Taipei. Through the Sino-American Asian Cultural Foundation, a variety of individual, corporate, and foundation donors have contributed to the Taiwan Fellowship Program. In 2008, the program supported thirteen grants. In 2009, twelve grants were made possible through the Taiwan Fellowship Program. Information in Chinese.