About ACC
The Asian Cultural Council (ACC) is a grant-giving and grant-receiving global nonprofit organization founded and headquartered in New York City, that fosters cultural exchange between the U.S. and Asia, and within Asia. ACC understands and promotes the profound impact of cultural exchange. Our fellowships and grants give ACC grantees more than just the funds to travel to another country. They afford grantees the freedom and time to experience what it means to live among people of a new culture, with all the nuances and intricacies of daily life. Since 1963, ACC has awarded over $100 million to support approximately 6,000 fellowship exchanges across 16 disciplines to grantees from 26 countries and regions.
Our Mission
The Asian Cultural Council advances international dialogue, understanding, and respect through cultural exchange activities in Asia and the United States to create a more harmonious and peaceful world.
What Does ACC Do?
ACC provides artists, scholars, arts professionals, and organizations opportunities to engage in cultural exchange activities between the U.S. and Asia, and within Asia, by offering grants and fellowships during an annual application period. Compared to other grant-giving organizations that fund production-focused activities, ACC’s grant opportunities allow grantees to fully and freely immerse themselves in a culture other than their own to advance international dialogue, understanding, and respect.
Grant opportunities include:
- New York Fellowship
- Individual Fellowship
- Graduate Fellowship
- Organization Grant
Global Offices
ACC is headquartered in New York City with regional offices supported by local ACC foundations and patron groups in Hong Kong, Manila, Taipei, and Tokyo. Learn more about our team worldwide.
History
In 1963, John D. Rockefeller 3rd established the Asian Cultural Program of the JDR 3rd Fund to support cultural exchange in Asia and the United States through grants to individuals and organizations working in the visual and performing arts. With Porter A. McCray as Founding Director, the Asian Cultural Program developed its signature grantmaking style, emphasizing individually tailored programs based on the needs of each grant recipient.
John D. Rockefeller 3rd articulated the continuing impact of the organization’s approach towards international exchange: “Traditionally, Americans have viewed international relations primarily in political and economic terms with comparatively little attention given to the cultural dimension…The result is that our world outlook has tended to be bound by our own culture instead of being broadened by a sensitivity to other cultures.”
From his own experience of traveling and working throughout Asia, John D. Rockefeller 3rd believed that “enhanced knowledge of other cultures was a worthwhile end in its own right…and as a means to a further end—through knowledge and respect for other cultures we come to respect and appreciate the peoples themselves.”
In 1980, the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) was established as a 501(c)3 nonprofit to continue the work of the Asian Cultural Program. ACC established offices in Tokyo (1983), Hong Kong (1986), Taipei (1995), and Manila (2000), as well as partner foundations, to carry out our founder’s belief that “the fostering of cultural relations can be a form of insurance for the future of this dangerous, but exciting world.”
Board
Josie Cruz Natori | Hans Michael Jebsen | Susan Rockefeller | John R. Witt |
Anne Straton Pierson | Cai Guo-Qiang | Michelle Koo Hayashi | Douglas Hsu |
Tonia Hsu | Carolyn Hsu-Balcer | Alice Hung | Julie Ann Kohn |
Janet Nathanail | Carol Rattray | Richard Reitknecht | Charles Rockefeller |
Dan Swift | Masako Ushioda | Shannon Wu | Mercedes Zobel |
Life Trustees
Wendy O’Neill | David Rockefeller, Jr. | Hope Aldrich | Jonathan Fanton |
John H. Foster | Kenneth H.C. Fung | Stephen B. Heintz | Richard S. Lanier |
Russell A. Phillips, Jr. | Valerie Rockefeller | Isaac Shapiro | William G. Spears |
Yuji Tsutsumi |
Artistic Advisory Council
Yael Buencamino | Cai Guo-Qiang | Chen Kaige | Tiffany Chung |
Patrick Flores | Oscar Ho | David Henry Hwang | Jin Xing |
Kengo Kuma | Lin Hwai-Min | Barbara London | Meredith Monk |
Kohei Nawa | Jan Leeroy New | Viet Thanh Nguyen | Ong Keng Sen |
Mallika Sarabhai | Sheu Fang-Yi | Louisa So Yuk Wa | Julie Taymor |
Jennifer Tipton | Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Robert Wilson |
Staff
Judy Kim | Mohamed Abdelhalim | Shinnie Kim | Claire Lonergan |
Talia Gonzales | Betsy Ko | Caroline Lim | Jaime Marvin |
Daniel Munier | Cheryl Smith |
Annual Reporting
Read ACC's 2023 Annual Report here
For archived annual reports, financials, governance and more, search documents by year or name in the dropdown boxes below.
ACC New York
ACC Tokyo
ACC New York
ACC New York
ACC New York