The Asian Cultural Council is proud to announce our latest group of 2022 fellowships and grants in support of programs and projects connecting artists, scholars, and arts professionals across Asia and the United States. ACC’s longstanding mission of furthering cultural exchange across international borders continues with this year’s cohort, who represent multiple artistic disciplines. Over the past sixty years, ACC has provided more than 6,000 opportunities for international exchange between Asia and the US. Today, ACC continues to support traditional and innovative approaches to international engagement and creative collaboration, to foster lasting cultural impact, and to develop interwoven personal networks, globally. Through the exchange of creators and thinkers, ACC invests in a vision for the future built on mutual understanding and deep respect through art and culture that represents collective ideals, values, and hopes for a thoughtful global society.

2022 ACC grantees and fellows hail from China, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the US.

 

ACC New York

New York Fellowship

ĐỖ Tường Linh | Curation | Vietnam → United States Photo by Le Thi Hong An

Grant Summary: To explore the representation of Asian and Asian-American identity in New York City's contemporary art scene through the lens of artists, cultural institutions, and creative networks.

Đỗ Tường Linh is a curator and art historian based in Hanoi, Vietnam. She pursued her BA in Art History and Art Criticism at the Vietnam University of Fine Arts and her MA in Contemporary Art and Art Theory of Asia and Africa at SOAS (University of London), UK. Since 2005, she has organized art exhibitions and projects across Southeast Asia and Europe. Linh is currently a co-curator on the artistic team of the 12th Berlin Biennale. She has participated in various international art programs such as the 2019 Ljubljana Graphic Art Biennial, Slovenia; the 2019 Association of Art Museum Curators conference, New York; the 2018-2019Mekong Cultural Hub from, Taiwan; the 2018 CIMAM International Museum Workshop, Oslo, Norway; the Asia Culture Center in 2018, Gwangju, Korea; and the 2018 Tate Intensive, Tate Modern Art Museum. Linh seeks to build an online open resource network for Asian art that strengthens cultural worker communities across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Her research and curatorial practices range from art and politics to conceptualism and post-colonial studies.

 

Marin NARUSE | Music | Japan → United States

Grant Summary: To investigate the preservation of ethnic music in New York City and study the relevance and suitability of US ethnic and folk music stewardship practices to shimauta music in Japan.

Marin Naruse is a “shimauta” singer of the traditional music of Japan’s Amami Islands. She has won multiple awards and actively collaborates with various artists, such as jazz pianists, orchestras, and rakugo players, to explore the expanded possibilities of shimauta. Naruse was named an official Minyo Ambassador by the Japan Folksong and Dance Foundation; she regularly delivers seminars and lectures about shimauta music. By gaining insight into US ethnic music preservation practices, Naruse hopes to conduct the first academic study of shimauta music to preserve its unique traditions. Her work seeks to build awareness of the Amami people and amplify their cultural contributions to audiences in Japan, the US, and across the globe.

 

Gardika GIGIH PRADIPTA | Music | Indonesia → United States

Grant Summary: To conduct a field study of New York City's diverse musical traditions, from Tin Pan Alley, hip hop, jazz, and classical music styles to the experimental and electronic music scenes.

Gardika Gigih Pradipta is a Sragen-based composer, pianist, and researcher. After studying musical composition at the Indonesian Institute of Arts, his interest in the intersection of music, society, and culture led him to pursue a master's degree in Cultural Anthropology. His works span musical genres, including concert music, contemporary improvisation, film scoring, and sound ethnography. He has performed globally in Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. His debut album Nyala (2017), released by Indonesian independent label Sorge Records, received widespread acclaim and was named a top album of the year by The Jakarta Post. Gardika Gigih Pradipta anticipates developing a musical composition about his field study in New York, accompanied by a published volume with educational materials for Indonesian audiences.

 

Individual Fellowship

Kayla BRIËT | Film/Music | United States → Taiwan

Grant Summary: To conduct research on Taiwanese, Chinese, and Southeast Asian diasporic communities, histories, culture, and truth reconciliatory practices in Taiwan and beyond.

Kayla Briët is an artist, filmmaker, and composer who explores themes of belonging through varied mediums of storytelling. Through music and live performance, she shares stories by mixing electronic beats with the strings of a Chinese guzheng zither, vocals, and live looping – an exploration of her Prairie Band Potawatomi, Taiwanese Chinese, and Dutch-Indonesian heritage. Briët’s fellowship research, both online and in-person, aims to explore multi-disciplinary expressions of Asian identity and Indigenous futurism.

 

Wuerxiya | Craft | United States → China

Grant Summary: To travel to Yunnan, China to undertake six months of study on tie-dyed indigo fabrics among the Bai people.

Wuerxiya is a PhD candidate in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. Her work focuses on the study of craft with a concentration in traditional textiles across Asia and the craft practices of minority nationalities in China. She holds a master's degree in Ethnomusicology from Minzu University of China and a master’s degree in Arts Administration from the University of Oregon. Wuerxiya’s fellowship contributes to her dissertation research on the craft of tie-dye among the Bai people of Southwest China. Her research aims to advance English-language and Mandarin-language scholarship on Bai craft and Bai culture, and to bridge US and Chinese approaches to the study of “traditional” craft in a contemporary context.

 

Organization/Project

International Studio & Curatorial Program | Art History | Philippines → United States

Grant Summary: To host Filipino curator Carlos Quijon Jr. in New York City as a curator-in-residence for six months.

ISCP offers extensive professional programs for resident curators, supporting their introductions, cultural immersion, relationship-building, collaboration, and knowledge exchange. In addition to hosting private workspaces onsite, ISCP provides monthly opportunities to engage with peers on guided field trips and meet with visiting arts professionals. ISCP’s work engages communities of Brooklyn and the New York City area through public programs that enrich the appreciation and understanding of contemporary art through international perspectives. ISCP will host Carlos Quijon, Jr. as a curator-in-residence for the grant period. Quijon's research will investigate the impact of United States imperialism and colonial forces on cultural landscapes in Southeast Asia and the Global South. With ISCP's support, Quijon will also organize discussion circles and reading groups to develop knowledge networks and generate new scholarship on transregional affinities in the Global South and Asia.

 

Graduate Scholarships

Le Hien Minh | Visual Art | Vietnam → United States

Grant Summary: To pursue graduate level education, develop global contemporary art knowledge, and reshape communication skills at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Art & Art History M.F.A. program.

Le Hien Minh is a visual artist, whose primary artistic material is the Vietnamese traditional handmade paper Dó. Her work functions as a bridge between contemporary and traditional Vietnamese art, as well as between modern and historical Vietnamese culture. She continuously invents new ways to employ this material in a contemporary context to create large scale installations that act as a catalyst for, and commentary on, cultural sustainability. She seeks to elevate the voices of female Vietnamese artists to an international scale.

 

Htaywai NAING | Art History | Myanmar → United States

Grant Summary: To pursue a master's degree in Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) and examine multicultural practices of the early Bagan period (1044-1113) from disciplinary perspectives of the Visual Arts and Archaeology.

Htaywai Naing is an art educator and Buddhist monk, who completed his traditional monastic education in Myanmar, studying Theravada Buddhist texts and Pali. He was appointed as a teacher at the Oo Yin Monastery in Mandalay, where he taught Pali, Buddhist philosophy, and Buddhist art and culture. During his time as an educator, encountering students from different backgrounds inspired him to engage with the cultural and religious diversity of Myanmar’s society. He is enthusiastic about researching religious art archives in Myanmar and sharing his findings with wide-reaching audiences as an educator. He aims to foster discussions about multi-theistic, ethnic, and linguistic contexts in Myanmar.

 

Nigam BHANDARI | Film | Nepal → United States

Grant Summary: To complete graduate education in Film at New York University and create one major short film and two minor short films.

Nigam Bhandari is a director, filmmaker, and co-founder of Cryptid Films, a Nepal-based film production company. He premiered three short films at the Busan International Film Festival in 2017, 2019 and 2021. In 2018, his short film Jaalegdi (2018) won Best Short in the K-Gen section at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2019, his short film Song of Clouds became the first Nepali film ever to premier at Sundance. In the same year, he was invited by Berlinale to be part of their Talents Program, alongside other promising filmmakers worldwide. Nigam Bhandari is currently attending the Graduate Film program at New York University (NYU).

 

ACC is also proud to share the roster of 2022 grantees awarded earlier this year by our global offices in Hong Kong, Manila, Taiwan, and Tokyo:

 

ACC Hong Kong

For more information on ACCHK and their grantee cohort, click here

CHE Hiu Lam | Music | Hong Kong → United States

Grant Summary: A 2-month Individual Fellowship to attend the 2022 Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) in Aspen, Colorado.

 

LEE Wing Ki | Visual Art | Hong Kong → United States

Grant Summary: A grant supplement for a 3-month Individual Fellowship extension in the US due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

 

YUAN Lin | Architecture | China → United States

Grant Summary: A 3-month Individual Fellowship to participate in the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS) at MIT as a visiting scholar in 2022.

 

CHEUNG Yiu Yan Ivan | Music | Hong Kong → United States

Grant Summary: A 2-month Individual Fellowship to attend the 2022 Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) in Aspen, Colorado.

 

MA Chi Hang | Film/Video | Hong Kong → United States

Grant Summary: A 6-month New York Fellowship to observe the central concerns of visual anthropology in the US, and to research the ethnomusicology of minority and immigrant communities.

 

WU Jiaru | Visual Art | Hong Kong → United States

Grant Summary: A 6-month New York Fellowship to investigate how immigrant artists find their creative identities, particularly against the context of a new cold war, a global pandemic, and the development of virtual reality 2.0.

 

YAO Qingmei | Performance Art | China → United States

Grant Summary: A 6-month New York Fellowship to research the history, development, and archival practice of performance art, and observe trends in interdisciplinary performance in New York.

 

ACC Manila

For more information on ACCPH and their grantee cohort, click here

Radnel OFALSA | Music | Philippines → United States

Grant Summary: A Graduate Scholarship to support the second and final year of graduate study in voice, leading to a master’s degree in music from the Mannes School of Music, The New School, in New York City.

 

Salvie Ibañez CABALQUINTO | Dance | Philippines → Japan; United States

Grant Summary: A 6-month Individual Fellowship to research Butoh dance and diaspora in Japan and the United States.

 

Rocky CAJIGAN | Curation | Philippines → United States

Grant Summary: A 6-month New York Fellowship to explore curatorial practices and programming activities in museology in New York City.

 

ACC Taiwan

For more information on ACCTW and their grantee cohort, click here

LEE Yin-Ying | Dance | Taiwan → Japan

Grant Summary: A 4-month Individual Fellowship to study Noh theater in Japan and explore the similarities and dissimilarities of embodiment in different Eastern performance practices

 

LU Chien Chien | Music | United States → Taiwan

Grant Summary: A 1-month Individual Fellowship to conduct workshops, training, and exchanges with the Nanguan musicians of Gang-a Tsui Theater.

 

WU Hung-Fei | Curation | Taiwan → Japan; Korea; Singapore

Grant Summary: A 2-month Individual Fellowship to continue building extensive research in art’s political, and social value through the lens of sustainability issues across Japan, Korea, and Singapore.

 

WU Cheng-Han | Theater | Taiwan → United States

Grant Summary: A 6-month Individual Fellowship to visit new play development centers in New York City and interview literary managers, resident dramaturgs, and playwrights-in-residence.

 

CHEN Yen-Pin (Fangas Nayaw) | Theater | Taiwan → United States

Grant Summary: A 6-month New York Fellowship to observe artistic practices across disciplines and consider the two-way exchange between Indigenous culture and contemporary art.

 

LEE Shih Yang | Music | Taiwan → United States

Grant Summary: A 6-month New York Fellowship to observe and participate in the experimental and improvised music scene in New York City.

 

CHEN Wu-Kang | Dance | Taiwan → Japan

Grant Summary: A 1-month Individual Fellowship to explore how artists collaborations could continue in the “new normal”, crossing generations, borders, and covid limitations.

 

Taiwan Film & Culture Association | Film/Video | United States → Taiwan

Grant Summary: A 3-month Project Grant to bring New York-based production designer Charles McCarry to Taipei to run a training program in the use of miniatures to create movie special effects.

 

ACC Tokyo

For more information on ACC Tokyo and their grantee cohort, click here

Sho AKITA | Curation | Japan → United States

Grant Summary: A 2-month Individual Fellowship to continue research on the late Japanese artist and ACC grantee Teiji Furuhashi’s time in New York.

 

Ai IWANE | Film/Video/Photography | Japan → United States Photo by Shinya Ito

Grant Summary: A 2-month Individual Fellowship to conduct field research on the salmon and community culture of the Pacific Rim and to observe ecological art practices on the West Coast of North America.

 

Arata MORI | Film/Video/Photography | Japan → Thailand Photo by Julien Cott

Grant Summary: A 2-month Individual Fellowship to conduct field research on the revival of spiritual mediumship in Thailand, especially through interacting with and taking lessons from the LGBT community of mediums.

 

Maho WATANABE | Theater | Japan → Indonesia; Vietnam Photo by Toshiki Yamahata

Grant Summary: A 2-month Individual Fellowship to travel to Vietnam and Indonesia to meet and research with colleagues of "TERASIA - Theatre for Traveling in the Age of Isolation," a long-term project that tries to understand modern beliefs and views of life and death in various parts of Asia.

 

Yuta HAGIWARA | Theater | Japan → United States Photo by Rakutaro Ogiwara

Grant Summary: A 6-month New York Fellowship to conduct research on “Democracy's Body,” which supported the trend of alternative theater in New York City after WWII. 

 

Haruchi OSAKI | Visual Art | Japan → United States

Grant Summary:  A 6-month New York Fellowship to conduct interdisciplinary research on the historical context of disability and culture and contemporary inclusive cultural forms, as well as research on new communication models and environments of post-Covid physical expression and experiential and participatory forms.

 

Elico SUZUKI (suzueri) | Visual Art | Japan → United States Photo by Benedict Phillips

Grant Summary:  A 6-month New York Fellowship to conduct research mainly on the history of DIY/hacking/circuit-bending instruments in Media/Sound art, based on the works of Sonic Arts Union in the US, and the influence of global Maker movements.

 

Japan Center, Pacific Basin Arts Communication (PARC) | Dance/Theater | China → Japan

Grant Summary: To provide support for a project in which Beijing-based choreographer Yang Zhen explores the contemporary conditions of Chinese identities and local identities through collaboration with families from various backgrounds who live in Chinatowns around the world.

 

 

Read the press release here.