Inspired by... Artwork by Josiah Quincy Elementary School
Apr
6
to Jun 15

Inspired by... Artwork by Josiah Quincy Elementary School

This exhibition features works created by students at the Josiah Quincy Elementary School (JQES) who find inspiration from the world around them. Drawing from the works of artists like ceramicist Stephanie Shih, collage artist Romare Bearden, drip-artist Jen Stark, and author Anna Llenas, these young artists celebrate creativity, inspiration, and community in our galleries. 

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Art Making, Family Stories and Immigration Workshop
Apr
13
10:00 AM10:00

Art Making, Family Stories and Immigration Workshop

What is your family's story of immigration to Boston? Inspired by artist Yu-Wen Wu’s Lantern Stories, Lining Zhang, from Harvard Education School, hosts an interactive workshop with storytelling, art making, and conversation to explore what immigration and cultural identity means for family. Adults and children above age 10 accompanied by caregivers are welcome to join.

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Stardust in a Dandelion
Apr
19
6:00 PM18:00

Stardust in a Dandelion

Join Maddie Lam, Anny Thach, and Pao Arts Center for an evening of poetry and music. The performances take you through an inner landscape of a human heart, charting the atlas of grief and loss, celebration and regeneration. Through prose and poetry, visual narrative, and song, Dandelions in the Stardust is a soft place to land. 

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Film Screening: Twilight’s Kiss
Jun
20
6:00 PM18:00

Film Screening: Twilight’s Kiss

Join us on Thursday, June 20, from 6:00 – 8:00 PM for a screening of the film Twilight’s Kiss (“Suk Suk”), 2019 co-presented with BAAFF. The film follows the story of two closeted married men in their twilight years as they navigate their families and personal histories while contemplating a possible future together. 

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Lunar New Year Party
Feb
21
6:30 PM18:30

Lunar New Year Party

Bring in the year of the dragon with an elegant reception featuring live music, and small plates and cocktails from Shojo Boston by celebrated restaurateur, Brian Moy. Enjoy award-winning takes on old-school Asian dishes and drinks with a flair while experiencing live entertainment and the current Pao Arts Center exhibits, Lunchbox Moments and Chinatown Workers Statues: A Statue in the Making. Before the night is over, leave your hopes for the new year on our wishing tree.

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Lunchbox Moments
Oct
27
to Mar 16

Lunchbox Moments

Lunchbox moments are the formative occurrences in many Asian American kids' lives where a traditional Asian meal is eaten at school and peers in the lunchroom have some reaction, whether it be positive or negative. In order to share these stories and empower the AAPI community, artist Amie Bantz has created Lunchbox Moments: Seek Understanding. Share Stories. Stop Hate. For this exhibition, Bantz collects narratives from members of the AAPI community and physically writes their stories onto spray-painted lunch boxes.  

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Chinatown Worker Statues: A Statue in the Making
Oct
27
to Mar 16

Chinatown Worker Statues: A Statue in the Making

Wen-ti Tsen’s Chinatown Worker Statues project pays tribute to the workers who have uplifted Boston Chinatown through their essential labor over the many decades. Upon completion, it will consist of four sets of bronze statues representing four different workers from the Chinese immigrant community: the laundryman, the restaurant worker, the garment worker, and the grandmother tending a child. Fusing public art and community activism, these statues will offer a more complex and diverse reflection of our local history and question who is being honored with statues in our city.   

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Online Chinese Brush Painting for Adults: Pandas
Oct
14
2:00 PM14:00

Online Chinese Brush Painting for Adults: Pandas

Take a Saturday afternoon to relax, create, and meditate from your home with virtual Chinese brush painting.

Pandas, by Xiaoyong Liu

Join us for our fall “pandas” series

Over the next three months we will capture pandas in various scenes of play!

Classes taught in Mandarin, English-friendly | Online

Upon registration you will receive the zoom link.

Other Dates:

November 11 | 2:00 - 3:30 pm

December 9 | 2:00 - 3:30 pm

Supply list:

Chinese calligraphy brush (size 6) 

Chinese calligraphy black Ink, or Japanese Sumi ink 

Calligraphy rice paper 

Marie’s 12 color Chinese watercolor paint set (you can use any brand but in class Mr. Liu will refer to the Marie color reference numbers) 

About the Artist

Xiaoyong Liu emigrated to the United States in 2008. In 2009, he started teaching children and adults Chinese painting of landscapes, flowers, and birds. In recent years, his students have exhibited their art and participated and won awards in the National Teenagers Calligraphy Contests.

Contact: arts@bcnc.net | 617-863-9080

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Live Performances - Experience Chinatown Arts Festival 2023
Oct
1
11:00 AM11:00

Live Performances - Experience Chinatown Arts Festival 2023

Experience Chinatown 2023!

Murals: September 1 - October 14, 2023

Live Performances: October 1

This fall, see, hear, create, and connect. Together, celebrate the rich cultural fabric of Boston Chinatown through free creative activities.

In case of inclement weather, performance will take place on the rain date - Sunday, October 1, 2023.

Schedule

Sunday, October 1 |11:00 am - 3:30 pm

At Auntie Kay & Uncle Frank Chin Park on The Greenway (near Chinatown Gate) unless otherwise noted

11:00 am | Continuum Dance Project (a part of Momentum Greenway Dance Program, Presented by Amazon, 2023)

11:15 am | Tour of Experience Chinatown murals (check-in under yellow Pao Arts Center tent)

11:30 am | Nüwa Athletic Club | Chinese Lion Dance

11:45 am | TIFFY | Singer-Songwriter

12:50 pm | Maddie Lam | Singer-Songwriter

1:00 pm | Tour of Experience Chinatown murals (check-in under yellow Pao Arts Center tent)

2:00 pm | Juk-Sing | Canto-Pop Band

3:00 pm | Encore presentation: Continuum Dance Project (a part of Momentum Greenway Dance Program, Presented by Amazon, 2023)

11:00 am - 3:30 pm | Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany St | At Home In Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective | Exhibit Gallery Hours

Experience Chinatown is a part of Chinatown HOPE, an open space initiative, led by a collective of 8 community organizations in Boston’s Chinatown, to advocate for new and improved open spaces, and promote community wellness.

Performers

Founded in 2013 by Fernadina Chan, CDP choreographers/co-directors Adriane Brayton and Fernadina Chan work collaboratively with their dancer. Continuum Dance Project pushes the boundaries of audience interaction and traditional vantage points, by presenting work in unconventional spaces.

Photo Credit: Annielly Camargo

Inspired by the Cantonese hits of the 80s and 90s, these Kwong Kow Chinese School dropouts have performed covers of Beyond, Faye Wong, and many more across the Greater Boston Area since 2018. By sharing these classics along with original songs, Juk Sing (JK Wong, Jeffrey La, and Ashley Yu) hopes to bring back some cultural nostalgia with a dream pop twist.   

Maddie Lam is a Boston-born singer-songwriter, producer, and performer. She understands music as the sound of a soul. Infused with softness, her music and performances offer a dynamic, connective and healing space for others to rest in.   

The Nüwa Athletic Club, based in Boston, MA, provides an environment for Asian American girls and women to enhance their physical and emotional development through teamwork, sportsmanship and cultural activities which includes but is not limited to lion and dragon dance.  

TIFFY is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer Tiffany Sammy. TIFFY represents what it means for genres to clash and meld in 2023, preserving a bottled-up mix of dream rock, sugar pop, and coarse punk. Often boiling the terminology down to "soft punk", her music has been featured in FADER, Paste Magazine, NPR and Vanyaland. She actively plays throughout New England with her live band.  

Sponsors

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR SPONSORS FOR MAKING THIS EVENT POSSIBLE!

PRESENTING

PLATINUM

GOLD

EVENT PRESENTER

PATRON

FRIEND

COMMUNITY

PARTNERS

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At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective Alumni Spotlight Panel
Sep
23
1:00 PM13:00

At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective Alumni Spotlight Panel

At Home in Chinatown Storytelling Workshop, 2023, Photo Credit: Mel Taing

As part of our exhibition, At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective, join us for a Residence Lab artist and resident alumni panel Saturday, September 23, from 1:00 pm –3:00 pm, featuring a discussion on community-engaged public art and the future of Boston Chinatown.

Featuring: Maggie Chen, Amanda Beard Garcia, Pihua Lin, Sheila Novak, and Krina Patel, moderated by Lily Song, exhibit curator and urban planner, scholar-activist, and Assistant Professor of Race, Social Justice & the Built Environment at Northeastern University.

Event Schedule:

1:00 - 1:45 pm | Enjoy the exhibit and refreshments

1:45 - 3:00 pm | Panel and Q and A








About the Exhibit:

At Home in Chinatown highlights four years of our unique Residence Lab Arts Residency program (ResLab), in partnership with the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC). The exhibition will be on view from July 27 through October 13, 2023. Learn more about ResLab and stay tuned for more details.  

The closing exhibition, At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective, features six past projects by artist-resident teams from each year that gives insight into ResLab’s distinctive creative process.

Participating Artists and Residents: (‘19) Tarik Bartel, Joyce Chen, and Maggie Chen, (‘19) Crystal Bi, Lily Xie , Pihua Lin, and Yuyi Li, (‘20) Maria Fong, Sylvia Chen, and Po Chun Chow, (‘21) Yuko Okabe, Kathy Wu Amy Lam, and Elaine Liang, (‘22) Ann Dinh Alison M, and Winnie Yuen, and (‘22) Amanda Beard Garcia, Yanna Chen, and Xingyao He.

Curated by: Lily Song, an urban planner, scholar-activist, and Assistant Professor of Race, Social Justice & the Built Environment at Northeastern University.

About Residence Lab

Since 2019, local artists and Chinatown residents have taken part in Residence Lab (ResLab), a yearly artist residency that activates spaces in Boston Chinatown through culturally affirming co-designed public art. Over the last four years, this community-driven residency program has contributed to Chinatown’s contemporary cultural identity and spaces. Community members, program alumni, and the public are invited to celebrate the conclusion of the ResLab program with this retrospective exhibition and reception, interactive workshop, and September alumni panel.

ResLab’s curriculum merges neighborhood histories with unique strategies for creating community-centered public art while highlighting the dignity, vibrancy, and imagination of its inhabitants in the face of a long history of gentrification and institutional neglect toward Chinatown residents. The resulting projects, co-designed by artist and resident fellows, were temporarily installed each year at key sites across Chinatown. 

Each year, Pao Arts Center and ACDC selected a theme to inspire and inform the program’s workshops and co-creative public installations, based on the 2020 Chinatown Master Plan. Past activation sites and themes include the Chinatown Backyard at the Hudson Street Lot (“Oasis” + “Portal”), Mary Soo Hoo Park (“Collective Care”), and the Tufts Community Common on the Tufts University’s Health Sciences Campus (“Radical Inclusion”). 

About the Artists

Amanda Beard Garcia (she/they) is a multiracial Chinese American muralist, illustrator, and brand designer. She holds a BFA in Illustration from RISD. Her work typically incorporates punchy colors, typography, and portraiture while exploring concepts surrounding belonging and activism. Amanda is principal of Likemind Design, a custom mural and branding studio in Dracut, MA. She has been a participant of many local public art initiatives and has designed custom artwork and brand identities for small businesses all over Greater Boston.

Maggie Chen

Maggie Chen (she/her) is a long-time Chinatown resident leader and organizer. Boston Chinatown provided her a sense of going back to China, feeling very kind and very lively. She hopes Residence Lab can make people more focused on Chinatown, and that, through this project, it can attract more young people’s attention to Chinatown, which could help this area to get more energy.

Pihua Lin

Pihua Lin (she/her), a resident of Chinatown for 13 years, joined Residence Lab with the goal of preserving Chinatown's culture and creating more resources and opportunities for immigrants. Pihua works in an after-school tutoring program in Chinatown. She believes that the art created at Residence Lab can be expressed as a resident and reflect the needs of the community.

Sheila Novak (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and curator currently living and working on Gayog̱hó:nǫ́ (NY), Massachusett (MA), & Dakota land (MN). Sheila is currently pursuing her MFA in Visual Creative Arts at Cornell University, has held a Creative Community Fellowship with National Art Strategies (2018), and has been Artist in Residence at the Urbano Project (2020), Hennepin County Medical Center (2015-2017), and Holden Village (2014). Sheila received her B.A. in Studio Art from St. Olaf College (2012).

Artist and educator, Krina Patel began her arts practice in India and continued it at the Arts Students League among other places, in New York City. Working out of her studio in Boston, Krina shares stories and memories through images and texts. Krina engages with visual processes creating images using a range of media from pencils and brushes to digital pens and laser tools. Her creative process is collaborative as she invites viewers to participate directly and/or indirectly in creating and re-creating the art works.




Related Public Program Dates at Pao Arts Center

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 27, 5:30 – 8:30 pm

“Remembering and Remaking Chinatown” Workshop: Thursday, July 27, 6:00 – 7:45 pm

Residence Lab Alumni Spotlight Panel: Saturday, September 23, 1:00 – 3:00 pm

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Fall Fun in Phillips Square - by Chinatown HOPE
Sep
9
11:00 AM11:00

Fall Fun in Phillips Square - by Chinatown HOPE

Join us as we bring joy and laughter to the heart of Chinatown in this family-friendly community celebration.

Cornhole, crafting, music, giveaways and more!

Brought to you by Chinatown HOPE, a collective of eight Chinatown organizations, funded through Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Community-based Health Initiative, with the aim of coming together to leverage and build upon existing assets to have a greater, lasting impact on working class residents in Boston Chinatown.

About Chinatown HOPE

Chinatown HOPE is a collective of eight Chinatown organizations with the aim of coming together to leverage and build upon existing assets to have a greater, lasting impact on working class residents in Boston Chinatown. Community engagement began in summer of 2022 to understand what the Chinatown community thought a healthy neighborhood looked like, and resulted in our 3 branched intervention. Chinatown HOPE was funded through Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Community-based Health Initiative to decrease social isolation and increase community cohesion by activating open space in Chinatown through gardening, arts, cultural programming, and resident leadership development.

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Experience Chinatown Arts Festival 2023
Sep
1
to Oct 14

Experience Chinatown Arts Festival 2023

Murals: September 1 - October 14, 2023

Live Performances: Sunday, October 1

This fall, see, hear, create, and connect. Together, celebrate the rich cultural fabric of Boston Chinatown through free creative activities.

In case of inclement weather, performances will take place on the rain date - Sunday, October 1, 2023.

Mural Installations

Enjoy lively murals that respond to this year’s theme, “How does a community thrive?”

Create your own self-paced tour or join a guided tour on September 30th at 11:15 am or 1:00 pm.

APM coffee: 99 Kneeland Street | A Communal Blend | Jennifer Duan

Crave Chinatown: 75 Kneeland Street | Unity | Jinyi Duan

WakuWaku: 2 Tyler Street | Welcoming Dishes | Yuan-yuan Wang 

Q Restaurant: 660 Washington Street | We Protect Each Other | Yixuan Zeng 

Happy Lamb Hotpot Boston: 693 Washington Street | Let’s Eat | Jialu Zou 

Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC): 38 Ash Street | What Makes a Community Thrive? | BCNC Youth Center | Read more about their process of creating the murals

Schedule

Sunday, October 1 | 11:00 am - 3:30 pm

At Auntie Kay & Uncle Frank Chin Park on The Greenway (near Chinatown Gate) unless otherwise noted

11:00 am | Continuum Dance Project (a part of Momentum Greenway Dance Program, Presented by Amazon, 2023) | Contemporary Dance

11:15 am | Tour of Experience Chinatown murals (check-in under yellow Pao Arts Center tent)

11:30 am | Nüwa Athletic Club | Chinese Lion Dance

11:45 am | TIFFY | Singer-Songwriter

12:50 pm | Maddie Lam | Singer-Songwriter

1:00 pm | Tour of Experience Chinatown murals (check-in under yellow Pao Arts Center tent)

2:00 pm | Juk-Sing | Canto-Pop Band

3:00 pm | Encore presentation: Continuum Dance Project (a part of Momentum Greenway Dance Program, Presented by Amazon, 2023) | Contemporary Dance

11:00 am - 3:30 pm | Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany St | At Home In Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective Exhibit


Experience Chinatown is part of Chinatown HOPE, a collective of eight Chinatown organizations, funded through Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Community-based Health Initiative, with the aim of coming together to leverage and build upon existing assets to have a greater, lasting impact on working class residents in Boston Chinatown.

Muralists

Jennifer (Jenn) Duan (she/they) is a Chinese American artist based in Cambridge, MA. She is inspired by how art can be used as a medium for storytelling, emotional healing, and conveying the intangible. Through art, Jenn is interested in exploring the intersections of Chinese American identity, mental health, and what it means to be part of a community. In their free time, Jenn likes running, collecting zines, and peeling tangerines. 

Jinyi Duan 

Jinyi Duan (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist who draws inspiration from the various cultures they have been a part of through their life. Responding to a world that is becoming more segregated, they hope to show the individual nuances that make up various cultures, and in turn, highlighting the connections that exist between them. Typically working visually in acrylic paint, pens, and sharpies, they specialize in line work with a limited color palette.

Yuan-yuan Wang (she/her) is a Taiwanese artist and educator based in Boston, MA. She is interested in showing personal experiences and philosophy through art, connecting deeply with texture, layers and colors. 

Yixuan Zeng (they/them) is a visual artist that passionately believes in the limitless power of storytelling for greater social change. They have collaborated at numerous film festivals to elevate underrepresented stories, formerly as Programming Director at the Boston Asian American Film Festival. As an illustrator and designer, Yixuan has worked on a variety of projects from apparel to emojis. Nowadays, Yixuan crafts murals to reclaim public spaces for local communities and to inspire collective healing.

Jialu Zou (they/them) is a non-binary Chinese American freelance illustrator based in Boston, MA. They graduated from Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a BFA in illustration. They specialize in digital illustration with a focus on bright colors and a variety of textures. Jialu’s previous professional experience includes public art, gala pieces, and various zine projects. Besides illustrations, Jialu loves cooking, book making, and most of all, spending time with their cat, Percy. 

The Youth Center provides opportunities for youth to build connections, explore and understand their community, and to put leadership skills into action. Through year-round programming centered on leadership development, education, and workforce readiness in Boston and Quincy, BCNC supports youth to thrive in school and beyond. Read more about their process of creating the murals.

Performers

Founded in 2013 by Fernadina Chan, CDP choreographers/co-directors Adriane Brayton and Fernadina Chan work collaboratively with their dancer. Continuum Dance Project pushes the boundaries of audience interaction and traditional vantage points, by presenting work in unconventional spaces.

Photo Credit: Annielly Camargo

Inspired by the Cantonese hits of the 80s and 90s, these Kwong Kow Chinese School dropouts have performed covers of Beyond, Faye Wong, and many more across the Greater Boston Area since 2018. By sharing these classics along with original songs, Juk Sing (JK Wong, Jeffrey La, and Ashley Yu) hopes to bring back some cultural nostalgia with a dream pop twist.   

Maddie Lam is a Boston-born singer-songwriter, producer, and performer. She understands music as the sound of a soul. Infused with softness, her music and performances offer a dynamic, connective and healing space for others to rest in.   

The Nüwa Athletic Club, based in Boston, MA, provides an environment for Asian American girls and women to enhance their physical and emotional development through teamwork, sportsmanship and cultural activities which includes but is not limited to lion and dragon dance.  

TIFFY is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer Tiffany Sammy. TIFFY represents what it means for genres to clash and meld in 2023, preserving a bottled-up mix of dream rock, sugar pop, and coarse punk. Often boiling the terminology down to "soft punk", her music has been featured in FADER, Paste Magazine, NPR and Vanyaland. She actively plays throughout New England with her live band.  

Sponsors

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR SPONSORS & PARTNERS FOR MAKING THIS EVENT POSSIBLE!

PRESENTING

PLATINUM

GOLD

EVENT PRESENTER

PATRON

FRIEND

COMMUNITY

PARTNERS

View Event →
At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective Exhibition
Jul
27
to Oct 13

At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective Exhibition

At Home in Chinatown Opening Reception, Photo Credit: Mel Taing

Join us for the opening of our next gallery, At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective, an exhibition highlighting four years of Pao Arts Center’s unique Residence Lab Arts Residency program (ResLab), in partnership with the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC). The opening reception will take place on Thursday, July 27, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at Pao Arts Center. The exhibition will be on view from July 27 through October 13, 2023. Learn more about ResLab and stay tuned for more details.  

The closing exhibition, At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective, features six past projects by artist-resident teams from each year that gives insight into ResLab’s distinctive creative process.

Participating Artists and Residents: (‘19) Tarik Bartel, Joyce Chen, and Maggie Chen, (‘19) Crystal Bi, Lily Xie , Pihua Lin, and Yuyi Li, (‘20) Maria Fong, Sylvia Chen, and Po Chun Chow, (‘21) Yuko Okabe, Kathy Wu Amy Lam, and Elaine Liang, (‘22) Ann Dinh Alison M, and Winnie Yuen, and (‘22) Amanda Beard Garcia, Yanna Chen, and Xingyao He.

Curated by: Lily Song, an urban planner, scholar-activist, and Assistant Professor of Race, Social Justice & the Built Environment at Northeastern University.

History of Residence Lab

Since 2019, local artists and Chinatown residents have taken part in Residence Lab (ResLab), a yearly artist residency that activates spaces in Boston Chinatown through culturally affirming co-designed public art. Over the last four years, this community-driven residency program has contributed to Chinatown’s contemporary cultural identity and spaces. Community members, program alumni, and the public are invited to celebrate the conclusion of the ResLab program with this retrospective exhibition and reception, interactive workshop, and September alumni panel.

ResLab’s curriculum merged neighborhood histories with unique strategies for creating community-centered public art while highlighting the dignity, vibrancy, and imagination of its inhabitants in the face of a long history of gentrification and institutional neglect toward Chinatown residents. The resulting projects, co-designed by artist and resident fellows, were temporarily installed each year at key sites across Chinatown. 

Each year, Pao Arts Center and ACDC selected a theme to inspire and inform the program’s workshops and co-creative public installations, based on the 2020 Chinatown Master Plan. Past activation sites and themes include the Chinatown Backyard at the Hudson Street Lot (“Oasis” + “Portal”), Mary Soo Hoo Park (“Collective Care”), and the Tufts Community Common on the Tufts University’s Health Sciences Campus (“Radical Inclusion”). 


Upcoming Public Program Dates at Pao Arts Center

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 27, 5:30 – 8:30 pm

“Remembering and Remaking Chinatown” Workshop: Thursday, July 27, 6:00 – 7:45 pm

Residence Lab Alumni Spotlight Panel: Saturday, September 23, 1:00 – 3:00 pm

Contact arts@bcnc.net for more information

About the Artists

Tarik Bartel

Tarik Bartel (they/them) is a trans and non-binary Thai-American artist based in Providence, RI. Tarik is a photographer, an award-winning filmmaker, and a spoken word poet. Tarik has worked as a teaching artist, youth worker, and community organizer in the Greater Boston area since 2014. Tarik is passionate about: making art more accessible, letting young people do things, and the color yellow.

Tarik Bartel (他們) 是在羅德島州普羅維登斯 (Providence, RI) 的跨性別和非二元性別泰裔美國藝術家。 Tarik 是一位攝影師、屢獲殊榮的電影製片人和口語詩人。自 2014 年以來,Tarik 一直在大波士頓地區擔任教學藝術家、青年工作者和社區組織者。Tarik 熱衷於:讓藝術變得更容易接觸,讓年輕人做事情,以及黃色。

Crystal Bi

Crystal Bi (she/they) is a queer, first generation, mixed race, Taiwanese American, multimedia artist working in the public realm. Her participatory art projects explore themes of radical imagination, creative archiving, and belonging. As a public artist, educator at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, former Boston Public School art teacher and former Creative Civic Design Lead with Design Studio for Social Intervention, Crystal works with communities to design creative interventions that imagine possible futures. She is currently fulfilling a dream of building a phone booth through the Public Art for Spatial Justice cohort.

Crystal Bi(她/他們)是一名酷兒,第一代混血兒,台裔美國人,在公共領域工作的多媒體藝術家。她的參與性藝術項目探索激進的想像、創意歸檔和歸屬感等主題。 作為一名公共藝術家、麻省藝術與設計學院(Massachusetts College of Art and Design)的教育家、波士頓公立學校(Boston Public School)的前藝術教師和社會幹預設計工作室(Design Studio for Social Intervention)的前創意城市設計主管,Crystal 與社區合作設計創意幹預措施,以想像可能的未來。 她目前正在通過空間正義的公共藝術(Public Art Spatial Justice)團隊實現建造電話亭的夢想。

Lily Xie

Lily Xie (she/they) is a Chinese-American artist and educator whose socially-engaged work explores desire, memory, and self-actualization for communities at the margins. In collaboration with local residents and grassroots organizers, she facilitates creative projects with a focus on public space, housing, and racial justice. The work they create together often takes the form of animation, print media, and public art. Lily is currently an Artist-in-Residence for the City of Boston.

Lily Xie(她)是一位美籍華人藝術家和教育家,她參與的社會作品探索邊緣社區的慾望、記憶和自我實現。她與當地居民和基層組織者合作,推動了一些專注於公共空間、住房和種族正義的創意項目。他們共同創作的作品是通常採用動畫、印刷媒體和公共藝術的形式。 Lily 目前是波士頓市(City of Boston)的藝術家駐留。

Maria Fong

Maria Fong (they/them) is an artist from Berkeley, California. A 2021 graduate of the BFA program at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, they work in hand drawn and stop motion animation, drawing, performance art, and bookmaking. Maria's collaborative artworks explore racialized and politicized spaces, community building, and participatory storytelling.

Maria Fong(他們)是一位來自加利福尼亞州伯克利(Berkeley, California)的藝術家。他們於2021年畢業於塔夫茨大學美術館學校(the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University)的藝術學士學位,從事手繪和定格動畫、繪畫、表演藝術和書籍製作工作。 Maria的合作藝術作品探索種族化和政治化的空間、社區建設和參與性的故事講述。

Kathy Wu

Kathy Wu (she/they) is an artist, writer, and educator based in Providence RI (Narragansett). She is currently an MFA candidate at Brown University Literary Arts where she is working on an artist book about histories of science, place and space. She also loves to make zines and facilitate bookmaking and art workshops, and is passionate about community art practices and holding space for young people.

Kathy Wu(她/他們)是一位居住在普羅維登斯羅德島州 (Providence RI)(納拉甘西特 Narragansett)的藝術家、作家和教育家。她目前是布朗大學 (Brown University) 文學藝術學院的藝術碩士候選人,正在撰寫一本關於科學、地方和空間歷史的藝術書籍。她還喜歡製作雜誌、促進書籍製作和藝術研討會,並熱衷於社區藝術實踐和為年輕人提供空間。

Yuko Okabe

Yuko Okabe (she/they) is an illustrator and cultural worker playing at the intersection of youthful whimsy and community engagement. She likes making characters, stories, curriculums, murals, and other colorful things.

Yuko Okabe(她/他們)是一位插畫家和文化工作者,在年輕人奇思妙想的想法和社區參與的交叉點上遊玩。她喜歡製作人物、故事、課程、壁畫和其他豐富多彩的東西。

Ann Dinh

Ann (she/they) is an emerging designer based in Philadelphia, specializing in industrial design, architecture, and graphic visualization. She recently graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, earning her Master of Industrial Design. Ann's approach involves developing products tailored to the needs of particular communities, ensuring that context and culture are thoughtfully embedded in the product's form and materiality.

Ann(她/他們)是費城 (Philadelphia) 的一名新興設計師,專業於工業設計、建築和圖形可視化。她最近從羅得島設計學院 (Rhode Island School of Design) 畢業,獲得了工業設計碩士學位。 Ann的設計方法包括開發適合特定社區需求的產品,確保環境和文化被深思熟慮地嵌入到產品的形式和材料中。

Amanda Beard Garcia

Amanda Beard Garcia (she/they) is a multiracial Chinese American muralist, illustrator, and brand designer. She holds a BFA in Illustration from RISD. Her work typically incorporates punchy colors, typography, and portraiture while exploring concepts surrounding belonging and activism. Amanda is principal of Likemind Design, a custom mural and branding studio in Dracut, MA. She has been a participant of many local public art initiatives and has designed custom artwork and brand identities for small businesses all over Greater Boston.

Amanda Beard Garcia (她/他們) 是一位多種族的華裔美國壁畫家、插畫家和品牌設計師。她擁有羅德島設計學院(RISD)插畫藝術學士學位。她的作品通常結合了強烈的色彩,排版和肖像,同時探索圍繞歸屬感和行動主義的概念。 Amanda是「志同道合設計」 (Likemind Design) 的負責人,這是一家位於馬薩諸塞州德拉古特 (Dracut, MA) 的定制壁畫和品牌工作室。她參與了許多當地的公共藝術活動,並為大波士頓地區的小企業設計了定製藝術品和品牌標識。

About the Residents

Maggie Chen

Maggie Chen (she/her) is a long-time Chinatown resident leader and organizer. Boston Chinatown provided her a sense of going back to China, feeling very kind and very lively. She hopes Residence Lab can make people more focused on Chinatown. She hopes that, through this project, it can attract more young people’s attention to Chinatown, which could help this area to get more energy.

陳潔霞 (Maggie Chen) 是唐人街的長期居民領袖和組織者。波士頓唐人街給了她一種回到中國的感覺,感覺很親切和很熱鬧。她希望《居民與藝術》(Residence Lab) 能讓人們更加關注唐人街。她希望通過這個項目,能夠吸引更多年輕人對唐人街的關注,讓這個地區獲得更多的活力。

Joyce Chen

Joyce Chen (she/her) is a long-time resident and active community member in Chinatown. Joyce is a mother with three children, whose daily life is made easier with access to Chinatown. She hopes for her children to pass the Chinatown culture on to the next generation.

彩嬌 (Joyce Chen) (她) 是唐人街的長期居民和活躍的社區成員。彩嬌是三名孩子的母親,住在唐人街使她們更方便出入。她希望她的孩子們能把唐人街的文化傳到下一代。

Yuyi Li

Yuyi (he/him) lives and works in Chinatown. He chose to participate in Residence Lab because he feels it was an important chance for him to give back to his community. He wants to remind Chinatown that it’s not just a neighborhood — it’s a home.

Yuyi (他) 在唐人街生活和工作。他選擇參加《居民與藝術》(Residence Lab)是因為他覺得這是他回饋社區的一個重要機會。他想提醒唐人街不僅僅是一個社區—它是一個家。

Pihua Lin

Pihua Lin (she/her), a resident of Chinatown for 13 years, joined Residence Lab with the goal of preserving Chinatown's culture and creating more resources and opportunities for immigrants. Pihua works in an after-school tutoring program in Chinatown. She believes that the art created at Residence Lab can be expressed as a resident and reflect the needs of the community.

林碧華 (Pihua Lin) (她) 在唐人街居住了十三年,她加入《居民與藝術》(Residence Lab) 的目的是保護唐人街的文化和為移民創造更多的資源和機會。碧華是在唐人街的一個課後輔導班工作。她相信在《居民與藝術》(Residence Lab) 創作的藝術可以作為居民來表達並反映社區的需求。

Sylvia Chen

Sylvia Chen (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for 8 years and lived in Quincy before that. She is a mom of two kids and cares about transportation, community safety and health. Sylvia likes arts and nature and wants to make new friends and learn new things. She is interested in design, sketching, animation, and cooking, etc.

陳曉儀 (Sylvia Chen) (她) 之前住昆士,現在在唐人街住了八年。她有兩個孩子。她關心交通,社區安全及衛生。她喜歡藝術與自然,結交新的朋友與學習新事物。她對設計、素描、動漫、烹飪等都很感興趣。

Po Chun

Po Chun (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for six years and is excited about learning other people's stories. Po Chun cares about the cleanliness of Chinatown and is interested in Cooking, Gardening, and Knitting.

寶珍 (Po Chun) (她) 已經在唐人街住了七年,對於了解別人的故事感到很興奮。寶珍關心唐人街的清潔,並對烹飪、園藝和針織感興趣。

Elaine Liang (农英)

Elaine Liang (农英) (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for 12 years and works at Asian American Civic Association as daycare worker. She cares about environmental sanitation and Chinatown history. Elaine enjoys theater, dancing, film, and gardening. She looks forward to collaborating with artists to co-create artworks that make people say “this is about care.”

梁農英 (Elaine Liang) (她) 在唐人街生活了12年,在華美福利會(Asian American Civic Association)擔任日托工作者。她關心環境衛生和唐人街的歷史。農英喜歡戲劇、舞蹈、電影、烹飪和園藝。她期待著與藝術家合作,共同創作出讓人們說:「這就是關愛」的藝術作品。

Amy Lam

Amy Lam (林丽莹) (she/her) is a Chinatown resident who is passionate about learning, creating cultural knowledge and resources to help one another, and improving the environment to be more healthy for all. At ResLab, she wants to see artwork that highlights important Chinatown issues, such as better air quality, clean environment, and more peace.

林麗瑩 (Amy Lam) (她) 是唐人街居民,她熱衷於學習、創造文化知識和資源,以幫助彼此和改善環境,讓所有人都更健康。在《居民與藝術》(ResLab) ,她希望看到能夠突出唐人街重要問題的藝術作品,例如更好的空氣質量、更清潔的環境和更加和平。

Alison M

Alison (she/they) is a Black-Puerto Rican resident of Chinatown. She has lived in Chinatown for about 1 year. They are interested in gardening, poetry/writing, painting, film, music and interactive art.
“As a resident, what I want people to know about Chinatown is the history beyond the tourism and superficial. Such as how there was a movement for women to join the workforce when a telephone switching station was first built on Essex Street. I also want people to know the neighborhood had a diverse history of Irish, Syrian, Italian immigrants prior to the migration of Chinese immigrants migrating from San Francisco to Boston.”

Alison(她/他们) 是一位黑波多黎各的唐人街居民,在唐人街生活一年了。 Alison對園藝、詩歌/寫作、繪畫、電影、音樂和互動藝術感興趣。

「作為一名居民,我希望人們了解唐人街不只是一個旅遊地方和表面的歷史。 例如,在Essex街首次建立電話交換站時,唐人街居民曾組織讓女性加入勞動力。 我還想讓人們知道,在舊金山華裔移民遷移到波士頓之前,這個社區有愛爾蘭、敘利亞、意大利移民的多樣化歷史。」

Manchu “Winnie” Yuen

Manchu “Winnie” Yuen (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for 15 years. She is interested in food, swimming, videos and art.
“What I want people to know about Chinatown is its culture and background, [because] if everyone understands these, they can understand each other more and break social barriers.”
Looking back at ResLab: “I very much enjoyed the whole event. I just so enjoy every moment. Every minute. Thanks May for bringing me to this program.”

阮曼珠 (Manchu "Winnie" Yuen) (她) 在唐人街生活15年了。她對美食、游泳、視頻和藝術感興趣。
「我想讓人們了解唐人街的文化和背景,[因為] 如果大家都了解這些,他們可以互相包容和打破社會障礙。」
回顧《居民與藝術》(ResLab):「我非常享受整個活動。我享受每一分每一刻。感謝May邀請我參加這次活動。」

Xingyao He

Xingyao (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for 11 years. As a resident, she wants people to learn about Chinatown and Chinese culture. As a ResLab participant, she enjoyed communicating and learning with her team. She has made many new friends and feels honored to have been in the program.

何杏瑤 (Xingyao) (她) 在唐人街生活11年了。身為居民,她希望人們了解唐人街和中國文化。作為《居民與藝術》(ResLab)的參與者,她對與團隊交流和學習很感興趣。她交了很多新朋友,也很榮幸能參加這個項目。

Yanna Chen (陈燕娜)

Yanna (陈燕娜) (she/her) has lived in Chinatown for 9 years. She is passionate about the lives and health of Chinatown residents and the future of Chinatown.
ResLab has made her realize the many meaningful community events happening in the community. She has also made many new friends and hopes to attend more events in the future. She enjoys living life without worry.

陳燕娜 (Yanna Chen) (她) 在唐人街生活9年了。她對唐人街居民的生活、健康、以及唐人街的未來感興趣.
《居民與藝術》(ResLab)讓燕娜讓認識了原來在社區有這麼多有意義的項目。她也認識了很多新朋友。她希望未來還要多多參加這些活動。她享受無憂無慮的生活。

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At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective Exhibition Opening
Jul
27
5:30 PM17:30

At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective Exhibition Opening

2022 ResLab Cohort, Photo Credit: Amanda Huang

Join us for the opening of our next gallery, At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective, an exhibition highlighting four years of our unique Residence Lab Arts Residency program (ResLab), in partnership with the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC). The opening reception will take place on Thursday, July 27, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at Pao Arts Center. The exhibition will be on view from July 27 through October 13, 2023. Learn more about ResLab and stay tuned for more details.  

The closing exhibition, At Home in Chinatown: A Residence Lab Retrospective, features six past projects by artist-resident teams from each year that gives insight into ResLab’s distinctive creative process.

Participating Artists and Residents: (‘19) Tarik Bartel, Joyce Chen, and Maggie Chen, (‘19) Crystal Bi, Lily Xie , Pihua Lin, and Yuyi Li, (‘20) Maria Fong, Sylvia Chen, and Po Chun Chow, (‘21) Yuko Okabe, Kathy Wu Amy Lam, and Elaine Liang, (‘22) Ann Dinh Alison M, and Winnie Yuen, and (‘22) Amanda Beard Garcia, Yanna Chen, and Xingyao He.

Curated by: Lily Song, an urban planner, scholar-activist, and Assistant Professor of Race, Social Justice & the Built Environment at Northeastern University.

About Residence Lab

Since 2019, local artists and Chinatown residents have taken part in Residence Lab (ResLab), a yearly artist residency that activates spaces in Boston Chinatown through culturally affirming co-designed public art. Over the last four years, this community-driven residency program has contributed to Chinatown’s contemporary cultural identity and spaces. Community members, program alumni, and the public are invited to celebrate the conclusion of the ResLab program with this retrospective exhibition and reception, interactive workshop, and September alumni panel.

ResLab’s curriculum merges neighborhood histories with unique strategies for creating community-centered public art while highlighting the dignity, vibrancy, and imagination of its inhabitants in the face of a long history of gentrification and institutional neglect toward Chinatown residents. The resulting projects, co-designed by artist and resident fellows, were temporarily installed each year at key sites across Chinatown. 

Each year, Pao Arts Center and ACDC selected a theme to inspire and inform the program’s workshops and co-creative public installations, based on the 2020 Chinatown Master Plan. Past activation sites and themes include the Chinatown Backyard at the Hudson Street Lot (“Oasis” + “Portal”), Mary Soo Hoo Park (“Collective Care”), and the Tufts Community Common on the Tufts University’s Health Sciences Campus (“Radical Inclusion”). 

Upcoming Public Program Dates at Pao Arts Center

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 27, 5:30 – 8:30 pm

“Remembering and Remaking Chinatown” Workshop: Thursday, July 27, 6:00 – 7:45 pm

Residence Lab Alumni Spotlight Panel: Saturday, September 23, 1:00 – 3:00 pm

Contact Leslie Condon, Visual Arts Manager, with questions Leslie.Condon@bcnc.net

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Found in Translation : Flight of a Legless Bird  無腳鳥的飛行
Jun
2
to Jun 3

Found in Translation : Flight of a Legless Bird 無腳鳥的飛行

Flight of a Legless Bird 無腳鳥的飛行

by Ethan Luk

A new play reading in Cantonese and English

Directed by Wilson Wang

Performed at the Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany Street, Boston

Flight of a Legless Bird follows the intertwined lives of Robin and Leslie, two queer artists from the 1980s to the 2000s. Robin, a filmmaker in New York's West Village, confronts the reality of a HIV/AIDS diagnosis, while Leslie, an accomplished Cantopop star and actor, grapples with his personal hurdles in bustling Hong Kong. Their worlds collide by chance, uniting them through shared desires as the new millennium approaches. Poetically fusing Cantonese and English, the play reminisces a golden era of music, love, identity, and the transformative power of art in a rapidly changing time.

Flight of a Legless Bird is a recipient of The Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award Distinguished Achievement at the 2022 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Premiered in July 2021 at Ying Drama Studio’s (鷹劇坊) MINI Theater Festival in Beijing; developed through New York Theater Workshop’s Mind the Gap program with funding from The Sam Hutton Fund at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.

Pricing : Free, suggested donation $10

Performance Dates:

Friday, June 2, 2023 - 7:00 PM + Post-show conversation

Saturday, June 3, 2023 - 2:00PM

Saturday, June 3, 2023 - 7:00PM + Post-show “Red Heels” Cantopop Dance Party

About Found in Translation:

Found in Translation is a collaboration between Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston (AATAB), CHUANG Stage, and Pao Arts Center. Established in 2021, Found in Translation celebrates the power and complexities of being multilingual, immigrants, or identifying as Asian American in Greater Boston through theatre.

Contact : ashley.yung@bcnc.net

About the Artists

Ethan Luk (Playwright)

Ethan Luk was born and raised in Hong Kong. His work has been recognized by 92Y, The Kennedy Center, One Teen Story, Sine Theta Magazine, and The Adroit Journal among others. He is currently an undergraduate at Princeton University. www.ethanluk.com

Wilson Wang (Director)

Born in Northern China, Wilson Wang is currently a student at the University of California, Berkeley. His practices actively engages both filmic and performance arts through the lens of critical humanities, with a specific interest in corporeality, race, aesthetic philosophy, and labor. His artistic contributions include Flight of a Legless Bird, A Visit from the Dead, The Moment I Died (short film), and A Breath Under Water (short film).

Patrick Ip (Leslie Cheung)

Patrick Ip is an LA based actor who travels between Asia and North America. Graduated from UC Berkeley with an Electrical Engineering Computer Science degree, he had worked in several fields but couldn’t resist his love for performing--he received his master’s in acting at Shanghai Theatre Academy in 2019. He has performed in Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong.

EK William (Robin Heron)

Meet EK William. Fresh off of playing the villainous Pharoah in Ed Chisholm's Off-Broadway show "The Savage Queen", you can now spot this method actor in several national commercials and films. EK loves creating characters who are pensive, intense, dominant, and passionate; all having multi-dimensionality. EK has received training from New England Conservatory, Checkov Actors Studio Boston, and the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute.

Hana Yiu (Anita Mui)

Hana Yiu, a versatile classical singer, is making her theatrical debut with Chuang Stage in the US. As a classical singer, She will be joining the esteemed Seraphic Fire at Aspen Music Festival this summer. Additionally, she is also part of the New York Philharmonic Chorus. Hana holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music and a Master's degree from The Hartt School.

Anthony Eng (Cheung Wut-Hoi/Theo)

Anthony Eng is a Boston-based actor who usually only does short films. He is excited to make his theatre debut in Flight of the Legless Bird. When not on stage, he is a teacher and a single dad. He’d like to thank Ken Cheeseman, the cast and crew, as well as the various families who helped with childcare!

JK Wong (Kenny/Daffy)

JK Wong is a Boston local artist. He is most known for his multilingual indie surf punk band, Orca Bones, his live-looping project, aznjujube, and his canto-pop band, Juk Sing.

Originally from Quincy, MA, JK can now be spotted kicking the Chinese shuttlecock or eating snacks around Boston Chinatown.

Jen Lewis (Dinah Heron)

Jen Lewis is an Actor, director, teacher, activist and mom, Jen teaches Acting at Bunker Hill Community College and served as Interim Executive Director of StageSource. As You Like It (Merely Players); Othello (Dream Role Players), Legally Dead (Boston Playwrights'); Living Out (Lyric Stage); and Friends of Eddie Coyle (Stickball).

Evan Taylor (David)

Evan Taylor is a Boston Based actor currently attending Emerson College (BFA Acting 24’), and is thrilled to work with CHUANG Stage/Pao Arts Center/AATAB for the first time. Recent credits include Logan in Paris (Emerson Stage) and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (EmShakes). A big thanks to my family and friends for supporting my dream, you rock!

About the Partners

CHUANG Stage is the first Mandarin-English bilingual, bicultural theatre company nationwide, cultivating joyful and challenging Asian American stories that pioneer a new activism in the arts.

Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston is a social collective that empowers and connects Pan-Asian theatre artists in the Greater Boston area.

The Found in Translation Series is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts' Public Art for Spatial Justice program, with funding from the Barr Foundation.

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HER | alive.un.dead by Emily Koh
May
12
to May 14

HER | alive.un.dead by Emily Koh

A multimedia opera and surrealist drama, co-produced with Guerilla Opera that follows two Chinese-American women who meet in the afterlife and explores conflicts between their Western upbringing and Chinese culture.

HER | alive.un.dead is a concert-length media opera about three generations of Asian women in a single family. Through birth and death cycles in the family, and encounters in a space called the “in-between”, these women expound on gender biases against women, and discriminatory practices upon people of Asian descent.

HER | alive.un.dead focuses on the specific experiences of being an Asian woman in a largely Western society and upbringing. This clash between East and West is interpreted differently between three generations of women in a single family, and changes drastically from character to character due to each character's background and upbringing: fresh immigrant with strong connections to her homeland, first-generation Chinese American trying to integrate into American society, and a second-generation Chinese American who really only feels like she is American and is ignoring the 'Chinese' part of her heritage.

The opera will take place in ten scenes within three acts, with over 60 minutes of music. The narrative is non-linear, which helps contrast between the dramatic arc and musical arc of the work.

The libretto is in English, Mandarin, and Teochew.

Flashing Lights Warning: This performance features flashing lighting effects.

Trigger Warning: This performance includes topics of teen suicide, and may be disturbing for certain audience members. Resources for crisis and suicide prevention are available 24/7 by dialing 998 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Dates:

Friday, May 12 | 8:00 PM with Opening Night Post-Show discussion with creators and cast
Saturday, May 13 | 3:00 PM with Pre-Show Tactile Tour (2:00 PM start time, preregistration required) and Post-Show discussion with creators and cast
Saturday, May 13 | 7:30 PM
Sunday, May 14 | 3:00 PM

Price: Tiered $15-55

About Guerilla Opera

Unlike traditional opera companies, Guerilla Opera is an ensemble of artists that perform without a conductor or formal music director. This is unusual and distinguishes Guerilla Opera in the field of opera. This practice requires extraordinary awareness and communication skills that can only be honed through consistent practice by a group of artists working together over time.

Founded in 2007, Guerilla Opera (GO) is one of Boston’s most exciting ensembles creating brave new works, with The Boston Globe raving that “radical exploration remains the cornerstone of everything it does”. This artist-led ensemble wields a mission to present new experimental works of opera theater that are tailored to their ensemble of outstanding artists. Their artistic vision is to generate a unique body of work that ferociously confronts the status quo through culturally-focused and socially-resonant stories that examine and question antiquated and stereotypical traditions of the art form of opera and to bring thrilling performances to nationwide audiences. With this mission and vision, Guerilla Opera has garnered a national reputation for innovation, with Opera News raving that “Guerilla Opera redefines the Opera experience.”

About the Composer

Emily Koh

Emily Koh is a Singaporean composer based in Atlanta, whose music is characterized by inventive explorations of the smallest details of sound. In addition to writing acoustic and electronic concert music, she enjoys collaborating with other creatives in projects where sound plays an important role in the creative process. Emily is currently Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music. (https://emilykoh.net)

About the Director

Mo Zhou

Originally from China, Mo Zhou is a stage director and educator whose international career spans all artistic disciplines including opera, theater, musical theater, dance, and film.  

Equally passionate about invigorating classical canons and spearheading new works, Zhou’s productions have been seen at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, National Centre for the Performing Arts in China, Santa Fe Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, the Juilliard School, WP Theatre, to name a few. She has also worked as a member of the directing staff at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, the Dallas Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, among others.


About the Ensemble

Sol Kim Bentley

Two-time Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions regional finalist Sol Kim Bentley was lauded by Opera News for her “ardently sincere … beautifully restrained and heartbreaking” performance as Cardillac’s Daughter in Hindemith’s Cardillac for Opera Boston, the production of which was named one of the top ten international musical events of 2011 by Musical America. Previously, she understudied the title role in Opera Boston’s world premiere of Zhou Long’s 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Madame White Snake (performing the role for an invited dress rehearsal), and was the Roll Seller in Opera Boston’s New England premiere of Shostakovich’s The Nose.

Nina Guo

Soprano Nina Guo is interested in the sounds of recent and ongoing times, and her performance practice includes interpreting notated music, improvising, and collaborating on interdisciplinary projects. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in classical voice from the New England Conservatory of Music (2015), she completed a Master’s degree in Sound Studies and Sonic Arts at the Universität der Künste in Berlin (2020). As a contemporary music specialist, her upcoming performances include solo appearances with Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt) and Decoder Ensemble (Hamburg), and recently, she has been featured at festivals like Acht Brücken (Köln), Passion:SPIEL at the Deutsches National Theater (Weimar), and Music in Time at Spoleto Festival (Charleston).

Jeannette Lee

Described to have “a lovely mezzo voice with lots of color, warmth and vibrancy,” Hong Kong mezzo-soprano Jeannette Lee is a sought-after versatile performer who was awarded the Hilda Harris Mezzo Soprano Prize at the 2022 George Shirley Vocal Competition. She was also a prize winner in 2023 William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition, 2021 NATS Artist Award (New England Region).

On the international concert stage, she has appeared as a soloist in Bach’s Mass in B minor and BWV70 &130, Beethoven’s Chorale Fantasy, Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Messiah, Britten’s Cantata Academica, Monteverdi’s Marienvespers and Osvaldo Golijov’s Oceana. Jeannette is passionate about collaborating on new works, having recently premiered Simon Andrews’ Seasons in FUSE: Collaborations in Song and sang the East Coast premiere of Jenni Brandon’s Sea Smoke on Gichigami.

Jiayin Shi

Jiayin Shi is an operatic baritone singer, currently pursuing a doctoral degree at Boston University, School of Music. With a wide range of performing experiences, Jiayin Shi has served in various genres, including opera, oratorio, musical theater, and art songs. He has been praised for his performances in works such as Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Philip Glass and Robert Moran’s The Juniper Tree, as well as his work in the musical theater genre, including a Chinese musical: May Be Tomorrow Belongs to Me. Jiayin Shi earned two master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the China Conservatory of Music. He also received his bachelor’s degree from the China Conservatory of Music. With the passion of a musician, Jiayin Shi keeps on the journey of sharing his music with audiences around the world.

Lilit Hartunian

Violinist Lilit Hartunian performs at the forefront of contemporary music innovation, both as soloist and highly in-demand collaborative artist. First prize winner in the 2021 Black House Collective New Music Soloist Competition, Ms. Hartunian’s "Paganiniesque virtuosity" and “captivating and luxurious tone” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) are frequently on display at the major concert halls of Boston, including multiple solo performances at Jordan Hall and chamber music at Symphony Hall (Boston Symphony Orchestra Insights Series), as well as at leading academic institutions, where she often appears as both soloist and new music specialist. Highlights from the 2022-2023 season include performances with A Far Cry at The Kennedy Center, Boston Modern Orchestra Project at Carnegie Hall, and [Switch~ Ensemble] at June in Buffalo.

Stephen Marotto

A native of Norwalk, Connecticut, Stephen has received a Bachelors degree with honors from the University of Connecticut, and Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Boston University. Stephen’s formative teachers include Michael Reynolds, Kangho Lee, Marc

Johnson, and Rhonda Rider. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Stephen plays regularly with chamber groups throughout New England and also performs on various new music concert series in the Boston area and beyond. Stephen has attended music festivals at the

Banff Centre, Cortona Sessions for New Music and SoundSCAPE festival in Italy, and the Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany. Stephen has a wide range of musical interest that include contemporary chamber music, improvisatory music, and electroacoustic music.

Philipp Stäudlin

Stäudlin is an award-winning virtuoso saxophonist who has performed hundreds of concerts throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. His characteristic tonal qualities, deep sense of phrasing, and superb technical skills make him one of the most unique voices in today's classical saxophone world.

A native of Friedrichshafen, Germany, Stäudlin has appeared as a soloist with the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Sound Icon ensemble, White Rabbit Ensemble (former ensemble-in-residence at Harvard University), Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, Callithumpian Consort, Bielefelder Philharmoniker, Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, Tufts University Orchestra, Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, and the Providence Singers.

Mike Williams

Hailed by the Boston Globe as “one of the city’s best percussionists,” Mike Williams has performed throughout North America and Europe and is a regular performer in the Boston area. An advocate for contemporary music, he is a member of the new music sinfonietta Sound Icon, Callithumpian Consort and is the percussionist and artistic director of Guerilla Opera, with whom he has commissioned and premiered 14 new chamber operas since 2007. He has also performed with such groups as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Ludovico Ensemble, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, and Harvard Group for New Music. Williams has worked with many of the leading composers of our time, including Pierluigi Billone, Philippe Leroux, Salvatore Sciarrino, Gunther Schuller, and Roger Reynolds, and he has been involved in numerous recordings on labels such as Cantaloupe, BMOP/sound, Albany, and Northwest Classics.

About the Design and Production Team

Saskia Martinez

Saskia Martinez (they/them) is a Boston-based scene designer and scenic artist. Regional credits include: Coriolanus, Seven Guitars (Actors’ Shakespeare Project),  Little Women: The Musical (Wheelock Family Theatre), Nina Simone: Four Women, Snow White, The Little Foxes, Appropriate (South Coast Repertory Theatre). Education: Boston University.

Nuozhou Wang

Nuozhou is a filmmaker and a video artist based in the US. She has designed projection for various opera productions and has directed, cinematographed, and created visual effects for numerous films and videos. Her work, featuring women characters invariably, explores gender, class, and sexuality. Nuozhou has engaged in the creation of works presented at various venues including the Museum of Modern Art, Pioneer Works, and Art Basel. Her works have aired on WCVB and have been featured in Broadway World, The Boston Globe, Vogue, Boston Musical Intelligencer, South China Morning Post, NIKKEI Asia, etc. Nuozhou received her BFA in Sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design.

Marie Yokoyama

Marie Yokoyama (she/her) is a lighting and set designer based in NY. Her lighting credit includes Rinaldo at Minnesota Opera; Orpheus in the Underworld and Rake's Progress at Juilliard; note to a friend at Tokyo Bunkakaikan; Merry Widow at Opera Theater Pittsburgh; Kim’s Convenience at Westport CountyPlayhouse; Searching for Mr. Moon at Portland Stage; Mystery of Irma Vep at St. Louis Rep; Testmatch at American Conservatory Theater San Francisco; Tiny Beautiful Things at Merrimack Repertory Theatre; Do You Feel Anger at Vineyard Theatre; and Pillowtalk with Kyoung's Pacific Beats. She is the Associate Artist for the Redhouse Arts Center where she has designed Macbeth, Fences, God of Carnage, On Golden Pond, and Ragtime.

Lindsay Hoisington

Lindsay Hoisington (Costume Designer) is a Boston-based Costume Designer, Wardrobe Supervisor, and Draper. She has worked as a Designer for Company Theatre on Frozen Jr. and Roald Dahl's Matilda, the Musical, Virginia Children's theatre on The Addam's Family and Cinderella, and here at Guerilla Opera for Her | Alive.Un.Dead. She has been Wardrobe Supervisor at WFT@BU, for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Actor's Shakespeare project and several others. She has also been a dresser for The Huntington as well as Odessy Opera, White Snakes Productions, and others. She has draped for Merrimack Rep Theatre and frequently for her design jobs. She hopes to bring compassion, empathy, and truth to every work she is in.

Keithlyn Parkman

Keithlyn B Parkman graduated from the Boston University College of Fine Arts with a BFA in Lighting Design. 10 years ago, during her time at BU, she stumbled across this zany little opera family, and the rest is history. Keithlyn has done a great many things for Guerilla over the years, but Thrilling may top the scales in number of jobs held, including but not limited to Lighting & Scenic Design, Props Mistress and Associate Producer. GO is an ensemble after all. When not running around Boston with Guerilla, Parkman shares her passion for theater making by mentoring young theater artists at various highschools in her hometown of NYC. Recent Guerilla credits include SALT, Rumpelstiltskin and Ofelia's Life Dream. Upcoming projects include Alice By Heart (The Beacon School) and Chicago (Berkeley Carroll).

Sarah Schneider

Sarah Schneider (she/her) is a Boston-based stage manager and child supervisor. In addition to her work with Guerilla Opera (Rumpelstiltskin, Emergence Fellowship Showcase), she has worked with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Boston Ballet, Huntington Theatre Company, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, Company One, the Boston University Opera Institute, and more. Sarah is a graduate of Boston University where she earned her BFA in Stage Management.

Jolie Frazer-Madge

Jolie Frazer-Madge (she/her) is excited to be returning to Guerilla Opera, having previously staged managed I Give You My Home and The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. Previous Boston opera stage management credits include  X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (Odyssey Opera/Boston Modern Opera Project), and L'Arbore di Diana (New England Conservatory). Jolie holds a BFA in Stage Management from Boston University.

Aliana de la Guardia

Aliana de la Guardia is a Cuban-American soprano vocalist, arts leader, producer, and voice teacher. Specializing in new music and opera, she collaborates with opera companies, chamber ensembles, and varied artists nationwide. She is a co-founding artist and Artistic Director of Guerilla Opera, half of Bahué, a voice and percussion duo, and a PARMA Recordings Artist. She is the owner of the Dirty Paloma Voice Studio where she teaches private voice lessons, as well as at the Community Music School of Springfield, with speaking engagements at institutions, initiatives, conventions, and convenings nationwide.


COVID-19 Policy: All visitors are required to be masked during the duration of the performance. Performers may be unmasked while performing. View more on our visitor policy

Contact | ashley.yung@bcnc.net


The commissioning of Emily Koh for HER | alive.un.dead: a media opera received funding from OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

This opera is supported in part by a Grants for Arts Projects Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, a Live Arts Boston Grant award from The Boston Foundation and their partners at the Barr Foundation and Dunamis., a grant from Eastman’s Institute for Music Leadership’s funds from the Paul R. Judy Center for Innovation and Research, and an award from the New Music USA Creator Development Fund.

This world-premiere opera was developed in partnership with the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and the Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts.

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Outside the Lines: Artist Talk and Drawing Session with Sanika Phawde & payal kumar
May
7
2:00 PM14:00

Outside the Lines: Artist Talk and Drawing Session with Sanika Phawde & payal kumar

Join Call and Response artists Sanika Phawde and payal kumar on Sunday, May 7th for an artist talk and live drawing session! Attendees are invited to take part in a few drawing exercises led by the artists, so please be sure to bring your own handheld drawing materials along. Space is limited and registration is required, please see the link below for the Eventbrite page.

Suggested drawing materials: sketchpad or notebook, pencils, markers, crayons, as well as a book, clipboard, or other hard surface to draw on.

Outside the Lines: Artist Talk and Drawing Session with Sanika Phawde & payal kumar is part of Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times. The exhibition features illustrations by seven local AAPI artists who have used their craft to speak to this complicated moment. As with other kinds of labor, these artistic gestures offer critical support to the community by giving voice to different experiences and encouraging care. 

Curated by: Leslie Anne Condon

Exhibiting Artists: Deborah Johnson, payal kumar, Lillian Lee, Shaina Lu, Yuko Okabe, Sanika Phawde, Wen-ti Tsen 

Zine Artists: Pampi Amdas + Ebbie Russell for the Neighborhood Grow Plan, Asian American Resource Workshop, Asian Students in Alliance’s Lunchbox Magazine, Maya Beach + Asian Coalition Massachusetts, Jennifer Duan, Maria Fong, Anne Hu, Katelyn Lipton, Untangle BU, Keith Khanh Truong

To learn more about the exhibition, go to Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times

Registration is required, and space is limited. Register today!

Contact Leslie Condon at Leslie.Condon@bcnc.net with any questions.

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Found In Translation Season II | Virtual Launch Party
Apr
21
6:00 PM18:00

Found In Translation Season II | Virtual Launch Party

Join Asian American Theater Artists of Boston, CHUANG Stage, and Pao Arts Center in welcoming another season of bilingual theatre in Boston Chinatown, and celebrating what we’ve accomplished together in our past season!

Check out the exciting new plays we’ll reveal on the spot, enjoy surprise performances by our FiT alumni artists, and meet the playwrights and directors that will be making these bold new works rooted in community and belonging, as they take center stage in Found in Translation Season II.

Sign up now to secure a virtual spot at the party including a Zoom link!

Free | Suggested Donation $10

ABOUT FOUND IN TRANSLATION

Found in Translation is a collaboration between Asian American Theatre Artists of Boston (AATAB), CHUANG Stage, and Pao Arts Center, Found in Translation is a series of multilingual staged plays and community gatherings activating Chinatown since Fall 2021. Found in Translation amplifies the power and complexities of being multilingual, immigrants, or identifying as Asian American in Greater Boston; these performances connect the pan-Asian community through conversations about race, language, identity, and our experiences when it comes to belongings and a collective more just future.

Season II of Found in Translation is supported by the Public Arts for Spatial Justice grant from New England Foundation of the Arts (NEFA).

Contact | Ashley Yung, Performance Program Manager

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Online Chinese Brush Painting for Adults: Scenes of Spring with Goldfish and Grass
Apr
15
2:00 PM14:00

Online Chinese Brush Painting for Adults: Scenes of Spring with Goldfish and Grass

Take a Saturday afternoon to relax, create, and meditate from your home with virtual Chinese brush painting.

Scenes of Spring, Goldfish and Grass, by Xiaoyong Liu

Join us for our “Scenes of Spring” series.

As we inch our way into Spring, we’ll be delving into more colors, animals, and budding natural scenery.

Classes taught in Mandarin, English-friendly | Online

Deadline for registration with mailed supplies: Sunday, April 2. Please allow 10 days for mailing and delivery. Shipping only available within the continental U.S. A supply set can be used for more than one class.

Other Dates:

February 18 | 2:00 - 3:30 pm

March 18 | 2:00 - 3:30 pm

Supply list: Chinese calligraphy brush; Chinese calligraphy black Ink; calligraphy rice paper; 12 color Chinese watercolor paint set.

About the Artist

Xiaoyong Liu emigrated to the United States in 2008. In 2009, he started teaching children and adults Chinese painting of landscapes, flowers, and birds. In recent years, his students have exhibited their art and participated and won awards in the National Teenagers Calligraphy Contests.

Contact: arts@bcnc.net | 617-863-9080

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Apr
8
6:30 PM18:30

Asian Glow: Unapologetic Diaspora

Join Pao Arts Center for a night of performances, curated by Jane Park. Featuring a plethora of talents from a variety of disciplines, celebrating the plenitude of individuality and talent in the Asian diaspora, without explanation or apology.

Free | Suggested Donation $10

ABOUT ASIAN GLOW

Asian Glow is a performance series for the Asian diaspora in Boston, particularly for creatives seeking affinity on their stage. Asian artists often face tokenism and pressure to reference their cultural ancestry, while also being treated as monolith under the terms “Asian American” and “model minority.” Asian Glow encourages artists to be seen as individuals and perform as the majority, without explanation or apology.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Jane Park is a musician who lives in Cambridge and works at Hancock Church. She is the songwriter for local band Poor Eliza and plays violin in the New England Philharmonic. In 2018, she celebrated her EP Release Ghost Town with a 40-city East Coast/Midwest tour and created Asian Glow. In 2020, the COVID-19 lockdown put a halt to busy-ness and brought Jane to hiking and watching KDramas. She is grateful to be here on Massa-adchu-es-et and Pawtucket land, and privileged to be a part of this community.

About the Performers

Nora Panahi

Nora Panahi is an Iranian-American stand-up comic and drag king with a manual transmission. She has been featured in HBO's Women in Comedy Festival, the YallaPunk Arts Festival, and Jacque's Cabaret High Key. You can find her performing in and out of drag all over Boston, New York, and New England. Panahi is also a staff writer for Sabah Il-Khara, a daytime talk show for the queer SWANA (South West Asian, North African) crowd.

Felice Ling

Felice Ling is an occasionally international street performer and magician who can be found most often performing in Boston's Faneuil Hall. Internationally, she's worked the streets of the Edinburgh, Edmonton, and Adelaide Fringe Festivals. Locally, she is the executive producer of Boston's only open mic magic show -- the Boston Magic Lab -- where she is working to build a magic community that welcomes and bolsters diverse local talent. Sometimes funny, often awkward, and hopefully astonishing, this is Just Felice. 

The Michael Character

The Michael Character is the long-running musical project of James Ikeda and a fluid assemblage of collaborators. Although the band's sound has changed many times across its fifteen album run (and counting), it's always basically been politically-committed, historically-minded, socially-engaged songwriting ground and stuffed into an acoustic punk hot dog casing of one sort or another. For fans of diner breakfasts, 8-ball pool, novel applications of niche performance theory, the historian's craft, and militant unionism.

TIFFY

TIFFY is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer Tiffany Sammy. TIFFY represents what it means for genres to clash and meld in 2023, preserving a bottled-up mix of dream rock, sugar pop, and coarse punk. Often boiling the terminology down to "soft punk". Her music has been featured in the FADER, Paste Magazine, NPR and Vanyaland. She actively plays throughout New England with her live band, and has been a featured artist at music festivals such as Thing in the Spring Music & Arts Festival (Peterborough, NH), Foreside Music Festival (Kittery, ME) and Somerville’s multicultural arts festival ArtBeat.

Zayde Buti

Zayde Buti is a Boston-based artist who combines music, comedy, and performance art to offer entertaining and thought-provoking social commentary. His unconventional pop songs, offbeat humor, and eccentric behavior make for captivating performances on stage, screen, and in public spaces. 

COVID-19 Policy:

All visitors are required to be masked during the duration of the performance. Performers may be unmasked while performing. View more on our visitor policy.

Contact | Ashley Yung, Performance Program Manager

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Opening Reception: Workers Statues in Chinatown by Wen-ti Tsen and Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times
Mar
31
6:00 PM18:00

Opening Reception: Workers Statues in Chinatown by Wen-ti Tsen and Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times


Join Pao Arts Center for the opening reception of its two Spring 2023 Exhibitions: Workers Statues in Chinatown by Wen-ti Tsen and Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the artists and learn more about their work. See below for more information about each exhibition.

Workers Statues in Chinatown by Wen-ti Tsen pays tribute to the workers who have uplifted Boston Chinatown through their essential labor over the decades. The four sets of clay models Tsen has developed for the project represent four different workers from the Chinese immigrant community: the laundryman, the restaurant worker, the garment worker, and the grandmother tending a child. Each set of figures will serve as models in the creation of life-sized figures to be cast into bronze and permanently installed in prominent public spaces across Chinatown. These statues will offer a more complex and diverse reflection of our local histories and question who is celebrated through public art in our City. 

Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times features illustrations and graphic designs by seven local AAPI artists who have used their craft to speak to this complicated moment. As with other kinds of labor, these artistic gestures offer critical support to the community by giving voice to different experiences and encouraging care.  

Curated by: Leslie Anne Condon

Participating Artists: Deborah Johnson, payal kumar, Lillian Lee, Shaina Lu, Yuko Okabe, Sanika Phawde, Wen-ti Tsen 

Opening Reception | Friday, March 31, 2023 | 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Registration is required, please register here.

Contact Leslie Condon, Visual Arts Manager, with questions Leslie.Condon@bcnc.net

 

About the Artists

Deborah Johnson (she/they) is a queer Indian-American multidisciplinary artist based in Boston, Massachusetts. She works predominantly in digital illustration and painting in gouache. She is currently completing her Master’s in Social Work at Boston College. Deborah utilizes bright and joyful colors and written affirmations to address issues of mental health, the importance of intimate friendship and the beauty of queer relationships. The emotions of joy and love are inherently political and she hopes her art provides a rest stop for individuals to reflect on those values. To learn more about Deborah’s work for the show, click here.

payal (they/them) is a multidisciplinary cultural worker, sexual and reproductive health justice advocate, and organizer whose work is rooted in the in-betweens. Currently based on Massachusett, Pawtucket, and Wampanoag territories, they invoke the power of intergenerational community building to construct tender new possibilities of being beyond borders and capital. Their illustrations, zines, spoken word pieces, and workshops have found a home across Chinatown walls and grassroots protests, in gallery spaces like the Museum of Fine Arts and international TRANS* Future Archives, and through collaborative learning spaces like the Allied Media Conference and the School of Arts and Social Justice Boston. payal's visual work weaves together folk art from their ancestral villages in Bihar with traditional Americana motifs to amplify peoples’ movements and explore the in-between spaces of trauma, coloniality, queerness, and embodiment. They are an organizer with Subcontinental Drift Boston, a monthly multilingual open mic centering South Asian diasporic voices, and with the Boston South Asian Coalition (BSAC), a transnational organizing collective fighting for labor, race, caste, and gender equity. Through creative strategies, they cultivate playful spaces that challenge the state's monopoly on Imagination so that we may all fully unearth and activate our collective power. To learn more about payal’s work for the show, click here.

Lillian Lee (she/her) is an illustrator, designer and cartoonist of Empty Bamboo Girl comics, which appears in the Sampan Newspaper. In high school, she was rejected from the art advanced placement class. It was a crushing blow. Years later, after having graduated from UMass Amherst and working in publishing and tech, she applied and was accepted to the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Since then, she has worked in character design, editorial illustration and collaborated on a line of baby apparel and stationary. Currently, she lives in Boston, MA, where she was born and raised, with her husband, toddler and cat. She is also a member of a lion dance team and is a Swiftie.  To learn more about Lillian’s work for the show, click here.

Shaina Lu 呂明穎 (she/her), a queer Taiwanese-American community artist exploring the intersection of art, education, and activism. Shaina has been an ESL teacher in Yunnan, a media arts teacher in Boston Public Schools, and a child-care program director in Chinatown. She loves juice. To learn more about Shaina’s work for the show, click here.

Yuko Okabe (she/they) is an illustrator and cultural worker playing at the intersection of youthful whimsy and community engagement. She holds a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. Fellowships include RISD’s Maharam STEAM Fellowship with the Boston Children’s Hospital, RISD’s Leadership and Community Engagement Fellowship with DownCity Design, Enterprise Community Partners Rose Fellowship with North Shore Community Development Coalition, and the Walter Feldman Fellowship for Emerging Artists. She has been awarded residencies from the Walkaway House, Pao Arts Center, and Urbano Project. Okabe’s work has received recognition from the Society of Illustrators NYC, Society of Illustrators LA, Creative Quarterly, and 3x3 The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. Collaborators include Big Cartel, Hester Street, Design Studio for Social Intervention, The New York Times, City of Boston Arts and Culture, and Light Grey Art Lab. For children’s books, she’s represented by Andrea Morrison of Writer’s House. Okabe is a proud auntie and an amateur oatmeal influencer @yukoats.  To learn more about Yuko’s work for the show, click here.

Sanika Phawde (she/they) is an illustrator, educator, cartoonist and reportage artist born and raised in India and based between Providence, Boston and New York City. To learn more about Sanika’s work for the show, click here.

Wen-ti Tsen (he/him) is a painter and public artist. He was born in China, grew up in Paris and London before coming to the U.S. to study art at Boston Museum School. Since the mid-1970s, after living and traveling for several years in different countries, he has been engaged in making art that explores cultural connections: with personal paintings and installations, large-scale public art sculptures, and working with communities to express social issues in various art forms. To learn more about Wen-ti’s work for the show, click here.

Wen-ti Tsen’s work is being featured in a solo exhibition, Chinatown Workers Statues in our lobby gallery, and our Spring 2023 group show, Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times.

 
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Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times
Mar
24
to Jun 30

Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times

Over the centuries, artists have created images and illustrations in response to the world around them, to tell stories or to amplify messages of protest and solidarity, especially during times of widespread crisis and upheaval. This has been especially true for AAPI artists today, as our community continues to navigate multi-pandemics, including COVID-19 and its reverberations, and the rise of anti-Asian discrimination and violence. Like other illustrators over the years, local Boston AAPI artists have responded to these tragedies with images and words of resistance and of comfort.  

Call and Response: Illustration in Uncertain Times features illustrations and graphic designs by seven local AAPI artists who have used their craft to speak to this complicated moment. As with other kinds of labor, these artistic gestures offer critical support to the community by giving voice to different experiences and encouraging care.  

Curated by: Leslie Anne Condon

Participating Artists: Deborah Johnson, payal kumar, Lillian Lee, Shaina Lu, Yuko Okabe, Sanika Phawde, Wen-ti Tsen 

Opening Reception | Friday, March 31, 2023 | 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Registration is required, please register here.

Contact Leslie Condon, Visual Arts Manager, with questions Leslie.Condon@bcnc.net


As part of Call and Response, we have invited Boston-area artists to submit zine artwork in response to the themes of the show, curated by Pao Arts Center Spring 2023 interns, Rachel Liang, Christina Yang, and Steven Zhu. Please see the list of selected works below!

Pampi Amdas + Ebbie Russell for the Neighborhood Grow Plan | Spirited Global Resistance Ninnauwaet/Pópon* (Fall/Winter* in Nipmuc language) last of 4 seasonal zines to mark seasonal changes in light | 2022 | Collage and Digital Art | 17 x 11

Asian American Resource Workshop’s Environmental Justice Working Group | Rice Water | 2021 | Mixed media | 8.5 x 11

Asian Students in Alliance’s Lunchbox Magazine | Fall 2021 | 2021 | Glossy paper | 8.5 x 5.5

Maya Beach + Asian Coalition Massachusetts | summer workshop zine | 2022 | Digital Collage | 8.5 x 11

Jennifer Duan | Lessons in Internalizing Self-Love | 2023 | Digital Print | 3 x 4.5

Maria Fong | Sorting Through | 2020 | 40 page zine, 5.5 x 8.5

Anne Hu | This I Hope | 2023 | traditional ink stone and bush (mo and mao bi) | 2.75 x 4.25

Katelyn Lipton | We are Tigers | 2023 | pen on paper | 9 x 12 unfolded

Untangle BU | SWEET/BITTER | 2022 | satin printing and soft touch lamination | 5 x 8

Keith Khanh Truong | Mẹ: a story told by her son | Risograph printed with Yellow, Fluorescent Pink, Cornflower Blue, and Flat Gold on French Paper. Coil bound | 5 x 7

 

About the Artists

Deborah Johnson (she/they) is a queer Indian-American multidisciplinary artist based in Boston, Massachusetts. She works predominantly in digital illustration and painting in gouache. She is currently completing her Master’s in Social Work at Boston College. Deborah utilizes bright and joyful colors and written affirmations to address issues of mental health, the importance of intimate friendship and the beauty of queer relationships. The emotions of joy and love are inherently political and she hopes her art provides a rest stop for individuals to reflect on those values. To learn more about Deborah’s work for the show, click here.

payal (they/them) is a multidisciplinary cultural worker, sexual and reproductive health justice advocate, and organizer whose work is rooted in the in-betweens. Currently based on Massachusett, Pawtucket, and Wampanoag territories, they invoke the power of intergenerational community building to construct tender new possibilities of being beyond borders and capital. Their illustrations, zines, spoken word pieces, and workshops have found a home across Chinatown walls and grassroots protests, in gallery spaces like the Museum of Fine Arts and international TRANS* Future Archives, and through collaborative learning spaces like the Allied Media Conference and the School of Arts and Social Justice Boston. payal's visual work weaves together folk art from their ancestral villages in Bihar with traditional Americana motifs to amplify peoples’ movements and explore the in-between spaces of trauma, coloniality, queerness, and embodiment. They are an organizer with Subcontinental Drift Boston, a monthly multilingual open mic centering South Asian diasporic voices, and with the Boston South Asian Coalition (BSAC), a transnational organizing collective fighting for labor, race, caste, and gender equity. Through creative strategies, they cultivate playful spaces that challenge the state's monopoly on Imagination so that we may all fully unearth and activate our collective power. To learn more about payal’s work for the show, click here.

Lillian Lee (she/her) is an illustrator, designer and cartoonist of Empty Bamboo Girl comics, which appears in the Sampan Newspaper. In high school, she was rejected from the art advanced placement class. It was a crushing blow. Years later, after having graduated from UMass Amherst and working in publishing and tech, she applied and was accepted to the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Since then, she has worked in character design, editorial illustration and collaborated on a line of baby apparel and stationary. Currently, she lives in Boston, MA, where she was born and raised, with her husband, toddler and cat. She is also a member of a lion dance team and is a Swiftie.  To learn more about Lillian’s work for the show, click here.

Shaina Lu 呂明穎 (she/her), a queer Taiwanese-American community artist exploring the intersection of art, education, and activism. Shaina has been an ESL teacher in Yunnan, a media arts teacher in Boston Public Schools, and a child-care program director in Chinatown. She loves juice. To learn more about Shaina’s work for the show, click here.

Yuko Okabe (she/they) is an illustrator and cultural worker playing at the intersection of youthful whimsy and community engagement. She holds a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. Fellowships include RISD’s Maharam STEAM Fellowship with the Boston Children’s Hospital, RISD’s Leadership and Community Engagement Fellowship with DownCity Design, Enterprise Community Partners Rose Fellowship with North Shore Community Development Coalition, and the Walter Feldman Fellowship for Emerging Artists. She has been awarded residencies from the Walkaway House, Pao Arts Center, and Urbano Project. Okabe’s work has received recognition from the Society of Illustrators NYC, Society of Illustrators LA, Creative Quarterly, and 3x3 The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. Collaborators include Big Cartel, Hester Street, Design Studio for Social Intervention, The New York Times, City of Boston Arts and Culture, and Light Grey Art Lab. For children’s books, she’s represented by Andrea Morrison of Writer’s House. Okabe is a proud auntie and an amateur oatmeal influencer @yukoats.  To learn more about Yuko’s work for the show, click here.

Sanika Phawde (she/they) is an illustrator, educator, cartoonist and reportage artist born and raised in India and based between Providence, Boston and New York City. To learn more about Sanika’s work for the show, click here.

Wen-ti Tsen (he/him) is a painter and public artist. He was born in China, grew up in Paris and London before coming to the U.S. to study art at Boston Museum School. Since the mid-1970s, after living and traveling for several years in different countries, he has been engaged in making art that explores cultural connections: with personal paintings and installations, large-scale public art sculptures, and working with communities to express social issues in various art forms. To learn more about Wen-ti’s work for the show, click here.

 
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Workers Statues in Chinatown by Wen-ti Tsen
Mar
24
to Jun 30

Workers Statues in Chinatown by Wen-ti Tsen

For over thirty years, artist and activist Wen-ti Tsen has utilized his ideas and artistic practice to advocate for the local neighborhood and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. His latest project, Chinatown Worker Statues, pays tribute to the workers who have uplifted Boston Chinatown through their essential labor over the decades. The four sets of clay models Tsen has developed for the project represent four different workers from the Chinese immigrant community: the laundryman, the restaurant worker, the garment worker, and the grandmother tending a child. Each set of figures will serve as models in the creation of life-sized figures to be cast into bronze, to be permanently installed in prominent public spaces across Chinatown. These statues will offer a more complex and diverse reflection of our local histories and question who is celebrated through public art in our City. 

The Chinatown Worker Statues project was initially funded by the Public Art for Spatial Justice grant from New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) and has been endorsed and fully funded as an artist-initiated project, with a full budget, by the Boston City's Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture, with approval from the Boston Arts Commission. It will be realized in the coming months and be installed for the world to see. 

Opening Reception | Friday, March 31, 2023 | 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Registration is required, please register here.

Contact Leslie Condon, Visual Arts Manager, with questions Leslie.Condon@bcnc.net

 

About the Artist

Wen-ti Tsen (he/him) is a painter and public artist. He was born in China, grew up in Paris and London before coming to the U.S. to study art at Boston Museum School. Since the mid-1970s, after living and traveling for several years in different countries, he has been engaged in making art that explores cultural connections: with personal paintings and installations, large-scale public art sculptures, and working with communities to express social issues in various art forms. To learn more about Wen-ti’s work for the show, click here.

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Online Chinese Brush Painting for Adults: Scenes of Spring with Goldfish and Blossoms
Mar
18
2:00 PM14:00

Online Chinese Brush Painting for Adults: Scenes of Spring with Goldfish and Blossoms

Take a Saturday afternoon to relax, create, and meditate from your home with virtual Chinese brush painting.

Scenes of Spring, Goldfish and Blossoms, by Xiaoyong Liu

Join us for our “Scenes of Spring” series.

As we inch our way into Spring, we’ll be delving into more colors, animals, and budding natural scenery.

Classes taught in Mandarin, English-friendly | Online

Deadline for registration with mailed supplies: Sunday, March 5. Please allow 10 days for mailing and delivery. Shipping only available within the continental U.S. A supply set can be used for more than one class.

Other Dates:

February 18 | 2:00 - 3:30 pm

April 15 | 2:00 - 3:30 pm

Supply list: Chinese calligraphy brush; Chinese calligraphy black Ink; calligraphy rice paper; 12 color Chinese watercolor paint set.

About the Artist

Xiaoyong Liu emigrated to the United States in 2008. In 2009, he started teaching children and adults Chinese painting of landscapes, flowers, and birds. In recent years, his students have exhibited their art and participated and won awards in the National Teenagers Calligraphy Contests.

Contact: arts@bcnc.net | 617-863-9080

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Online Chinese Brush Painting for Adults: Scenes of Spring with Goldfish Under Blue Leaves
Feb
18
2:00 PM14:00

Online Chinese Brush Painting for Adults: Scenes of Spring with Goldfish Under Blue Leaves

Take a Saturday afternoon to relax, create, and meditate from your home with virtual Chinese brush painting.

Scenes of Spring, Goldfish Under Blue Leaves, by Xiaoyong Liu

Join us for our “Scenes of Spring” series.

As we inch our way into Spring, we’ll be delving into more colors, animals, and budding natural scenery.

Classes taught in Mandarin, English-friendly | Online

Deadline for registration with mailed supplies: Sunday, February 5. Please allow 10 days for mailing and delivery. Shipping only available within the continental U.S. A supply set can be used for more than one class.

Other Dates:

March 18 | 2:00 - 3:30 pm

April 15 | 2:00 - 3:30 pm

Supply list: Chinese calligraphy brush; Chinese calligraphy black Ink; calligraphy rice paper; 12 color Chinese watercolor paint set.

About the Artist

Xiaoyong Liu emigrated to the United States in 2008. In 2009, he started teaching children and adults Chinese painting of landscapes, flowers, and birds. In recent years, his students have exhibited their art and participated and won awards in the National Teenagers Calligraphy Contests.

Contact: arts@bcnc.net | 617-863-9080

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Dear Corky - Film Screening
Feb
12
2:00 PM14:00

Dear Corky - Film Screening

THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT! Limited Tickets may be available at door, space permitting (space not guaranteed)

For over fifty years, New York native Corky Lee photographed his hometown's Chinatown, and Asian American communities around the country. With a strong sense of social justice, he captured activists, celebrities, and everyday heroes with equal passion, taking over a hundred thousand photos. Sadly, while documenting the latest rise of anti-Asian hate crimes, Corky fell to COVID. Through his own words and pictures, Dear Corky reveals the man behind the camera.

The screening will be followed by a conversation between the film’s director, Curtis Chin, and The Chinatown Project (TCP), a grassroots organization dedicated to the documentation and preservation of Boston Chinatown's people, history, businesses, and organizations through visual media.

Free | Suggested Donation $10

This event is now sold out!

About the Director

Curtis Chin

A co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop in New York City, Curtis Chin served as the non-profits’ first Executive Director. He went on to write for television before transitioning to social justice documentaries. Chin has screened his films at over 600 venues in sixteen countries. His essays have appeared in CNN, Bon Appetit, and the Emancipator/ Boston Globe. A graduate of the University of Michigan and former Visiting Scholar at New York University, Chin has received awards from ABC/Disney Television, New York Foundation for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and more. His memoir, "Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant" will be published by Little, Brown in Fall 2023.

Aubrey Tang

Aubrey Tang is currently a second-year PhD student at Dartmouth College studying Materials Science and Engineering. Her research is focused on harnessing materials and their properties for use in renewable energy applications. Outside of the lab, she is also a co-founder of The Chinatown Project where she is able to use her passion for visual artwork to share the stories of Boston Chinatown. In her free time, she enjoys playing volleyball, watching reality TV shows, and cooking or baking new things!

This Event Is Now Sold Out .

Billy Chen

Billy Chen is a full-time UX / UI designer at Klaviyo. In his role, he is dedicated to building cohesive and innovative design systems that are true to the brand's identity. He is also the co-founder and executive creative director for The Chinatown Project. As the creative lead, he designs all branding and visual assets for social and video content. On top of his many roles, Billy is also a wedding photographer/videographer and volleyball coach.

Contact | Ashley Yung, Performance Program Manager

COVID-19 Policy:

All visitors are required to be masked during the duration of the performance. Performers may be unmasked while performing.

View more on our visitor policy.

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Welcome New Year and Artist Wang Chong
Jan
29
3:00 PM15:00

Welcome New Year and Artist Wang Chong

Explore and inquire about the artistic journey and complexities of creating boundary-breaking international art.

Celebrate Lunar New Year and welcome theater artist Wang Chong (China) to Boston before the world premiere of his newest show, MADE IN CHINA 2.0, presented by ArtsEmerson. The event will share Wang Chong’s work-in-progress production of KISS KISS BANG BANG 2.0, which was recorded at Tokyo Metropolitan Theater, followed by an artist conversation between Wang Chong and Lydia Jialu Li moderated by Alison Qu of CHUANG Stage.

Free | Suggested Donation $10

Contact | Ashley Yung, Performance Program Manager

COVID-19 Policy:

All visitors are required to be masked during the duration of the performance. Performers may be unmasked while performing.

View more on our visitor policy.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Wang Chong is recognized around the world as one of Beijing’s most creative, provocative theatre directors, celebrated for his visionary experiments with classic and contemporary plays. He is the founder of Beijing-based performance group Théâtre du Rêve Expérimental. He is the most internationally commissioned Chinese theater director. His works have been performed in 20 countries. Wang’s productions include The Warfare of Landmine 2.0 (2013 Festival/Tokyo Award), Teahouse 2.0, (2018 One Drama Awards Best Little Theater Work), Waiting for Godot (live online performance), and The Plague 2.0 (virtual performance spanning 6 continents). He is currently working on his solo show Made in China 2.0 and two documentary films.

Lydia Jialu Li (they/she) Lydia’s creative gaze centers on “trauma”, “healing” and “revolution” in specific social and personal events in the feminist and Chinese diaspora experience. Assembled in unique kaleidoscopes of movement, sound, and texts, their works formulate journeys into unknown territories. Selected work include Guerrilla’s Song (CalArts), The Hidden Territories of The Bacchae (Double Edge Theatre), Little Red Book or Plural Bodies (NOW Festival, REDCAT), Rasgos Asiáticos by Virginia Grise (Center of New Performance). www.lilydia.com

ABOUT THE ORGS

ArtsEmerson is Emerson College’s professional presenting and producing organization. As part of an institution that believes in fostering creativity, passion, excellence, and inclusivity, we are using art to bring the world to Boston, and to bring Boston together.

Founded in 2018, CHUANG Stage is the first Mandarin- English bilingual, bicultural theater company nationwide; its mission is to cultivate joyful and challenging Asian American stories that pioneer new activism in the arts.

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Lunar New Year Celebration
Jan
29
11:00 AM11:00

Lunar New Year Celebration

Pao Arts Center’s interactive Lunar New Year activities are back!

Experience interactive cultural activities for all ages, including: Chinese red envelope folding, Korean calligraphy, Korean dasik cookie stamping on clay, and rabbit-related crafts.

Suggested Donation $10

COVID-19 Policy:

All visitors are required to be masked during the duration of the event.

View more on our visitor policy.

Lion-Dance Demonstration and Workshop with Nüwa Athletic Club for ages 5-12pm (limit 10 children)

REGISTRATION FULL

Children ages 5-12 are invited to join this interactive workshop. Parents and siblings are welcome to watch. 

Sessions

11:30 AM - Noon

1:00 - 1:30 PM

2:00 - 2:30 PM


Drop In Activities


About Our Partners

Korean Cultural Society of Boston logo

Korean Cultural Society of Boston
Founded in October, 2012, the Korean Cultural Society of Boston (KCSB) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and provides opportunities for the Greater Boston area to learn and engage with arts, culture, and heritage of Korea while simultaneously empowering and promoting the Korean American community.​


Portrait of Lily Xie, Photo Credit: Mel Taing

Lily Xie
Lily Xie (she/her) is a Chinese-American artist and educator whose socially-engaged work explores desire, memory, and self-actualization for communities of color. In collaboration with local residents and grassroots organizers, she facilitates creative projects with a focus on public space, housing, and racial justice.


Nüwa Athletic Club

Nüwa Athletic Club
Nüwa Athletic Club, based in Boston, MA, provides an environment for Asian American girls and women to enhance their physical and emotional development through teamwork, sportsmanship and cultural activities which includes but is not limited to lion and dragon dance.


Photo of Harvard Asian American Brotherhood

Harvard Asian American Brotherhood
The Asian American Brotherhood is a pan-Asian organization from Harvard University that hosts various cultural affinity events centered around the Asian experience. 

Supported by

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