Murals | Performances
Activities | Exhibits | FAQ
Join us this fall, see, hear, create, and connect for the 8th annual Experience Chinatown Arts Festival. Together, celebrate the rich cultural fabric of Boston Chinatown through free creative activities. This year’s theme, Imagine a Greener Future for Chinatown, is the throughline for murals and activities as we amplify the need for public green spaces in our neighborhood.
Explore Chinatown through the creative lens of muralists, who will display their works on local business storefronts from August 30 to October 17.
On Saturday, September 27, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Chinatown comes to life with live performances and activities at Chin Park on the Greenway, and exhibits across the neighborhood, Where We Meet: Imagining Gardens and Futures at Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany Street.
Murals
-
Pao Arts Center Back Deck
99 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02111
Artist statement: Jasmine is a beloved flower in Chinese culture, symbolizing purity and elegance. In imagining a greener future for Chinatown, we may wish for lush greenery, but that comes hand in hand with our little brethren: insects.
Scattered among the leaves are colorful bugs living in their own tiny world. Some are seen as lucky, like the ladybug, or beautiful like the butterfly - but also included are the hardworking ant, and the humble spider. Bugs are the foundation of the ecosystem. We may overlook them or treat them as pests, but there are no flowers, no songbirds, no greener future without our little guys. We can't just pick and choose the ones that we like - all creatures have their place in keeping the environment alive.
Step into a different perspective. The next time you see a bug, I encourage you to not step on it thoughtlessly - take a moment to observe its movements, think about its journey, and appreciate how much this little creature does for our world. -
Q Restaurant
660 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
Artist statement: Boston’s Chinatown formed in the 1870s as a hub of survival and opportunity. For over 150 years, it has withstood development, pollution, Chinese Exclusion, violence, immigration raids, displacement, and ongoing gentrification. While it’s one of Boston’s most densely-populated residential districts, Chinatown’s footprint — and green spaces — continue to shrink.
To imagine a greener future for Chinatown means to dream big; to manifest, free from oppression and against all odds, a community so fantastically lush and abundant that wildlife returns. That we experience a sighting of the mythological Fenghuang, a symbol of interconnectedness, peace, prosperity, and new beginnings. Depicted with it are the "Four Gentlemen”: the chrysanthemum, plum blossom, orchid, and bamboo, representing the four seasons; as well as a butterfly, crane, and panda. This imagery is inspired by traditional Chinese bird-and-flower paintings that evoke the resilience and appreciation of natural beauty. -
Happy Lamb Hot Pot
693 Washington St, Boston, MA 02116
Artist statement: We are a mother-daughter artist duo based in Massachusetts. Xiang Li is a master Chinese painter who spent 40 years working in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Fei Wu, her daughter, is a designer and storyteller who helps bring Xiang’s artwork to public spaces across the United States.
This mural celebrates Chinatown’s future through joy, community, and care for the environment. Our playful panda characters represent harmony between humans, animals, and nature. Each panda brings a story—honoring family, health, play, music, and love for the Earth.
We imagined a Chinatown where green spaces bloom alongside small businesses, where art and culture feed the soul, and where children can thrive. Our pandas play traditional drums, hold Olympic medals, and care for the next generation—while bright flowers and birds sing of renewal and hope.
Thank you for visiting! May this mural spark smiles, stories, and shared dreams for a greener future. -
Shōjō
9A Tyler St, Boston, MA 02111
Artist statement: Throughout Asia, planters are common ways to add greenery in areas that have limited space. It contains the actions of a neighborhood that takes root even through hardship, along with the wishes of its community to flourish through generations. The decorative plant pots not only showcase the enriched Asian culture, but also the resourceful spirit of its people. Each pottery is inspired by community spaces around Boston Chinatown that exist now. It echoes both the tradition and the history of Chinatown. Could you spot which space they represent? -
Dumpling Cafe
695 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
Artist statement: Chinatown is woven from threads of community, memory, culture, food, and gathering together, forming an unbreakable fabric of connection. This tapestry is shaped by the daily rhythms found in every Chinatown: people gathering before the gate plaza, playing games, chatting, sipping tea.
Drawing from my Taiwanese roots and family, the table is set with the Formosan black bear, tiger, and pig — each a zodiac sign from my family — joined by rabbits, the familiar inhabitants of Cambridge, my Boston home, and second home.
Surrounding them, lush greenery frames the scene, with Chinese vegetation threading across the composition. These living threads bridge the mythical creatures perched atop the Boston Chinatown Gate, watching over and blessing the community that thrives beneath their gaze. Threading together the culture, heritage, the inspiration, and the hope for a greener Chinatown -
Waku Waku Ramen
2 Tyler St, Boston, MA 02111
Artist statement: Tenacity. Power. Protection. Strength. When prompted to "Imagine a greener future for Chinatown," I immediately gravitated towards the image of a tiger, an animal imbued with powerful qualities in Asian culture, to represent the community. This mural is both a homage to Chinatown's history and a wish for the future. The trees and waves, a homage. Built atop what was once a beach, then a highway, our trees are not meant grow tall, yet the people, the hardy immigrants who settled and called this district their home, sprung their roots, creating a community that is both vibrant and alive. The chrysanthemums and grass bursting through the pavement, a wish. A wish not just for survival, but longevity and the persistence of life despite increasingly suffocating circumstances. I hope that this mural can inspire its viewers to learn more about Chinatown's story and feel just a fraction of the community's determination and strength. -
APM Coffee
99 Kneeland St, Boston, MA 02111
Artist statement: The taking of land from Chinatown to build highways displaced hundreds of families, and gentrification, pollution, and lack of green space remain significant neighborhood issues today. In fact, researchers have found that Chinatown has the highest levels of fine particulate matter among all MA neighborhoods, and among the highest levels of traffic air pollution in the Northeast U.S.
Birds reflect the environmental health of a neighborhood. Like humans, birds seek out comfort in the shade of trees and absorb the good and bad around them into their bodies. Research has also found that bird populations tend to flourish more in well-resourced neighborhoods, compared to those historically impacted by housing injustice.
In Chinatown, there are not enough birds. In my mural, a robin raises its young in a place lush with hawthorn fruit and strawberries. I dream that Chinatown can be a place where future generations grow up in coexistence with native birds, among healthy air, sufficient green spaces, and affordable housing for all. -
BCNC
38 Ash Street, Boston, MA 02111
Muralists
Kelly Jin is a Boston-based illustrator and the creative force behind Koobiie Mart, her independent art business. A lifelong artist, she’s been drawing since she could hold a pencil. As an American-born Chinese and child of immigrants, Kelly weaves her cultural background into her work, creating playful, vibrant pieces that celebrate the beauty of everyday life. Swooning over bright colors and joyful moments, her art often features simple but beloved subjects like food, animals, and scenes from nature, designed to spark warmth and delight.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
Amanda 陳 Beard Garcia is a Chinese American muralist, illustrator, and brand designer based in Dracut, MA. Through portraiture and digital design, Amanda’s studio practice reclaims and repaints her Chinese American identity by investigating the invisible Exclusion-era history and heritage of her ancestors. She is co-founder and principal of Likemind Design, a creative studio with a mission to elevate the brands of independently-owned businesses “just like us,” as well as founder of Lucky Knot Arts, a collaborative community centering AANHPIs through pop-up arts programming on the North Shore of Massachusetts.
Photo credit: Mel Taing
Xiang Li is an internationally acclaimed artist who specializes in the reproduction and restoration of ancient Chinese paintings at the Forbidden City of Beijing, China, where she worked as a Master Artist for 37 years. Li’s most recent collection, Chinese Empresses, features over 200 empresses painted with gemstone watercolors on silk and has been showcased at the Harvard Museums, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Worcester Art Museum, JMAC, Cambridge Public Library, Harvard Graduate School of Education, New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, among others.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
I am a Boston based Taiwanese artist, who has always been influenced by the idea that stories contain power. Art can be both beautiful and powerful. Through the narrative of my own illustrations, I got to express my unique perspective and experience with playful culture symbolism in color, textures, and layers.
Photo credit: Yiwen Wang & Lichun Wang
Trinity Kao
Trinity Kao is a Taiwanese-born architect and visual artist whose work explores the intersection of urbanism, storytelling, and spatial experience. Trained in classical art and architecture, she holds a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design and is a licensed architect in Taiwan. Her photography has received multiple awards, and her illustrations have been published across academic and cultural platforms.
Her creative practice spans illustration, photography, and site-specific installations. Her work is grounded in a belief that art and architecture share a common purpose: to reveal, question, and reimagine the environments we live in.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
Cute, bubbly, and bright? Or epic, moody, and chock-full of symmetry and detail? The question of which style to stick to never fails to fling the artist, Tao, into a brief identity crisis, but one thread of their work remains true: it demands to be seen. Bursting with energy, the artist (who once likened the way they choose color to a moth being drawn to a flame) blends bright colors and scratchy textures with imagery inspired by Asian patterns and paintings. Sometimes they want to obsess over detail. Sometimes they want to draw the prettiest person their mind can conceive and nearly quit in a perfectionist-induced flurry of rage and frustration. Other times, they just really, really want to draw something round, fun, and cute. Whatever the mood or theme may be, they let their heart land where it lands, confident that their love for creating will surely follow.
Photo courtesy of the artist.
KEOI Art (Em Ding) is a queer Cantonese American artist creating illustrations inspired by Asian American cultures, food, and cute dogs. Community is one of their core values. Their work has been featured as a mural at the Quincy-based nonprofit Panethnic Pourovers, in the Mei Mei Dumpling Disloyalty 2025 campaign, and in the Canto Cutie zine. Based in Greater Boston, they can be found around the city selling their illustrations at local markets and promoting Boston Cantonese Club.
Photo credit: Bella Wang Photography
The Experience Chinatown Youth Mural Arts program brings together nine hard-working high school youths to learn about Chinatown history, public art, and arts activism as they collectively work towards BCNC’s new mural, per this year’s Experience Chinatown theme—Imagining a Greener Future for Chinatown. Over two weeks, they collaborated on the design, considered the joy in working together, and painted a beautiful mural at BCNC. This summer, we were joined by Jannet, Samara, Noah, Noelle, Angy, Ellis, Aaron, and Doncarlo.
Photo credit: staff
Performance and activity announcement coming soon.
Sign up for updates.
Exhibits
Where We Meet: Imagining Gardens and Futures at Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany Street. Presented in collaboration with the Isabella Stewart Stewart Gardner Museum and supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts' Public Art for Spatial Justice program, with funding from the Barr Foundation and the Fund for the Arts at NEFA.
PlanTable located at Chin Park on the Greenway by Ecosistema Urbano is part of the Un-monument initiative presented by Pao Arts Center and curated by Lani Asunción. Created in partnership with The Greenway Conservancy and the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture, funded by the Mellon Foundation.
abundance among us: dragon and friends by Sheila Novak, Cass Li, and Wen-hao Tien with project support from Maria Fong.
abundance among us: dragon and friends is part of the Un-monument initiative presented by Pao Arts Center, curated by Lani Asunción, in collaboration with the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. It is brought to you by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.
FAQ
-
The day of performances and activities is a day full of creativity celebrating AAPI artists and community.
From 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM, come by Chin Park on the Greenway to see live performances on our main stage, take part in an activity, and see our exhibits at the park and at Pao Arts Center. -
Experience Chinatown is a free arts festival with funding provided by individuals and companies. Consider making a donation of any amount on our donation page and learn more about sponsorship here.
-
Experience Chinatown is for all ages to enjoy. Youth, families, and seniors are all encouraged to enjoy the event.
-
While there are no official vendors at Experience Chinatown, we encourage you to explore the many food options located in Chinatown.
-
Murals are located across Boston’s Chinatown. Performances and activities are located at Chin Park on the Greenway, and exhibit(s) are at Pao Arts Center. The nearest MBTA stops are: Chinatown and Tufts Medical Center on the Orange Line, and South Station on the Red Line. Various bus routes are located nearby including the SL4, 501, 504, and 505.
Street parking is limited. Local garages include: 40 Beach Street, and 66 Hudson Street. -
Pao Arts Center is ADA compliant, learn more about our space here. Murals are all viewable on Chinatown business fronts, and performances and activities are located at Chin Park near Chinatown Gate. Outdoor public spaces are maintained by the City of Boston or the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
-
Pao Arts Center, 99 Albany Street, Boston, MA 02111 is open during the performance and activity day. It is also open during our regular gallery hours where you may use our facilities.
-
Bags are allowed at the festival given that this event takes place in public spaces. They are also allowed in our gallery at Pao Arts Center. Photography is also allowed in all instances of the festival. Please note that by attending, your likeness may be captured by one of our hired photographers or other staff for promotional purposes.
Sponsorship
Show your support for community arts and become a sponsor of Experience Chinatown. Learn more about supporting Experience Chinatown with a sponsorship.
