The Asian Cultural Council is committed to strengthening the bonds between individuals across international borders during this difficult period in world history. Since 1963, ACC has enabled more than 6,000 international exchanges of artists, scholars, and arts professionals in Asia and the U.S. Today, ACC continues to support both traditional and innovative approaches to international engagement and creative collaboration that fosters lasting connectivity and strong relationships across borders. Through the exchange of artists and scholars, ACC is investing in a vision for the future: one built on mutual understanding and deep respect through the art and culture that express our societies’ collective ideas, values, and hopes.
Following our first round of grants in May 2020, we are pleased to announce the latest grants and fellowships, enabling artists, scholars, and specialists to connect with their peers in Afghanistan, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and the U.S.
Afghanistan
Muheb Esmat
M.A. Candidate, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College
Graduate Scholarship to gain experience during an Optional Practical Training year following the completion of an M.A. in curatorial studies in spring 2020.
China
Jiani Gu
Conceptual Designer & Choreographer, UNTITLED GROUP
A grant supplement to support her airfare home in March due to COVID.
Yong Guo
Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University
Individual Fellowship to participate in the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS) at MIT as a visiting scholar in 2021.
Damin Wu
Consultant, Quanzhou Canghai Cultural Creativity Co., Ltd.
Individual Fellowship to conduct comparative research on traditional mouth harp repertory in Asia.
Jinglun Zhu
Independent Curator
Graduate Scholarship to continue the remainder of her Optional Practical Training year following completion of a master’s degree in curatorial studies in spring 2019.
Lijiang Studio Foundation
A 3-month Organization/Project Grant to support Lijiang With/Out, a virtual experiment in sound recording and collaboration between women sound artists from Japan, China, Taiwan, and the U.S., and local artists and residents of Lijiang, China.
Hong Kong
Fredie Chan
Documentary filmmaker
A 4-month grant to support a hybrid program of virtual and in-person research on immigrant communities in Japan.
May Wing Joy Chang (Cheuk Wing Nam)
Visual Artist
New York Fellowship to pursue interdisciplinary research on interactive media, electronic arts, and experimental music in the U.S.
Enoch Tak Yan Cheng
Visual Artist & Curator
New York Fellowship extension to continue and broaden research on art practices and cultural responses in New York City under pandemic conditions
Hochi Lau
M.F.A. Candidate, Carnegie Mellon University
Graduate Scholarship to continue in his third and final year of an M.F.A. program at Carnegie Mellon.
Lee Kai Chung
Visual Artist
A 5-month Individual Fellowship to conduct field and archival research on local histories in China and North Korea.
Lee Wing Ki (Kalen)
Researcher and Visual Artist
A 15 to 18-month Individual Fellowship to conduct research on media archaeology and digital humanities in the U.S. and Japan through a hybrid program of online research and in-person exchange.
No Discipline Limited (NDL)
A 1-year Organization/Project Grant to support an artist-in-residence program promoting cross-cultural research, collaboration, and experimentation through virtual activities.
Poon Way Shun
Dance Artist/Choreographer
A 3-month grant supplement to enable virtual engagement and travel to Japan to explore contemporary movement practice.
Wong Chi-Ching
Musician
A 2-month Individual Fellowship to meet and exchange with artists specializing in traditional crafts and music in Japan.
Wong Yok Fai (Arnold)
Architect, Aedas Hong Kong
A 3-week Individual Fellowship to research how Air Rights and Modular Integration Construction are applied in significant housing and architectural projects in the U.S.
Helen Yu
Violinist
A 2-month Individual Fellowship to participate in the Aspen Music Festival and School in through a hybrid program of virtual masterclass in 2020 and in-person travel in summer 2021.
India
Utsa Hazarika
Visual Artist
Graduate Scholarship to continue the remainder of her Optional Practical Training year, following completion of an M.F.A. in 2019.
Indonesia
Yayasan Kelola
A 6-month Organization/Project Grant to provide for the third year of the Southeast Asian Choreographers Network Program, adapted as a virtual program with online workshops for dance artists in Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand.
Joned Suryatmoko
Ph.D. Candidate, The Graduate Center, CUNY
Graduate Scholarship to continue in his third year of a Ph.D. program in theater and performance at The Graduate Center, CUNY.
Japan
Association of Tokyo Biennale
A 1-year Organization/Project Grant to provide support for the 2020/2021 Tokyo Biennale to enable a series of web-based, multilingual publications to create a context around the event’s participating artists and dialogue related to critique and media practice.
Bridge for the Arts & Education
A 6-month Organization/Project Grant to support a joint film project around Hiroshi Koike’s Mahabharata Series with participating artists from nine countries across Asia.
Don’t Follow the Wind
A 1-month grant supplement to adapt a disrupted project to enable U.S. and Japanese artists and curators to carry out research in Japan and through online meetings in connection with the English publication Don’t Follow the Wind, examining community and artistic responses to the ongoing crisis in the Fukushima Exclusion Zone.
NPO Dance Box
A 1-month Organization/Project Grant to provide support for a virtual program with Water Puppet artists in Vietnam, showcasing this art form to engage with Kobe’s community of Vietnamese immigrants.
Drifters International
A 1-month Organization/Project Grant to provide support for the Jejak Tabi Exchange virtual platform, designed to share, exchange, and explore critical ideas and practices in contemporary art practice, and to discuss the future of international cultural exchange.
Tokyo Photographic Art Museum
Organization/Project Grant to enable independent curator Aily Nash and Harvard Film Archive Director Haden Guest to curate programs in the Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions in February 2020.
Pakistan
Abdul Aziz Sohail
M.F.A. Candidate, University of California, Irvine
Graduate Scholarship to continue in his third and final year of an M.F.A. program, concentrating in critical and curatorial studies, at the University of California, Irvine.
Philippines
Kevin Castelo
Independent Musician
Grant supplement to cover mandatory quarantine expenses upon return home to the Philippines, following completion of a master’s degree in percussion performance in spring 2020.
Abner Delina
Artistic Director, BLACK CANVAS
A 6-month Individual Fellowship to continue research into contemporary theater and engagement, ecological art practices, and arts and cultural responses to the pandemic and current social movements.
Maria Sofia Amparo Santiago & Ana Victoria Tamula
Co-founders, The Museum Collective PH
An 8-month Individual Fellowship for a hybrid program on online and in-person to research into the practices of memorializing sensitive histories through museum programming, using Cambodia as a case study. This project will initially be conducted online, followed by a four-month research trip to Cambodia, and culminating in shared documentation and learnings through the Museum Collective PH platform.
VIVA ExCon
A 7-month Organization/Project Grant to bring participants from Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines together in an interactive virtual conference of the Visayas-wide biennale VIVA ExCon.
Zeny May Recidoro
Independent Art Writer
Graduate Scholarship to gain professional experience under the Optional Practical Training program, following completion of a master’s degree in art writing in spring 2020.
Charles Yee
M.F.A. Candidate, California Institute of the Arts
Graduate Scholarship to continue in his second year of a three-year M.F.A. program in directing at the California Institute of the Arts.
Taiwan
Bamboo Curtain Studio
An 8-month Organization/Project Grant to carry out the second year of ACC Taiwan Foundation’s Taiwan Southeast Asia Program (TSAP) through virtual exchanges between artists and arts professionals in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
Yihsuan Chiu
M.A. Candidate, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College
Graduate Scholarship to continue her second and final year of an M.A. program in curatorial studies at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.
Contemporary Legend Theatre
Organization/Project Grant to enable the company to upgrade their online capacity and maintain operating expenses during a period when there will be no income from teaching or performances.
Gang-A-Tsui Theater
Organization/Project Grant to support virtual and in-person collaborative workshops with artists from Japan, Vietnam, and China.
Hao Theater
A 3-month Organization/Project Grant to enable four members of Hao Theater to collaborate with Japan-based theater scholar Naoko Hosoi in researching the Tang Dynasty story of Du Zichun.
Horse Dance
Theatre
A 1-month Organization/Project Grant to provide support Rama’s House, a series of master classes and dialogue between dance artists from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Taiwan.
National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
A 3-month Organization/Project Grant to support an on-line symposium that provides the opportunity for global curators, artists, and critics to investigate, discuss, and reflect on themes and issues emerging from the 2020 Taiwan Biennial.
Taiwan Alumni Pandemic Response Initiative
A program to provide support for ACC alumni in Taiwan (10 organizations and 9 individuals) to create alternative work plans for 2020 in light of canceled exhibitions, performances, and other engagements.
United States
Asian Art Museum
Organization/Project Grant to provide support for Hope Sessions, a series of online panel discussions moderated by curators in Asia and the U.S. to initiate dialogue around what art will look like in the post-COVID-19 future.
Association for Asian Studies, Inc.
Organization/Project Grant to bring artists and museum curators from Asia to participate in a roundtable discussion on Decolonizing Southeast Asian Art and Art History at the Association’s annual conference, postponed to 2021.
Center for Creativity and Community Development
A 1-month Organization/Project Grant to support the participation of an American musician in a residency program at DomDom – The Hub for Experimental Music & Arts, in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Collaborative Cataloging Japan
A 9-month Organization/Project Grant to support the formation of a network of artists, researchers, archivists, and the public across Japan and the U.S. to engage in online conversations, research, and presentations about media and art of the 1970s Japan.
DJ Hatfield & Rahic Talif
Professor of Music, Berklee College of Music; Artist and Director, Toko Studio
A 5-month Individual Fellowship to conduct research and collaborate on a project, Following the Direction of the Waves to Discover One’s Own Place to Stand, in Taiwan.
Edward Herbst
Director, Bali 1928 Repatriation Project
To support Bali 1928 and Library of Congress-to-Bali Repatriation Project research and documentation leading to the re-release and repatriation of the first published recordings of music in Bali, and extensive film footage and photographs taken between 1930 and 1939.
Gitameit Friends USA
A 1-year Organization/Project Grant to support a collaborative program between the Gitameit Music Institute in Yangon, Myanmar, and faculty and students in the Music and Asian Studies departments at SUNY New Paltz to explore spirit worship and the practice of tolerance in Myanmar.
Savong Foundation (For Nirmita Composers Workshop)
Organization/Project Grant to provide support to the Nirmita Composers Workshop to conduct a two-week intensive online composition workshop at the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) in Phnom Penh.
ACC New York
ACC New York
ACC New York
ACC New York
ACC New York