The Asian Cultural Council is proud to announce our 2023 Asia Grant Cycle awardees. 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 arts and culture that express our societies’ collective ideas, values, and hopes.

These latest grants and Fellowships will enable artists, scholars, and specialists to connect with their peers in China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Laos, Malaysia, India, and the U.S.

 

 

New York Fellowship

The New York Fellowship Program provides programmatic and networking support during a six-month residency in New York City. ACC supports grantees with focused research plans as well as those pursuing open-ended exploration. The program structure cultivates an environment for cohort learning  and provides opportunities for mutual cultural exchange between fellows and New York-based cultural producers. ACC offers a portfolio of support services, including a monthly enrichment program, a mentorship program, and cultural engagement activities designed to build a robust  exchange experience. Additionally, fellows are introduced to ACC's alumni community in New York City and connected to relevant contacts based on each fellow's project goals and interests.

 

Japhet Mari CABLING | Dance | Philippines → United States 

Grant Summary: To attend modern and contemporary dance classes and workshops and inquire on other current dance practices in the United States. 

Dancer and choreographer Japhet Mari Cabling majored in dance and graduated with honors from the University of the Philippines. Working through the modes of ballet, Philippine folk dance, and contemporary dance, he draws from these vocabularies as a choreographer, performer, and educator to construct dances as an effective medium of storytelling. His choreographies of small-and large-scale works have been performed in various local and international programs and have won him public recognition. Cabling has also choreographed for musical theater, winning him the award for Outstanding Choreography at the 2020 Gawad Buhay Awards . Through the ACC New York Fellowship, Cabling intends to learn and embody different movement techniques in the USA, explore new tools of composition, and understand how other elements contribute to the whole production. In learning new ideas and styles, he seeks to eventually contribute to the innovation and growth of Philippine dance.

Follow Japhet Mari Cabling: Instagram | Facebook | Ballet Philippines Profile


CHING Chin Wai | Visual Art | Hong Kong → United States
Lee Hysan Foundation – ACC Fellowship

Grant Summary: To further his exploration on how to envisage and realize the role of the artist as a citizen, researching the empathetic imagination and how art can be used as an intervention in life.

Ching Chin Wai earned his MA in Fine Arts from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in 1998. In 2005 and 2016, he received an award at the Hong Kong Art Biennial Exhibition and Artist of the Year (Visual Art) from the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, respectively. He co-founded Wooferten, an independent arts space, in 2009 with a vision to facilitate the exchange of ideas and to engage the community. Since 2013, he has become interested in and has actively explored the role of an artist by participating in social activism with a special focus on labor rights. His "Undercover Worker" was one of ten shortlisted projects for the Visible Award 2019, an international award devoted to socially engaged artistic practices in a global context. Since 2021, he has been teaching “Arts in Public Space” at CUHK and “Creative Citizenship,” part of the Social Design Program at Hong Kong Polytechnic University as a part-time lecturer. Simultaneously, he has been working at MTR subway stations as a part-time cleaner. In his US trip, apart from meeting part-time artists and scholars in the field, Ching is also interested in investigating the grassroots workforce in New York City—a population that has heavily influenced his art and creative process.


Chiao-Chi CHOU | Visual Art | Taiwan → United States

Grant Summary: To visit research units in New York and explore the convergence between art, interdisciplinary technology, and life sciences.

Chiao-Chi Chou is an artist and interdisciplinary researcher specializing in the use of living species to create art installations. She founded a group named Y2K in 2018 and has run multiple exhibitions for the ARS ELECTRONICA FESTIVAL, a festival aimed at scrutinizing potential digital futures and inquiring on the nexus of art, technology, and society. She was the youngest candidate in this art festival, and her artworks and articles were selected by Leonardo (MIT Press) and the ACMMM conference. Chou intends to visit research units in New York to conduct research and development on trans-objects/species art creations. Her research-creation concurrent process allows her to further understand the transience of technology but also find cultural inspiration related to technique. Following the New York Fellowship, Chou aims to build a local physiological and hydrological database for interdisciplinary creators and create an online open-source note to build connections for future collaborations.



Corinne DE SAN JOSE | Visual Art | Philippines → United States 

Grant Summary: To research contemporary sound art, specifically sound art as site-specific installations, as well as public art around New York City.

A self-taught multi-disciplinary artist and film sound designer, Corinne De San Jose earned her degree in Communications from De La Salle University, Manila. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in the Philippines, Berlin, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Paris, and most recently New York. Her works range from printmaking and video art to sculptures and sound installations. She is also an award-winning film sound designer; her work in the film industry led to her early visual practice in photography. 

De San Jose’s ACC grant will enable her to integrate works of visual art and sound design by learning more about art practices that use sound in sculpture and installations, as well as artmaking and technology involving the visualization of sound. She intends to use these ideas in the context of public art. With her interest in Philippine cinema history, she plans to research America’s film archiving practices and early film history to learn the connections between early Philippine silent films and America’s influence in the shaping of the country’s idea of “national cinema.” The output of her research will complement her existing materials and produced works that she will look to expand.

Follow Corinne De San Jose: Instagram | Facebook | Website


Nile KOETTING | Visual Art | Japan → United States 

Grant Summary: To investigate the movement probing interdisciplinary expression that emerged in the "anti-art" movement centered in New York City after World War I and to explore the possibilities of interdisciplinary expression today.

Nile Koetting is an artist who works with a diverse range of formats, such as installation, light, performance, scenography, and sound. His works have been shown widely in Japan, and he has gained international recognition not only in visual arts but also in fashion and theater set design. His work reflects on the complex contradictions and transformations of Japan’s contemporary culture and rapid technological developments within a society deeply rooted in a native animistic worldview.

Inspired by the movement probing interdisciplinary expression that emerged in the "anti-art" movement centered in New York City after World War I, Koetting will conduct research on materials at the origins of this development and explore the trajectories and possibilities of interdisciplinary expression today.

Through his New York Fellowship, he intends to place himself in an environment he has yet to experience, marked by a vast diversity of races, cultures, genders, and hierarchies so that he can learn firsthand about the kinds of new tools being used by artists, curators, and related persons to establish methodology for community through productions and presentation.

Follow Nile Koetting: Instagram | Facebook | Website


Jun Yin LAM (JUN LI 李駿碩) | Film | Hong Kong → United States
Lee Hysan Foundation – ACC Fellowship

Grant Summary: To research African-American and Asian-American visual and performing arts and to appreciate Black films that are not shown and distributed in Hong Kong while meeting filmmakers in-person at film festivals.

Jun Yin Lam (JUN LI 李駿碩) is a graduate from the School of Journalism and Communication at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He completed his Master of Philosophy degree in Gender Studies at the University of Cambridge. His debut film Tracey was released in 2018, the first transgender feature in Hong Kong, winning both Best Supporting Actor and Actress for Ben Yuen and Kara Wai at the Hong Kong Film Awards. In 2021, he released his second feature Drifting, depicting the street sleepers’ community in Sham Shui Po. It became the most nominated feature film at the 58th Golden Horse Awards and won Best Adapted Screenplay. His films have been screened at prominent film festivals such as International Film Festival Rotterdam and Toronto International Film Festival, and in various cities such as London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Zurich, Oslo, New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. In 2022, he became the organizing committee member of the Hong Kong Film Directors’ Guild and Hong Kong Critics Society. He also writes plays in addition to screenwriting. His debut play Song of Grief won the 5th Young Playwright Award and had two performance runs in 2018 and 2019.

Follow JUN LI (李駿碩): Instagram


Takahiro YAMAGUCHI (yang02) | Visual Art | Japan → United States 
Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Memorial Fellow

Grant Summary: To conduct research on activities of E.A.T as the origin of today's "Media Art", as well as to exchange with artists whose works deal with issues of technology in NY. 

Takahiro Yamaguchi, also known as yang02, creates works inspired by expression in the public area while using technology, informed by his inclination toward street art and his study of media art.

Through his NY fellowship, he will conduct research on activities of E.A.T as the origin of today's "Media Art," especially referring to the practices of Robert Rauschenberg and Billy Klüver, and explore hidden violence in media technology that might existed at that time. He also aims to observe the surroundings of the contemporary art scene and local artists that treat issues of technology in New York.

Follow yang02: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Website



YAN Wai Yin | Visual Arts | Hong Kong → United States
HKETONY – ACC Fellowship

Grant Summary: To research experimental filmmaking with a particular focus on short films and animation, studying sketches and diagrams that relate different structures, methodologies, and potentials of non-linear narrative.

Throughout the years, Yan Wai Yin strived to maximize her capacity in contributing to the field of film and moving image art through multiple roles as a researcher, programmer, and artist filmmaker. In 2019, she initiated a longitudinal research project, Elemental Dynamite, which focused on understanding animation in the expansive landscape of socio-cultural histories and genealogies of technics. She and her team curated seven thematic screenings, an expanded cinema performance together with numerous workshops, and dialogues with more than 30 local practitioners and 10 international artists. As a practicing artist, her films Localized Blindness (2019) and Tugging Diary (2020) received awards and recognition at local and international exhibitions and screenings including M+, the Luxembourg City Festival in Luxembourg, International Film Festival Rotterdam, European Media Art Festival, Videoex in Switzerland, Image Forum in Japan, EXiS Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul, and Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition TIVA-ANIMA (Taiwan). In 2023, she will present her work at Videonale in Germany, following a solo exhibition funded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

During her Fellowship, she will observe the different models and pathways in experimental filmmaking and share her experience with fellow artists and practitioners in Hong Kong. Her long-term goal is to expand the understanding of video art in Hong Kong and beyond, in terms of its potential in non-linear narrativity and the alternative ways to talk and write about video art at different levels (among makers, practitioners, and the public).

Follow Yan Wai Yin: Facebook | Instagram | Website


ZHANG XU Zhan | Visual Art | Taiwan → United States
Cecile M. Shah Special Fellowship

Grant Summary: To explore the rich history of American film culture, video art, puppet shows, animated film, festival culture, and music in New York, and use the exchange experience for future development in paper craft animation.

Zhang Xu Zhan is a contemporary visual artist and animation filmmaker who uses traditional paper crafts and sculptures as his creative medium. His artworks not only revolve around absurd and bizarre images but also encapsulate his wry observations on strange social phenomena and evoke memories of his family paper crafting business. Zhang Xu was recognized as Deutsche Bank’s Artist of the Year in 2021 and won Best Short Animation at the 59th Golden Horse Awards. His works are collected by M+, National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, Deutsche Bank, and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. During his New York Fellowship, Zhang Xu aims to use the general principle of "cultural flow" as a method to explore the diversity and change of American multiculturalism in New York to then make connections with local Taiwanese culture through creative reinterpretation.

Follow Zhang Xu Zhan: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Website 


YU Cheng-Ta | Visual Art | Taiwan → United States Photo by 陳藝堂 Etang Chen

Grant Summary: To explore the diverse and complex multiculturalism in New York in the contemporary media era through social observations on Asian issues, social classes, and international politics, thereby nurturing a second artistic identity, the interdisciplinary and performative persona of FAMEME.

Yu Cheng-Ta is a multimedia artist whose work engages with the juxtaposition and intersection between identity, language, politics, cultural synthesis, and media interfaces, and uses humorous, camp videos and performances to explore the evolution of "self/identity" within the ever-changing world of contemporary media. He was featured in the Taiwan Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale and has participated in many international art festivals. Yu plans to immerse himself in New York by observing how multiple identities are intertwined with complex cultural patterns and by documenting the differences in race and socioeconomic status in different boroughs of New York with a special focus on Asian communities. He will harness the experience as nourishment for his next stage of creative transformation and seek to bring this cultural exchange dialogue back to Taiwan.

Follow Yu Cheng-Ta: Facebook | Instagram | Vimeo | Website

 

 

Individual Fellowship

Individual Fellowships support grantee activities ranging from one to six months in duration. Programmatic support from ACC includes recommendations and personal introductions, which vary according to the needs of a given proposal and ACC's available resources in the destination country. Fellows traveling to cities where ACC maintains an affiliate office may receive networking services similar to those provided in the New York Fellowship Program. For grantees traveling outside the ACC affiliate network, connections to ACC's global alumni network help enrich the Fellowship experience.


Kan FUKUHARA and Shumpei MITSUHASHI | Theatre and Dance | Japan → United States | 2 months Photos: Kan FUKUHARA (left) photo by Eisuke Asaoka and Shumpei MITSUHASHI (right) photo by Manaho Kaneko
ACC Saison Foundation Fellow

Grant Summary: To conduct research on creations, workshops, lessons, and classes held at various rehearsal spaces in NYC and the attitude of actors and dancers towards rehearsals.

Kan Fukuhara is a trusted and talented actor who has appeared in major roles in several up-and-coming theatre companies in Japan. He is also a creator, and in 2015, he launched his own theatre unit “SANPIN.” Since 2016, he has organized a rehearsal group of actors and dancers known as "SESSION UNTITLED,” where they explore language and the body. As a workshop facilitator, he also teaches acting and communication through acting.

Together with his collaborator, dancer Shumpei Mitsuhashi, who will serve as a future co-director for their rehearsal group, Fukuhara will conduct research on how rehearsals are conducted from the aspects of both theatre and dance by participating in workshops, rehearsals, and lessons in theatres, studios, and schools in New York. They will also investigate how these rehearsal spaces function in society and how they are connected to society, as well as how to broaden their perspectives by interacting with actors and dancers from diverse backgrounds in New York.

Follow Kan Fukuhara: Instagram | Twitter | Tumblr | Website
Follow Shumpei Mitshashi: Facebook | Instagram | Website


Yuni HONG CHARPE | Visual Art | Japan → Korea | 2 months
ACC Saison Foundation Fellow

Grant Summary: To conduct research on how people have translated Japanese and Korean by focusing on the violence/hospitality of translation, as well as on how "healing" has been socially and culturally represented in South Korea, particularly in relation to "healing colonial violence and its traumas.”

Yuni Hong Charpe is an artist born in Japan as a member of the Zainichi community (Koreans in Japan). After graduating from Hitotsubashi University, they moved to France in 2005 and received a DNSEP from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris-Cergy in 2015. They currently work in France and Japan. 

Hong Charpe makes performances, videos, and installations around the instability and multiplicity of constructed identities and the persistence of memory. In recent works, Hong Charpe approached the past and present of the Zainichi community, in the context of Japan's colonization of Korea in the early 20th century and the displacement of Korean people to Japan. 

Through their fellowship in Korea for 2 months, they will conduct research on the history of translation/interpretation between Japanese and Korean, investigate themes of "violence" and "healing" manifested by individuals living in contemporary society, and observe the "healing body" in Korean society. Although they were born in Japan’s Zainichi community, they have had few opportunities to visit Korea and speak Korean imperfectly. In Korea, they aim to build relationships with people and communities with whom they can collaborate in future production activities. Through exchanges with translators and interpreters in contemporary art, literature, and performing arts, they would like to deepen their knowledge and understanding of translation.

Follow Yuni Hong Charpe: Facebook | Website


Chia-Ming HSU | Music & Theater | Taiwan → Japan

Grant Summary: To learn traditional Japanese art forms, focusing on Tokiwazu-style shamisen and nihon-buyo, and by understanding their cultural context, find further possibilities for the contemporary developments of traditional Taiwanese theater and music. 

Chia-Ming Hsu (ACC 2021) is a musician with the Guoguang Opera Company of the National Center for Traditional Arts who is well-versed in Chinese Opera, Taiwanese Opera, Nanguan and Beiguan. Hsu has distinguished himself as one of a few cross-genre composers in Taiwan with a traditional music background, experimenting with sound art, computer music, and electronic sound for traditional and contemporary theater compositions and film scoring. Hsu intends to study shamisen and traditional Japanese music from Master Mozibei Tokiwazu V and learn the interactive relationship of nihon-buyo accompaniment from Master Umeya Nakamura. He proposes to explore the contemporaneity of traditional Japanese culture and use his observations to find more possibilities for inheritance and new forms of expression within Taiwan’s traditional idioms. Hsu hopes to use this opportunity to find his own direction for future creation in Taiwan: to push boundaries in original music compositions in a multicultural environment, without losing sight of Taiwan’s traditions and roots.

Follow Chia-Ming Hsu: Facebook | Instagram 


Yuki KOBAYASHI | Visual Art | Japan → Hong Kong | 6 months

Grant Summary: To conduct research on the Chinese Martial Art “Wing Chun” to help develop a long-term project, as well as engage in cultural exchange with Hong Kong-based performance artists.

Yuki Kobayashi is a performance artist who uses his own body as a neutral object to question gender, disability, and racial stereotypes. Mainly with action-based performance, he has participated in a number of stage and video works as well as contemporary art exhibitions. In 2019, Kobayashi founded the Performance art platform “Stilllive” to communicate with artists of different physical backgrounds.

Through his 6-month Fellowship in Hong Kong, he will conduct research on the history of Wing Chun, a martial art that originates in China and Hong Kong. In addition, Kobayashi will research performance art in East Asia from archives and materials that he cannot access in Japan. He intends to acquire a broad network of contacts through cross-genre exchanges in both contemporary art and martial arts, to learn further physical skills and materials in the long-term practice of Wing Chun, and to collect voices from its practitioners and opinions from the people living in Hong Kong.

Follow Yuki Kobayashi: Facebook | Instagram | Website


Kei Cheuk LEUNG (GayBird) | Visual Art  | Hong Kong → Japan/Korea | 6 weeks
Altius Fellowship

Grant Summary: To research art and technology trends in Japan and Korea through a two-pronged approach: respond to technological and artistic demands globally through forms of expression that integrate the latest technologies, and incorporate technology into historical and cultural contexts in Hong Kong to usher in new creative practices. 

A multi-disciplinary artist, Kei Cheuk Leung (GayBird) is largely known for his practices related to sound, technology, and live performance. His media art performances have been commissioned by M+, the Hong Kong New Vision Festival, the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, the East Kowloon Cultural Center, and the Hong Kong Visual Art Center, among others. His sound installations have been cited in art festivals around the world, including Arts Electronica Festival (Austria), OzAsia Festival (Australia), Digital Art Festival (Greece), and EXIT Festival (France). More recently, his sound installation Fidgety (in between up and down) received the 3D and Interactive Award at the renowned Lumen Prize (UK) 2018. In his trip to Japan and Korea, GayBird proposes to observe contemporary trends and meet various talents by participating in live events, networking with peers, and interacting with people in the field. He would attend such festivals as Aichi Triennale, Echigo-Tsumari in Japan, and Gwangju Media Art Festival and Media Theater i-Gong in Korea. GayBird’s immersive experience in Japan and Korea will contribute to Hong Kong’s aspiration to push for future forms of art and technology.

Follow GayBird: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Website


LIN On Yeung | Visual Art | Hong Kong → United States | 2 months
HKETONY – ACC Fellowship

Grant Summary: To investigate artists’ books and indie publishing culture in New York, including the development of printed books as an art form and the different forms of indie publishing. 

Lin On Yeung is currently the manager of ACO Books, a charitable organization dedicated to promoting arts and culture in Hong Kong. Among the many books he has edited and published, Memories in a Tin Box has been awarded Best Book of Picture Book Category, and Salt to the Sea: Interviews of the Hong Kong Post 90’s Generation has been awarded the Best Book in the Social Science Category at the Hong Kong Publishing Biennial Awards 2021. With several critically acclaimed publications under his belt, Lin also focuses on bookshop curation and organization of book talks and other culture-related activities. He is one of the initiators of the forward-looking Indie Mini-Bookfair, which has been running in the city since 2018. Lin proposes to reach out to Printed Matter Inc., the organizer of the New York Art Book Fair, as well as connect with artists/interest groups, publishers and bookshops in the US. While artist-led and indie publishing are on the rise, by gaining insight into American counterparts, Lin’s long-term goal is to continue contributing to the ecology of the publishing world, including maintaining its diversity and facing the impact and challenges of the digital revolution.

Follow Lin On Yeung: Facebook


(Chelsea) Qianxi LIU | Curation | China → Japan/Korea | 6 months

Grant Summary: To consolidate Liu's current research on the interactive relationship between China and East Asia in terms of artistic and cultural production, as well as its cross-cultural role in late 20th century globalization. 

(Chelsea) Qianxi Liu currently lives and works in Beijing. She received her master’s degrees in art history and criticism from the University of Connecticut in the US and Tsinghua University in China. From 2014-2017, she worked at ARTFORUM International (New York). In 2017, she joined the research-based, non-profit art institution Taikang Space (Beijing) as curator. She was a finalist for the Hyundai Blue Prize 2018, the award for emerging Chinese curators, and served as a nominator for the Jimei x Arles Discovery Award in the same year. She was on the shortlist jury for the eighth and ninth Huayu Youth Award in 2020 and 2021. Her recent curatorial projects include “Bodily Reaction: Vitalizing the Bare Life” (2023), “Professional Amateur and Emerging Modernity: Luo Bonian and his Contemporaries, 1930-1940s” (2021), and “Let Painting Talk” (2021). Her writings have appeared in ARTFORUM, LEAP, ArtAsiaPacific, and FLASH ART, among others.

Follow (Chelsea) Quianxi Liu: Facebook | Instagram 


Madoka MORI | Music | Japan → United States | 4 months Photo by Shigeto Imura

Grant Summary: To discover a new language of music through cultural exchange as well as to seek possibilities for innovative collaboration with diverse art and contemporary music in New York.

Madoka Mori is one of the most sought-after composers in Japan; she was awarded the Toshi Ichiyanagi Contemporary Prize at the age of 20, the youngest recipient in history.

In order to expand the limits of the classical music scene, she is actively engaged in collaborations with different genres of arts, such as visual art, sculpture, dance, architecture, theater, and traditional Japanese arts, including kogei (Japanese traditional ceramics).  She is also dedicated to teaching younger generations.

Through her Individual Fellowship in New York, Mori hopes to discover a new language of music by absorbing different cultures; learn about socially engaged art, the current focus of her recent composition and activities; and build a network of artists and people from various backgrounds to help realize a global collaboration project. At a time when society is in a transitional period, she hopes to immerse herself in a multicultural country.

Follow Madoka Mori: Website


Maria Christine MUYCO | Ethnomusicology | Philippines → United States, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia | 4 months 

Grant Summary: To hold a series of workshops on a song cycle with Southeast Asian cultures and to workshop the songs with contemporary vocal ensembles in New York. 

Composer and ethnomusicologist Maria Christine Muyco (ACC 2010) is currently a full professor at the University of the Philippines-College of Music. She has written for instrumental, electronic, and vocal ensembles performed in Asia-Pacific countries, Europe, U.S., South Africa, and Canada. She has also written for Recycled Media, Inc. and is the recipient of several fellowships including the 2022 Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Residency (Italy) and the 2016 Fulbright Foundation senior scholarship. She has also published her works including “SIBOD: Ideology and Expressivity in Binanog Dance, Music, and Folkways of the Panay Bukidnon.” ACC’s Individual Fellowship will enable Muyco to conduct a series of ethno-music/dance workshops that reinforce cultural expressivity, research, and community exchange. This project will tie together the efforts made through previous grant-supported projects that allowed her to research on Southeast Asian cultures.

The workshop with contemporary vocal ensembles, which she will organize in New York, will utilize a formal manuscript. There will also be discussions on the context of the songs among the musicians and members of Southeast Asian organizations in New York. These collaborative experiences will be documented and uploaded online and eventually published in a book with a shared authorship titled, Why Birds?

Follow Maria Christine MUYCO: University of The Philippines College of Music Profile


Cheuk Yan (Viola) NG | Music | Hong Kong → Aspen | 2 months
Lady Fung Music Fellowship

Grant Summary: To travel to Colorado to participate in the renowned Aspen Music Festival and School for two months. 

Currently a postgraduate student at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) majoring in oboe under the guidance of Professor YIU Song Lam, Cheuk Yan (Viola) Ng graduated with first-class honors in 2021 and won the Dean’s Prize and Academy Award. She is also a winner of the HKAPA Concerto Trial, a recipient of the Society of HKAPA Local Scholarship in 2018 and 2019, and the PL Choy Wing Sum Charitable Foundation Ltd Scholarship in 2020. Ng is an active oboist in Hong Kong, playing with such orchestras as the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Opera Hong Kong Orchestra, the Hong Kong Bach Choir Orchestra, the In Heritage Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hong Kong Grand Opera Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Strings Orchestra. Ng studied in France and Switzerland at the Soloist Academy 2022, where she learned from Professor David Walter. At the Aspen Music Festival and School, she will receive a combination of intensive one-on-one instruction and professional performance experience, stepping into an extraordinary musical world of unparalleled depth and breadth.


Riza ROMERO | Conservation | Philippines → United States | 3 months

Grant Summary: To research art conservation in the United States and develop a formalized arts conservation program in the Philippines.

Creative practitioner, designer, and educator, Riza Romero completed her degrees at the University of the Philippines Diliman as a social worker and painter, and received a Master of Arts in Design from the National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan ROC. Her creative works explored the context, development, and implications of mediated and mediating stories as submitted to the exhibition “KAAGI” (2021, University of London), which featured the designs she created for several award-winning stage productions. She is an assistant professor at the College of Fine Arts, University of the Philippines (UP), and a Project Development Associate at the UP Office of the Vice President for Planning and Development. 

Romero’s key goal is to develop the University of Philippines's academic programs for art conservation. Her Individual Fellowship will widen her knowledge on the matter by conducting research that seeks to benchmark art conservation degree programs, primarily at New York University, in terms of program outcomes, facilities, and equipment. She also intends to observe and learn about training and shipping delivery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and conservation events at the Museum of Modern Art. Her research further aims to develop connections and networks in art conservation programs in the interest of inviting visiting professors and researchers as prospective instructors and collaborators in program development and delivery.

Follow Riza Romero: Website


Yuka and Kentaro SHIMURA (SHIMURAbros) | Film, Video, Photography | Japan → United States | 2 months Photos: Yuka SHIMURA (left) and Kentaro SHIMURA (right)

Grant Summary: To conduct research on Beate Sirota Gordon, who contributed to the drafting of the human rights clauses of the Japanese Constitution, in San Francisco where she had lived as a young adult.

SHIMURAbros is an artist duo consisting of Yuka Shimura and her brother Kentaro, whose visual art practices are based on film. Starting as independent filmmakers, SHIMURAbros have gradually gained recognition internationally and have shown their works at major art museums and film festivals around the world.

Through their 2-month fellowship in San Francisco, they will conduct research on Beate Sirota Gordon, who contributed to the drafting of the human rights clauses of the Japanese Constitution, to bring logical development to their ongoing work around human rights. Through cultural exchange and research with local people, they hope to collect living stories that cannot be obtained from documents alone and to shed light on stories in connection with Beate Sirota and women in contemporary Japanese society.

Follow SHIMURAbros: Facebook | Instagram | Website


WEI Hai Min | Theater | Taiwan → United States | 2 months Photo by Rung-Lu Lin

Grant Summary: To promote cultural exchange as well as observe, consult, and learn from scholars and artists in interculturalism to create new performance styles and develop techniques as a jingju (Chinese Opera) practitioner seeking to update the traditional art form.  

Wei Hai Min is a jingju performer, a lead actor at GuoGuang Opera Company, and the first publicly acknowledged disciple of Mei Baojiu, son and heir of jingju master Mei Lanfang. Her major awards and honors include Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World, the Most Outstanding Asian Artists, the National Award for Arts, and the Plum Performance Award. Wei is a major force in Taiwan’s jingju revolution who continues to experiment with diverse themes, different musical and artistic forms, and new methodologies including multimedia and immersive theatre. Wei plans to visit several research institutes including Harvard, Columbia, Wellesley, Stanford, and University of California to meet faculty and students and to participate in vigorous discussion and workshops on jingju. This trip will help her imagine new forms of jingju and develop better techniques, theories, and methods through cultural exchange.

Following Wei Hai Min: Facebook | Website


WEI Xiaoshi | Ethnomusicology | China → United States | 5 months
Mandarin Oriental Arts Fellowship

Grant Summary: To study the collections of ethnographic sound recordings created during the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897-1902), a well-known anthropological expedition that aimed to explore relationships among peoples on either side of the Bering Strait in Siberia, Washington, Alaska, and Canada’s northwestern coast.

Wei Xiaoshi is an ethnomusicologist, specializing in making and interpreting sound archives. He received his Ph.D. from Indiana University. Through his work, he aims to preserve and promote folk music from various marginalized and threatened communities. He is the director of the China Database for Traditional Music in Beijing and a research associate at the Archives of Traditional Music at IU. He also founded Tash Music & Archives, conducting archival work for music in China. Wei is also the author or editor of several publications, including "Anthology of Wax Cylinder Recordings from the Late Qing (Chinese) Empire: The Berthold Laufer Collection" (2021), "Musajan Rozi: The Korla Diaries" (2015), and "Classics on Strings: Ashula and Other Folksongs from the Uzbek Communities of Xinjiang" (2014),  among others. In the digital domain, he has been leading a team that is developing a metadata scheme for describing music in Chinese and Inner Asian languages. 

In his US trip, Wei will conduct archival and field work into the sound recordings collected in the U.S. during the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897-1902).  The archival work will take place at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, while the fieldwork will take place in the states of Washington and Alaska. With a view to publishing articles and blog journals and contributing metadata to relevant databases, he will interview contemporary members of the originally visited communities and elicit their opinions about and interpretations of the sound recordings.

Follow Wei Xiaoshi: Website


Chihsuan YANG | Music | United States → Taiwan | 2 months

Grant Summary: To study, explore, and immerse in art forms and musical styles unique to Taiwan and inspire new culturally diverse music compositions that strengthen the bridge between cultural divides and blur the lines of genre classifications. 

Chihsuan Yang is a classically trained multi-instrumentalist who specializes in violin, piano and erhu—a two-stringed traditional instrument—as well as a composer for film, commercials, dance, and theater. Yang also plays ukulele, viola, cello, guitar, and the Japanese sanshin. She is a 3Arts award winner and a Grammy Award nominee who actively writes and performs original cross-cultural compositions. Yang proposes to study, explore, and immerse herself in art forms and musical styles not only unique to Taiwan, but also completely new to her as a US-based artist. Through creative exploration, she aims to showcase culturally diverse and non-traditional paths for western classically trained musicians and share her unique perspectives on bridging eastern and western music through both performance and composition.

Follow Chihsuan Yang: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | SoundCloud | Website


Chia Hsun YUAN (Chumik) | Visual Art | Taiwan → India
Ford Foundation Endowed Fellowship

Grant Summary: To conduct field research on the Buddhist mural of Kucha (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China), Tabo, and Alchi (Northern India), over a period of five months and to trace the historical practice of mural art within various cultural milieus.

Chia Hsun Yuan (Chumik ) is a Taiwan-born interdisciplinary artist whose works exclusively use natural materials such as earth, minerals, and plants as sources of pigments. Chumik‘s paintings show a unique combination of miniature techniques and play with spatial relationships. In 2017, she moved to India to learn miniature painting at the royal atelier of Jaipur. She became the first non-native to receive the honor of Ijjazat (literally, “permission to teach”) at the completion of her apprenticeship. Chumik is also an educator and lecturer about Indian painting and has been invited to institutions including National Changhua University of Education, Lin Chihchu Memorial, and Taipei National University of the Arts. During this Individual Fellowship, Chumik will conduct field research on the Buddhist mural of Kucha, Tabo, and Alchi to evaluate the materiality of natural pigments and their connection with culture and locality and to draw implications for contemporary expressions of traditional mediums.

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FU Yuan (Yuan Fuca) | Curation | China → United States | 6 months

Grant Summary: To survey a range of artists, curators, writers, and institutions and chronicle the central themes and histories of ecologically responsive art projects and activism since the 1960s in North America. 

Fu Yuan (Yuan Fuca) is currently a curatorial fellow supported by the De Ying Foundation. She served as artistic director and curator at the recently launched Macalline Art Center, Beijing, which opened in January 2022. Yuan Fuca was a founding member of the Macalline Art Center in 2019 and was instrumental in shaping its initial program and focus. “The Elephant Escaped”, curated as Macalline Art Center’s opening show, responded to contemporary society and life in the post-pandemic era. From 2016 to 2019, Yuan Fuca led and managed Salt Projects, Beijing, a non-profit art space that offered a site for action and exchange among young artists and practitioners. Combining theory and practice, Salt Projects focused on research as an open-ended activity, involving collaboration and inter-disciplinary approaches to art marking, and with a special focus on time-based art practice. Yuan Fuca is the co-founding editor of Heichi Magazine, the online bilingual publishing platform affiliated with Macalline Art Center. Her writing has been published on platforms such as Artforum, Artnews, BOMB, Flash Art, and Frieze. 

Yuan Fuca’s main motivation for conducting the proposed research stems from the current socio-political climate and ecological crisis. She is interested in investigating how these issues can be countered through artistic, activist, and curatorial practices, and bringing these practices back into her local community.

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ZHOU Zhengxu | Architecture | China → US | 4 months
Hsin Chong - K.N. Godfrey Yeh Education Fund

Grant Summary: To participate in the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS) at MIT as a visiting scholar in 2023.

Dr. Zhou Zhengxu is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University. He received both a Bachelor of Architecture and Doctor of Engineering in Urban and Rural Planning from Tsinghua University. He is Deputy Secretary‐General of the Academic Committee of Mountain Urban and Rural Planning of the Chinese Society for Urban Planning; Committee Member of the Vernacular Architecture Branch of the Architecture Society of China; and Member of the Academic Committee of Land, and Space Planning and Research of the China Society of Natural Resources. His research interest centers on traditional settlement and rural study. A prolific scholar, he has published four monographs and more than 40 academic papers. He won the Landscape of the Year Award at the World Architecture Festival 2022, the first prize of the Outstanding Achievement Award of Philosophy and Social Sciences in Guizhou Province, and the first prize of the Beijing Higher Education Teaching Achievement Award. The SPURS program will allow Zhengxu, whose contributions shape urban policy in China, to further develop his planning, policy-making, and problem-solving skills.

 

 

Graduate Scholarship

ACC awards Graduate Scholarships to a select number of international students from eligible countries who have received admission to degree-granting graduate programs in the United States. ACC prioritizes applicants who pursue study abroad because comparable programs are not available in the applicant’s home country and/or fields that are under-represented in the applicant’s home country. When selecting recipients, ACC commits to supporting scholarship recipients for up to two years on the condition that they maintain good academic standing. Scholarship awards support living expenses but do not cover tuition assistance.
 

Zelia ZZ TAN | Dance | China → United States Photo by Lee Wai Leung
Altius Fellowship

Grant Summary: To pursue an MFA degree at the California Institute of the Arts in the US with a double major in Interactive Media for Choreography (School of Dance) and Performance (School of Theatre). 

Zelia ZZ Tan is a young Asian dance artist crossing over to film and technology. As a dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, researcher, and metaverser, she explores multiple mediums. She graduated in 2019 with a first class honor BFA degree from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, for which she was awarded the Dean’s Scholarship and a full scholarship by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. As a professional dancer in City Contemporary Dance Company since graduation, she has performed 15 works by renowned choreographers such as Helen Lai, Yuri Ng, and Sang Jijia. In 2015, at age 15, she presented her first choreographic creation “Addiction” at the Helsinki Festival and was a finalist in the Korea International Modern Dance Competition. Recently, she co-choreographed a full-length theater performance “audītŭs” in Macau. Altogether she has choreographed six solos and five group dance works to explore possibilities in the body. While choreography is Tan’s way of asking questions and finding answers, theatre is her tool to explore the interaction between body and technology. Her long-term goals are to further experiment with XR dance, as well as the transformation of the body in hybrid performances in the theatre. 

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Organization / Project Grant

Organization and project grants are awarded to support cultural exchange opportunities for individual project participants in collaboration with organizations. Host organizations offer residencies, peer-to-peer exchanges, performances, and public programs to facilitate project participants’ engagement with the public or creative communities.
 

OFFICE ALB | Dance | Japan → Philippines, India, Indonesia | 1 month 
ACC Saison Foundation Fellow

Grant Summary: To foster exchange and international collaboration among artists from Southeast and South Asia; Japanese artists led by choreographer/dancer Akiko Kitamura and local artists from the Philippines, India and Indonesia will collaborate to conduct fieldwork and workshops together.

Founded in 2010 by choreographer and dancer Akiko Kitamura, Office ALB has organized and produced several international collaborative productions involving Japanese and international artists from all over the world. Their ACC grant will support the second of three years of the "X-Stream project (tentative title)”. This project aims to build on the knowledge and creative achievements gained through research and exchange programs and creation, and will be integrated into the presentation of works in Japan in the following year.

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