2024 ACC Japan Grant Program Grants Announcement

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◆ New York Fellowship (6 months in the U.S.) ◆ 

Bontaro DOKUYAMA 
Visual Art

To learn about artistic practices in a multinational country, and research the history and cultural transmission of Japanese immigrants in the United States from the Meiji Restoration through World War II and the present.
Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller (BHR) Memorial Fellow *1

 

Souya HANDA 
Curation

To conduct on-site research on the Manhattan Project, providing a multifaceted perspective on his artistic practices on Hiroshima, as well as conduct research on Asian artists in the United States working on postcolonial themes.

 

SEKI Tomoko 
Arts Criticism

To conduct research on theater in the United States for a comparative study with Europe and Japan to understand the characteristics of Japanese, European, and American plays.
ACC/Saison Foundation Fellow *2

 

SUZUKI Minori 
Literature

To research literary and artistic practices in the United States and study how minority stories have been told in the country to discover new or alternative storytelling and styles of writing in Japanese.

 

 

Hideki UMEZAWA 
Music

To conduct research on sound sculptures, interact with the experimental and electronic music scene in New York, and examine the relationship between people and the environment.

 

 

Aki YAHATA 
Film/Video/Photography

To investigate four themes: road movies, the history and present state of immigrants, image therapy, and hand-eating culture in Native American and immigrant communities.

 

 

◆ Organization Grant ◆

Bridge for the Arts and Education 
Theater

To conduct a workshop series facilitated by five artists from Malaysia and Japan involving open rehearsals and artist's talks to explore the link between Asian performance and the theme of death and rebirth through philosophy, movement, and sound.
ACC/Saison Foundation Fellow *2

 

Don’t Follow the Wind 
Visual Art

To support American artist and curator contributions, conducting on-site research and interacting with displaced residents, for the Don't Follow the Wind exhibition through planning and development.

 

◆ Individual Fellowship ◆

The following fellows are selected by U.S. judges and supported by ACC Japan Grants Program.

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Comments from Selection Panelists

Visual Art

It is obvious from the past history that traveling abroad and coming into contact with different cultures have brought about great stimulation and leaps in the field of the arts. However, now that we are able to follow the world situation and the artistic movement around the world in real time, what we seek when working abroad has changed as a matter of course. Besides visiting art museums and galleries and meeting people in the art world to broaden our horizons, it has become increasingly important to build human and social networks in the places we stay, and to grasp something that we can realize only by immersing ourselves in such an environment.

I was given the opportunity to serve as a selection panelist for ACC this year, and my first overall impression was that many of the applications were for the realization of research-based projects, which has become a trend in recent years. We can expect new outputs that differ from conventional production and curation from the research-based projects, which integrate various perspectives of artists, researchers, curators, and critics. I could see from the large number of applications that ACC grants were eagerly sought for the realization of these projects.

Applications were generally of a high level, making the selection process challenging and competitive. After reviewing the content of the applications, and giving consideration in the categories of applicants (individual/organization) and the range of generations, we selected a total of four applicants, three individuals and one organization, as follows.

Bontaro Dokuyama has created works with ironic methods, focusing on things that are buried in the course of society and history. His proposal to research the history and culture of Japanese American immigrants in various cities was highly evaluated as a plan that would further advance his career. Aki Yahata, who has clinical experience as a medical professional, was selected for her research on road movies/mobility, image therapy, and hand-eating culture, and for her noteworthy attempt to find a unique perspective that crosses art, medicine, and cultural anthropology. Souya Handa, an artist, curator, and researcher who critically questions the social structure of Japan, drew attention for his application plan to research the Manhattan Project and other issues to re-examine the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, where he grew up, from a perspective that is not limited by the dichotomy of victims and perpetrators. As for the Organization Grant, the international project “Don't Follow the Wind,” which opened in 2015 with the cooperation of displaced residents of the inaccessible, radioactive exclusion zone resulted from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident, was selected. The purpose of the project is to conduct research for the future opening of the exhibition and to facilitate exchanges between art professionals in the U.S. and the displaced residents.

As the world situation becomes increasingly confused, ACC's mission of cross-cultural exchange and dialogue is becoming even more important. We hope that the grants will help realize the projects that can only be achieved in times like these.

Itaru Hirano 
Vice Director, The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama
(Representative Panelist in the field of visual art)

 

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Performing Arts

In the performing arts field this year, applications, with strong contents, came from people involved in a variety of creative positions, from artists who perform themselves to those involved in directing, translating, and producing, from classical to contemporary theater, dance, and cirque. It was impressive to see that applicants with a certain amount of experience in the field had applied with a sense of enthusiasm for building their own careers at this time, inspired by the performing arts in New York and the U.S. that they have been involved in through their activities. 

Tomoko Seki, selected as a New York Fellow this year, has supported performances of many outstanding plays in Japan as a translator. She has also analyzed plays in English from an academic standpoint, and the quality of her work is already highly acclaimed. According to Seki, who has been mainly involved in British plays, the introduction of contemporary American theater to Japan has been biased toward commercially successful productions. Her objective of investigating the process of career formation of playwrights in New York and how plays are performed and archived for publication was highly praised for its potential to provide insights into the theater worlds of both Japan and the U.S. The timing was also a factor as she could make time and stay in New York for an extended period of time in her busy schedule. We hope that this fellowship will promote the systematic analysis of contemporary American theater and its introduction to Japan. 

Bridge for the Arts and Education, the recipient of Organization Grant, has been involved in international collaborations for a long time that ACC has given support because of the uniqueness and quality of their activities. In preparation of the “Odyssey” performance in 2025, Hiroshi Koike, the director of the organization, and other artists from Japan and Malaysia will hold a series of five workshops in Tokyo and share the results of these workshops in public rehearsals and talks. The project was selected as it was considered highly feasible and in line with ACC's mission.

I myself was awarded an ACC grant in 1992 to stay in New York, where I was able to broaden my horizons and become involved in the performing arts to this day, and it was with this sense of gratitude that I accepted the invitation to be a selection panelist for the first time.

Unlike my own application back then, the applicants impressed me by clearly articulating and presenting the significance of the activities they were aiming for. In a world divided by significant problems such as pandemics and wars in various regions, what can a small individual like an artist do to contribute to society? This was the question I asked myself as I judged the applications.

Minako Naito 
General Producer (of Performing Arts), Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre
(Representative Panelist in the field of Performing Arts)

 

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Music

We selected one grantee from the field of music this year. The overall trend of applications in the field of music indicates a growing interest in various emerging issues such as environment, gender, and just intonation, reflecting a high level of applicants’ expertise. Among them, Hideki Umezawa, who has been engaged in interdisciplinary activities in music and art, was selected as the finalist. He has been conducting fieldwork centering on sound recording and photography to explore the relationship between people and the environment, and his activities that transcend the boundaries of “music” are noteworthy. He has a wide range of interests from sound sculpture to electronic music and has already been actively working on them in France and other countries. We believe that he will further expand his activities by acquainting himself with the New York art scene.

This is my first time to be involved in the ACC jury process, and it made me recall how my stay in New York with the support of ACC exposed me to the cutting-edge art scene, and how much it has benefited my subsequent activities. 

I strongly hope that all the artists will make the most of this opportunity and look forward to the future activities of the grantees selected this time from various fields.

Toshie Kakinuma 
Professor Emerita, Kyoto City University of Arts
(Representative panelist in the field of music)
 

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Literature

This is the first time I served as a selection panelist for ACC, and as was mentioned in a selection review last year, I have the impression that the number of applicants in the field of literature could have been a little more active since this is such a worthy grant. Of course, in the realm of creative works, critiques, or research using the Japanese language primarily, international exchanges often involve communication in other languages and may make it difficult to fully leverage the strengths of the applicants and envision direct effects. Nevertheless, I hope that people will take advantage of this grant, which is relatively flexible and goes beyond mere “international exchange” to enable a variety of cultural exchanges, including exchanges of opinions and collaboration with people from different linguistic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Minori Suzuki's application, which was selected for the grant, would make the most of the grant in this sense. Suzuki has done a wide range of work from a feminist and queer perspective, including writing novels and criticism, and supervising films and TV dramas. In the midst of the rising transnational anti-gender movement, investigating the activities of the queer/trans BIPOC cultural community in the U.S, and engaging in discussions and networking clearly articulates the necessity and significance of exchanges beyond Japan's borders or within the Japanese-speaking cultural sphere and is a highly timely proposal. I hope that Suzuki will take full advantage of this opportunity and become a force for further enriching feminist/queer criticism and writing in the Japanese-speaking community.

Akiko Shimizu 
Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo
(Representative panelist in the field of literature)

 

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Supported by: 

The Saison Foundation

 

Association for Corporate Support of the Arts, Japan：Arts Fund for Creation of Society

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Asian Cultural Council Japan Foundation

Kyobashi Yamamoto Bldg. 4F, 
3-12-7 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0031 Japan
Email: acc@accjpn.org
Tel: 03-3535-0287  Fax: 03-3535-5565
www.asianculturalcouncil.org