Dear Tisch Community,
As May comes to a close, we honor Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month– a time to celebrate the broad spectrum of cultures, histories, and contributions from communities across East, Southeast, and South Asia, as well as Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities. We acknowledge the profound impact individuals from AAPI communities have had–and continue to have–in contributing to our culture, especially the arts and other fields within our society.
This month also invites reflection on how art serves as a powerful vehicle for education, connection, and resilience. One resonant example is the 1973 album A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America, created by Chris Iijima, Nobuko Miyamoto, and Charlie Chin. Emerging from a New York City grappling with the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and ongoing calls for social justice, this album helped to give voice to the Asian American Movement. Through folk, blues, and jazz, it united communities with a shared pan-ethnic identity and created a lasting legacy of artistic activism. More recently, during the unprecedented uncertainty of 2020, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center released Care Package– a curated collection of poems, meditations, short films, and creative resources offering comfort and solace. Designed as a gesture of communal care, it reminds us of art’s capacity to heal and ground us through periods of shared difficulty. Lastly, we invite you to stream the acclaimed Roundabout Theatre Company production of David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face, available on PBS Great Performances through June 30, 2025. This sharp, comedic play follows an Asian American playwright’s protest against yellowface casting– and the unexpected consequences that follow. Starring Tisch alum and 2025 Gala Honoree Daniel Dae Kim ‘96 (MFA, Grad Acting), the production exemplifies how artists continue to use performance as a catalyst for critical dialogues. With gratitude,
The Tisch Office of Community Engagement
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Go behind the curtain of the Tony nominated play Yellow Face with Daniel Dae Kim, Francis Jue and playwright David Henry Hwang. Great Performances | PBS
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| Events, Exhibitions, and Resources- Think!Chinatown | Winged Seeds
May 20 - September 2025, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Think!Chinatown's Studio | 1 Pike Street, New York, NY, 10002
Think!Chinatown presents Winged Seeds by New York-based artist Jia Sung, an exhibition blending painting and collaborative textile. Composed of painted portraits framed by embroidered motifs of so-called “invasive” plants, the exhibition gathers diasporic memory, family archives, and ecological entanglements. - Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) | Echoes of Arrival
Fri., May 23, 7:00 PM | Sat., May 24, 3:00 PM
215 Centre Street, New York, NY 10013
MOCA presents Echoes of Arrival, a powerful collection of immigrant stories. Through intimate performances blending storytelling, music, and dance, the cast shares poignant first encounters with the United States and the bittersweet reality of leaving homelands behind. - 4th Annual AAPI Heritage Parade
Sunday, June 1, 2025 from 12:00 - 3:00 PM
6th Avenue between 44th – 55th Street
To close out AAPI Heritage Month, join the fourth annual AAPI Cultural Heritage Parade, organized by the Better Chinatown USA Society. The parade celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage with an opening ceremony at 44th Street beginning at noon. - Japan Society | Hayao Miyazaki’s Future Boy Conan
Monday, June 2, 2025, 7:00 PM
Japan Society | 333 East 47th Street, New York, NY 10017
Appreciate the 4K digital restoration of Hayao Miyazaki's directorial debut, Future Boy Conan, a 1978 animated series previously unavailable in the U.S. for over 40 years. This foundational work presents Miyazaki’s early vision through a post-apocalyptic narrative, and the Japan Society is presenting the first three episodes on the big screen. - National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) | Virtual Bookshelf
The National Endowment for the Humanities has a history of funding projects exploring Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander experiences. This bookshelf holds a large collection of project and resource materials.
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