A4 Celebrates 40 Years!
Join us for our 40th Anniversary Gala: Reflecting Forward!
Thursday October 12, 2023
6-9pm
Manny Cantor Center
197 E Broadway
New York, NY 10002
You’re invited for an evening of artistic dedications and special performances, a cocktail reception, and dinner. Funds raised from this event will directly support the work of hundreds of AAPI artists and arts groups, as well as help A4 provide services throughout the year and beyond.
Bid in our 40th Anniversary Silent Auction
Click the link below to bid on visual art, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and more from generous members of our community. You can be the lucky winner of a private knitting lesson by BD Wong or tickets to “Little Shop of Horrors” off Broadway starring Constance Wu. All proceeds will be split equally between the participating artists and A4’s 40th Anniversary Fund.
The online-only auction opens on October 2, 2023 at 10:00am ET and close on October 16, 2023 at 6:00pm ET.
Joanne Kwong is the president of Pearl River Mart, the iconic NYC Asian emporium established in 1971. Today, under Joanne’s leadership, Pearl River is beloved by generations of New Yorkers and visitors alike, serving as a dynamic hub for the AAPI community and a springboard for emerging entrepreneurs and artists. Pearl River Mart’s community-based approach has been recognized by The Wall Street Journal as “the future of retail,” and by New York Magazine as one of its “Reasons to Love NY.”
Joanne is a product of the NYC public schools and holds degrees from Columbia and Duke. Joanne serves on the boards of multiple organizations and was recently appointed to the U.S. Congressional Commission To Study the Potential Creation of a National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture. In 2021, she was honored as one of Gold House’s A100 “Most Impactful Asians and Pacific Islanders” and Time Out NY’s “9 Amazing Women Who Changed New York for the Better.”
Joanne is a proud resident of the Upper West Side, where she lives with her husband and two sons.
Artist Activist Kate Siahaan-Rigg is a New York based Asian American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. She creates work for television, film, stage, and underground dive bars. Her award-winning shows about race and representASIAN have been to countless festivals and theaters including the Smithsonian Institute, The Comedy Central Theater, and the Edinburgh International Fringe. Her first touring show, Kate’s Chink-O-Rama featuring the Chinkorama dancers, broke ground in the discussion of representAsian, stereotypes, racial bias, and the erasure of AAPI communities. She has served as Creator and Executive Producer on 3 network TV shows and one pilot.
As a hostess and producer for many benefits and activist events she has worked with NY Heritage of Pride, CAPA, Time’s Up, The SAG Foundation, The Dolores Huerta Foundation the NYCLU, and A4. Kate has toured with her rock/ comedy/rap duo Slanty Eyed Mama all over the world. In response to the rise of violence against Asian Americans, she co-hosts and curates “DisOrientalism” quarterly at The Public Theater to uplift, amplify, and connect Asian American Artists. Kate is the Creative Director of the Over The Rhine International Film Festival, the nation’s premiere diversity film festival hosted by the disability community. She is also the professor emeritus of the first ever LGBTQ+ stand up comedy class at the Manhattan Comedy School and has begun teaching arts and activism at educational institutions around the country. www.katerigg.com
Arlan Huang is an artist based in New York. His work is characterized by its play with translucency and opacity, darting between a wide variety of mediums including acrylic paint, glass, and multimedia installations. His abstractions are informed by the conflation of recent and collective memory, as well as everyday life; for example, his freehanded paintings reference his mother’s cheongsams and grapes harvested at only certain times a year in Japan. Taken together, his work probes the possibility of Asian Americanness, or the feeling of belonging amidst feelings of placelessness. As an active member of Godzilla: Asian American Arts Network, Huang has been a key player in broadening opportunities for Asian Americans in the Arts and Asian American activism more broadly.
His most recent exhibit, Just Between Us, was in partnership with Pearl River Mart and Think!Chinatown, along with Corridor Glance, in partnership with Pearl River Mart, the Asian American Arts Alliance, and Chelsea Market.
Originally from Mumbai, India, Jainil Mehta is a 24-year-old dancer, choreographer, and is currently freelance teaching, creating and performing across the United States, predominantly New York City. He is a former company dancer with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. He has choreographed and designed four dance productions: Ctrl Alt Delete in 2023, DECODED in 2018, Alankar in 2017, and Chimera in 2015. Before moving to Los Angeles for college, he trained at Shiamak Davar International in Mumbai, India, for 13 years. Jainil graduated Summa Cum Laude and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance with a Discovery Scholars Distinction.
Jainil has a current following of more than 300k on Instagram, trending on #Meninskirts
which breaks the barriers of gender categorizations. He has choreographed for Big
Wild’s music video “6’s to 9’s” and Falguni Pathak’s “Jode Rahejo Raaj.” While also
being a social media influencer, he has taught many dance classes online and in person
across India as well as Pakistan, China, Singapore, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia,
and the United States to over 10000+ students.
Theodore & Asya Berger
Elena Chang
Xhingyu Chen
Rockwell “Rocky” Chin
Claire Chung
JiaJia Fei
Amy Hau
Steven Hsiao
Reena Jana
Leslie Kuo
Risha Lee
Ronald Lee
Kelin Li
Alan Lo
Andrea Louie
Lily J. Lu
Elliot Lum
Michelle Pham
Ravi Rajan
Athena Robles
Tiffany Tay
Angela Wei
Perry Yung
Baker & Dr. Nadine A. Chang, with Morgan Marcell, Producing Sponsor
Reena Jana & Geoffrey MacAdam, Producing Sponsor
Akshay Kumar & Michelle Pham, Producing Sponsor
Kelin Li, Producing Sponsor
Alan Lo, Producing Sponsor
Angela Wei, Producing Sponsor
Xhingyu Chen, Community Sponsor
Rocky Chin & May Ying Chen, Community Sponsor
Amy Hau, Community Sponsor
Sponsors in formation
Our Vision for 40 and Beyond
- A thriving society in which art and culture are highly valued and the AAPI community is an integral part of the cultural fabric
- A shared understanding of and appreciation for our rich past rooted in open dialogue
- Bridges built between communities that ensure visibility, understanding, and opportunities for all
- Robust economic support that is backed by resources, funding, promotion, and feedback loops
- Ongoing mentorship programs that engage artists and ensure dialogue among artists across disciplines, generations, and stages of their career
- Established AAPI leadership in previously white-dominant institutions that ensure authentic representations of our multi-faceted, multi-cultural and diasporic communities
Donate to the 40th Anniversary Fund!
If you can’t attend the gala but would still like to contribute to Asian American futures, make a donation to our 40th anniversary fund! All donations will receive an appreciation letter that states the tax deductible amount.
Special thanks to donors who have contributed already:
- Rocky Chin & May Ying Chen
- Alan & Merle Okada
FAQs
Accessibility
Accessibility features of the space are forthcoming.
If you require any accommodations including ASL interpretation, CART captioning, language translation, or large print, please email events@aaartsalliance.org at least one week before the event. We will do our best to accommodate.
Dress Code
Creative cocktail attire!
Any other questions?
Please email events@aaartsalliance.org.