A4 Announces Awardees of the 2025 What Can We Do? Artist Grant

By A4 Staff
January 29, 2025
News

Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) is pleased to announce the participants of What Can We Do? (WCWD?), an artist grant program offering $1,500 stipends to artists who use their creative skills to offer community care to Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) New Yorkers. Over 20 artists and collaborators will present a total of 17 projects in an array of disciplines to bring aid, care, and cultural pride to the Asian New Yorker community with a focus on Chinatown, Manhattan; Flushing, Queens; and/or social justice projects that support NYC-based Palestinian creators and their communities, now through early June 2025.

The selected artists for 2025 include:

Aminah Al Huqail • Florence Almeda • Waseem Alzer, Aya Aziz, and Sarah Bitar at Beitna Theater • Kristen Cawog • Annette Cho • Shenghan Gao • Lour Yasin • Kayhan Irani • Fatin Jarara • Da Hyun Kim • Rochelle Kwan • Haoju Lu • Kruthika N.S. • Michi Osato, Noelle Ghoussaini, and Rafah AlSiyoufi • Hind Shoufani • Tiffany Troy • XY Zhou

“It’s very rewarding to be able to offer these grants to support artists who do such meaningful work in our communities. The array of projects is incredibly inspiring,” says Lisa Gold, executive director of A4. “The nearly 50% increase in applications this year affirms the need for–and interest in–programs like WCWD.”

The WCWD? program was created in 2022 in response to the alarming increase in anti-Asian hate and violence during the pandemic that has caused many people to experience grief, anxiety, and fear. WCWD? not only empowers artists who may themselves feel helpless against the swelling tide of anti-Asian and anti-Arab sentiment against the AAPI community, but also gives them a chance to find their place in the ecosystem of care through their talents and community connections while creating a circle of resilience.

The artists’ projects range in scope, discipline, and location. Examples include:
• “Poeticians,” a gathering for amateur Arab artists to showcase their writing, music, and art (Hind Shoufani)
• a healing space for various Palestinian-led organizations including Palestinian Feminist Collective offering ear acupuncture, meditation and collective creative ceremony, and homemade Syrian food (Michi Osato, Noelle Ghoussaini, and Rafah AlSiyoufi)
• a beginner-friendly dance workshop series designed to introduce participants to the richness of Korean music, dance, and traditions in Flushing, Queens (Da Hyun Kim)
• a holistic workshop series combining physical strength movement classes with music and storytelling for seniors at Knickerbocker Village in Chinatown, Manhattan (Rochelle Kwan of Chinatown Records in collaboration with dancer Mei-Yin Ng)

For a complete list of projects and to learn more about the artists and the WCWD? program, visit A4’s website.

This program is presented by Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) and is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Special thanks to Council Members Christopher Marte and Sandra Ung. Programs serving the Palestinian community are funded through a grant from the Ford Foundation for Social Justice.

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