We hope your 2022 has been off to a great start and you and your loved ones are staying safe, healthy, and connected. With Lunar New Year upon us, all of us at Asian Improv aRts want to take some time to share with you words of gratitude and excitement for this past year and the next to come.

COMMUNITY POWER

The first leg of our 35 year anniversary fundraising campaign has been a resounding success! In only 60 days, we have been able to raise over $25,000 with contributions from 78 donors, reminding us of the power of art and community. Thank you! Our goal is to reach at least $35,000 by June 30 and with help from supporters like you, we are absolutely confident we can get there and beyond.

NEW PROGRAMS

Behind the scenes, we’ve been envisioning for the future and this year will see the launch of two brand new programs:

1. A national co-commissioning program which will bring together selected artists from across the country and artistic disciplines, to create new innovative, multidisciplinary works; and
2. A grassroots fellowship program developing the next generation of emerging artists by connecting them to mentorship and guidance from established artists in their fields

We will be announcing our inaugural cohorts for both programs later this year, so keep on the lookout!

A NEW ERA

As we look forward, we are leaning into a new national direction that will bridge artists and arts organizations across the country to nurture a rich, collective voice that reflects and gives back to local communities. Save the date for the first event of this new era! 

EXPANSIONS // HORIZONS

Asian Art Museum
June 30, 2022

Come celebrate 35 years of Asian Improv aRts with a multidisciplinary evening of music, dance, and film across two unique programs featuring an intergenerational lineup of AIR artists from the Bay Area, Chicago, and Los Angeles and meet the next generation of emerging artists in these fields, as we look forward to the future with radical imagination.

STRONG ROOTS

Asian Improv aRts is rooted in the Asian American movement and no matter how far our branches grow (which they have and will keep doing), we will always be connected to the soil of our communities that have nourished us. This is exemplified in the press coverage we’ve received across different platforms. Here are some of the highlights from this past year:

1. Jon Jang’s CAGES in “21 Stories of Strength to Close Out 2021” by Mother Jones
2. Lenora Lee Dance on the cover of and inside the California Arts Council’s DREAM magazine
3. Asian Improv aRts in Bay Area community newspaper, Nichi Bei Weekly

UPCOMING EVENTS

Feb 6 | Ways to Interrogate History w/ Jon Jangtet and Paul Flores | 6pm & 7:30pm SFJAZZ (201 Franklin St, San Francisco)

Feb 27 | Zen of Glenn: Glenn Horiuchi Birthday Retrospective w/ Bobby Bradford, Genny Lim, and Francis Wong | 5-7pm @ Bird and Beckett Books (653 Chenery St, San Francisco)

April 21 - 23 | World Premiere of Convergent Waves: Boston w/ Lenora Lee Dance | 7pm & 8:30pm @ Pao Arts Center (99 Albany Street, Boston, MA)

April | Jon Jang in the East Bay

June 9 | World Premiere of Convergent Waves: SF w/ Lenora Lee Dance | 6pm & 7:30pm @ Asian Art Museum (200 Larkin Street, San Francisco)

June 26 (subject to change) | Japan Day Festival w/ GenRyu Arts | Details coming soon @ Japantown, San Francisco

June 30 | EXPANSIONS // HORIZONS | Program A: 6-7pm & Program B: 7:30-8:30pm @ Asian Art Museum (200 Larkin Street, San Francisco)

Sept 1 - 11 | World Premiere of In the Movement  w/ Lenora Lee Dance | Thursdays-Saturdays 8pm, Sundays 2pm @ ODC Theater (3153 17th Street, San Francisco)

As we end this lunar cycle, we want to say thank you from our hearts for all of your support in all the ways - material, financial, and spiritual. Without you, what we do would not be possible. Wishing you a happy new year full of health, connection, prosperity, and care! 

​​KUNG HEI FAT CHOI! / GONG XI FA CAI!

CHÚC MỪNG NĂM MỚI!

SAEHAE BOK MANI BADEUSEYO!

SELAMAT TAHUN BARU!

MANIGONG BAGONG TAON!

SURSEDEY CHNAM THMEY!