FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2022

ASIAN CULTURAL COUNCIL ANNOUNCES 2022 FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS,AWARDING MORE THAN $1 MILLION IN SUPPORT OF ARTISTS AND SCHOLARS
Cultural engagement more relevant than ever between U.S. and Asia

NEW YORK—Today, the Asian Cultural Council, the preeminent not-for-profit, New York-basedorganization that advances international dialogue through arts and cultural exchange between Asia andthe United States, announces its 2022 fellowship and grant recipients, awarded by its New York office.
Founded in 1963 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) has enabled morethan 6,000 exchanges between artists, humanities scholars, and specialists, investing more than $100
million in support across 16 artistic disciplines and 26 countries/regions to date. ACC hasconnected creators and thinkers to peers in countries including China, Indonesia, Japan, thePhilippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and the U.S. for nearly 60 years,
effectively cultivating cultural bridges across global borders. ACC is headquartered in New York Citywith global offices in Hong Kong, Manila, Taipei, and Tokyo.

Headed by Executive Director and ACC alumna Judy Kim, who has led strategic and organizational
development in arts and cultural institutions for more than 25 years, ACC provides program services
and, in 2022, direct grants between $10,000-$60,000. ACC awarded more than $1 million in grants for2022 across all offices.
“The importance of ACC’s work goes beyond direct grants—our support for grantees encourages
exploration, curiosity, and understanding. We believe in the power of shared experiences and that thearts define our humanity,” said Executive Director Judy Kim.
The 2022 Fellowship highlights include:2022 Individual Fellow Kayla Briët, an artist, filmmaker, andcomposer who explores themes of belonging through varied
mediums of storytelling. In music and live performances, sheshares stories by mixing electronic beats with the strings of aChinese guzheng zither, vocals, and live looping—an explorationof her Prairie Band Potawatomi, Taiwanese Chinese, and DutchIndonesian heritage. Briët’s fellowship focuses on researchingand exploring Taiwanese, Chinese, and Southeast Asian
diaspora communities, histories and culture, and truth andreconciliatory practices in Taiwan and beyond. This research, both online and in-person, aims toexplore multi-disciplinary expressions of Asian identity and Indigenous futurism. Briët’s work has been
exhibited by the Smithsonian Institute, MoMA, Adobe, National Geographic, PBS and, recently, Briëtwas named a 2018 MacArthur Foundation x Sundance New Frontier Fellow and 2017 TED Fellow,among other accolades.
2022 New York Fellow Marin Naruse is a “shimauta” singer, practicing thetraditional music of Japan’s Amami Islands. She has won multiple awards andactively collaborates with various contemporary artists, such as jazz pianists,orchestras, and rakugo players, to explore the expanded possibilities ofshimauta. Naruse was named an official Minyo Ambassador by the Japan
Folksong and Dance Foundation; she regularly delivers seminars and lectures
about shimauta music. By gaining insight into U.S. ethnic music preservation
practices, Naruse hopes to conduct the first academic study of shimauta
music to preserve its unique traditions. Her work seeks to build awareness of
the Amami people and amplify their cultural contributions to audiences inJapan, the U.S., and globally.
Additional 2022 grantees awarded by the NYC office include Wuerxiya, Craft, United States; ĐỗTường Linh, Curation, Vietnam; Gardika Gigih Pradipta, Music, Indonesia; Le Hien Minh, Visual Art,Vietnam; Htaywai Naing, Art History, Myanmar; Nigam Bhandari, Film, Nepal; International Studio &Curatorial Program, Art History, United States/Philippines. For more information about the respective
grantee projects, please visit ACC online.

The 2022 group of nine awardees were selected by two esteemed panels of professionals divided
between the Performing and Visual Arts, and representing 16 disciplines: Archaeology, Architecture, ArtHistory, Arts Administration, Arts Criticism, Conservation, Crafts, Curation, Dance, Ethnomusicology,
Film/Video/Photography, Literature, Museum Studies, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts.
“ACC’s work over the last 60 years has been important for artistic and cross-cultural exchange andunderstanding. As ACC continues to grow into the future, I’m delighted the organization has
transitioned to a panel review system for its grantmaking. My recent service on the visual arts panel
was both inspiring and rewarding. The grantees this year truly represent a new generation of artists
who seek global awareness. Their work moving forward will be informed and affected by their ACC
fellowships,” said Barbara London, Media Arts Curator, who is also an ACC alumnus.
“I was honored to participate in the performing arts panel, the first for ACC’s grantmaking process. We
saw a variety of excellent proposals from artists and scholars across multiple disciplines; I believe weselected a cohort of final grantees who are exploring both breadth and depth within their fields, whosework will ultimately benefit through the exchange of ideas and cultural understanding enabled by theirACC fellowships,” Musician and Composer Huang Ruo.
ABOUT THE ASIAN CULTURAL COUNCIL
The Asian Cultural Council connects artists, humanities scholars, and arts professionals across Asiaand the U.S. Through fellowships, grants, achievement awards, public programs, alumni engagement,
and other cultural exchange initiatives, ACC aims to build global arts communities whose individual andcollective work serves to advance international understanding and respect.
Countries and regions include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor,Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal,Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and United States.
The ACC Board of Trustees is headed by Wendy O’Neill, Hans Michael Jebsen, Valerie Rockefeller,and John R. Witt. ACC Alumni include renowned artists such as Kengo Kuma (’85), Yayoi Kusama (’64,’96), Meredith Monk (’97, ’00), Nam June Paik (’65), Jin Xing (’88), and Viet Thanh Nguyen (’10).
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High resolution images and press kit available here.
Media contact:
Kristin Guiter, kkg arts + culture communications
kristin@kristinguiter.com+1 (917) 635-1805###