The Asian Women Giving Circle invites you to
Sip Shop and Swap!!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013 6:00pm–8:30pm
Location: A beautiful penthouse apartment across
from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
(exact address will be distributed to confirmed guests)
We ask all guests to bring one or two gently used items from their closet
(like something you might sell on eBay), for our impromptu silent auction.
Special treat will be our own Tuhina De O’Connor, wine expert,
who will lead a tasting of affordable wines!
Suggested donation of $20 at the door. All proceeds will benefit our 2013 grant making fund.
To RSVP, please email hali@asianwomengivingcircle.org
Asian Women Giving Circle's
Celebration of Activism Through the Arts at MOCA - September 26th
Please join us on September 26th for the
Asian Women Giving Circle's
Celebration of Activism Through the Arts at MOCA
Wednesday, September 26, 2012, 6pm to 8pm
Location: The Museum of Chinese in America
215 Centre Street New York, NY 10013
Meet and mingle with the AWGC 2011 project grantees and
there will be a silent auction, wine, delicious dim sum and
a special performance by Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai!
Early Bird Special - $50 per single ticket until Sept. 10th
$60 per single ticket
$100 for two tickets (Double Happiness)
To buy tickets: ms.foundation.org/CelebrationAWGC2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Angie Wang, 917-576-5423
Asian Women Giving Circle Awards $55,000 in Project Grants to NYC Artists
and Social Change Organizations
Grantees Illuminate Experiences of Asian American Women in US and Beyond,
from Comfort Women to Domestic Workers
NEW YORK CITY, NY (June 28, 2012) – A documentary about the community response to the death of Private Danny Chen, an oral history project on the lives of domestic workers and a film featuring Muslim American comics are among the nine recipients of the 2012 Asian Women Giving Circle (“AWGC”) project grants for arts that contribute to cultural and political change.
“This year we received an unprecedented number of applications – 50 percent more than we saw seven years ago when the Asian Women Giving Circle was founded,” said AWGC Founder Hali Lee. “Both the quality and quantity of the work we received speaks volumes about the vitality of arts within New York City’s Asian American community as a force for change.”
The recession has forced many states to slice their arts budgets for the 2012 fiscal year; over the past decade, government funding for the arts has dropped 42 percent nationwide, according to National Assembly of State Arts Agencies data. Funding for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) has been reduced by nearly 30 percent over the past four years, the largest cut to any state agency.
“When arts funding plummets, artists of color are historically among the hardest hit, which is why the Asian Women Giving Circle is more fiercely committed than ever to do what we can to support the vision of artists and arts organizations that seize the power of the arts for social change,” said Lee. The 2012 AWGC project grantees are:
Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) – The Thumbprint of Mukhtar Mai: A $5,000 project grant to support this chamber opera by composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Susan Yankowitz, inspired by the story of Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman who was gang raped as a child and became the first woman in her country’s history to bring her rapists to justice. The opera will premiere in 2013-2014. www.kamalasankaram.com and www.bethmorrisonprojects.org
Chang-Jin Lee - Comfort Women Wanted: A $8,500 project grant for visual artist Chang-Jin Lee’s video based on interviews with Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Filipino, and Dutch women survivors of Japanese WWII “comfort stations.” The project aims to connect this historical atrocity to the continuing sexual exploitation and trafficking of Asian women today. www.changjinlee.net
Domestic Worker Oral History Project - Domestic Worker Oral History Project: A $7,000 project grant to support community activists Dao Tran and Sarah Macaraeg, who are creating the first-ever multimedia collection of oral histories by US domestic workers, many of them Asian women, will be available online and published by the nonprofit Haymarket Books, with royalties going to domestic worker organizations. Home to approximately 200,000 domestic workers, NYC workers will represent the bulk of those interviewed. www.haymarketbooks.org
Lenora Lee Dance - Rescued Memories: NY Stories: A $5,000 project grant to support an interdisciplinary dance work inspired by stories of women who sought refuge from human trafficking in Lutheran and Presbyterian missions in NY Chinatown in the early 20th century, and links their experience to their counterparts today. It will premiere at San Francisco’s de Young Museum fall 2013 and the Baryshnikov Arts Center in NY in 2014.www.LenoraLeeDance.com
ManSee Kong – What Happened to Danny (Working Title): A $10,000 project grant to support director/producer ManSee Kong’s documentary about Private Danny Chen, whose death by gunshot suicide in the wake of brutal hazing by fellow soldiers in Afghanistan, drew national attention. Kong, who was granted unprecedented access to Chen’s family, tracks the investigation into Danny’s death and the family and community’s efforts to seek justice.http://about.me/mansee
Moving Earth Productions –Formosa: A $3,000 project grant to support a solo show by poet, playwright, filmmaker, and activist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai. The piece examines cultural identity, beauty and globalization through the history of Barbie doll manufacturing in Taiwan. Tsai plays four characters: a Spanish explorer in mid-1600s Formosa; a modern-day female hip-hop emcee; a young Chinese adoptee girl; and a Mattel factory worker. The show will premiere March 2013 at NYC’s HERE Arts Center. www.yellowgurl.com/category/projects
People’s Theatre Project – College Eye D: A $6,000 project grant to support a documentary theater piece led by award-winning playwright, actor, and filmmaker Christine Toy Johnson that addresses issues of identity and depression among Asian Pacific American (APA) and other women of color. The piece will be performed in conjunction with three colleges in the NYC area in 2013. www.christinetoyjohnson.com and www.PeoplesTheatreProject.org
The Muslims Are Coming! - The Muslims Are Coming!: An $8,000 project grant to support this documentary feature directed and produced by comedian and filmmaker Negin Farsad, which follows a group of Muslim-American comedians as they perform standup shows, street actions, meet locals and explore Islamophobia from big cities to small towns through the lens of comedy. www.themuslimsarecoming.com and www.neginfarsad.com
Q-Wave - QAPI Collaborative Writing Workshop: A $2,500 project grant to support four writing workshops led by women writers in the fall 2012 led by Q-Wave in collaboration with Gay Asian and Pacific Islander Men of New York and the South Asian Lesbian & Gay Association of New York City. The project will culminate in an October 2012 public reading event, exploring issues of ethnicity and sexuality.
www.q-wave.org
ABOUT THE ASIAN WOMEN GIVING CIRCLE
The Asian Women Giving Circle, first and largest volunteer giving circle in the nation led by Asian American women, funds art projects that contribute to cultural and political change created by Asian American women artists and activists in New York City. Since 2006, the AWGC has raised and distributed over $430,000 in funding to arts and social change projects. Fiscally sponsored by the Ms. Foundation for Women, AWGC is a member of the Asian Americans/ Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy and the National Giving Circle Network. www.asianwomengivingcircle.org
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Click HERE to download the press release.
Annual Celebration of Activism Thru the Arts - POSTPONED until Fall 2012
Dear Friends,
The Asian Women Giving Circle has decided to postpone our
Celebration of Arts and Activism until the Fall of 2012.
Enjoy the night off and instead of coming to another gala this month,
please make your donation to the Giving Circle's 2012 Grantmaking Fund!!
Please remember that ALL DONORS get the opportunity to VOTE on their top choices for funding. Our fundraising deadline this year is MAY 11. Please join us as we support Arts and Activism in the Asian American community!!
We received nearly 50 applications for funding and in our estimation, this is the strongest pool of applicants yet. There are amazing projects happening in our community from women artist activists addressing violence against women, trafficking, domestic workers rights, bullying, queer issues. We've heard from filmmakers, performance artists, community based organizations, dance companies, theatre troupes - all manner of inspiring artist activists.
Click HERE to make a gift now.
https://secure3.convio.net/msffw/site/Donation2?df_id=1527&1527.donation=form1
With best wishes,
The Asian Women Giving Circle
Sip, Shop and Swap at BAK on Wednesday, November 9th at 6pm
The Asian Women Giving Circle and NYWF’s Circle of Sisters for Social Change invite you to
Sip, Shop and Swap!!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011, 6–8 pm
at BAK, 11 East 13th Street, NYC Korean Kitchen & Craft Beer Hall
Sip a little at our wine tasting with oenophile Tuhina De.
Shop a lot by bringing a few gently used “nice” items from your closet to sell at our impromptu silent auction.
And at the end of the evening, we’ll
Swap the leftovers!
Please email your RSVP by November 3, 2011 to Angie@asianwomengivingcircle.org
Suggested $20 donation at the door.
All proceeds will benefit the Asian Women Giving Circle’s 2011 Grant Making “pot”
in support of Asian American women in NYC using the tools of Art to accomplish their Activism, as well as the New York Women’s Foundation.
Brooklyn Shopping Event at A.Cheng in Park Slope Brooklyn on Saturday, June 25th
Art Salon Symposium: Women, Arts, and Activism:
Asian Women in US and Abroad Making Changes through Art
Join us for China Institute’s first Art Salon symposium to inaugurate our collaboration with the Asian Women Giving Circle and Ethan Cohen Fine Arts. This special symposium will focus on arts and activism by contemporary Asian women artists in the US and their native countries. Panelists are Karin Chien (Chinese American film maker and 2010 Piaget Producers Award winner, Film Independent Spirit Awards), Chang-Jin Lee (Korean-born conceptual artist known for her work Comfort Women Wanted), and Amita Swadhin (South Asian media artist and co-creator of the award-winning theater project Undesirable Elements: Secret Survivors). Joan Lebold Cohen, a noted art historian and photographer who specializes in Chinese art and film, will moderate the panel discussions. Symposium will follow a light reception.
Wednesday, March 30 ~ 5:30 – 8:30 PM
$30 member/$35 non-member
To register online, go to www.chinainstitute.org/art-culture/programs-events/contemporary-art or call 212-744-8181.
Asian Women Giving Circle Grantee Video
We are thrilled that our new book, "Women and Philanthropy: Boldly Shaping a Better World" was released on September 21. The book surely could not have been written without all of your support and continuing interest. You all have played such an inspirational role in the writing of our book and we hope you will be thrilled to see what your input has produced.
Dr. Claire Guadiani from NYU wrote us and said, "Huge Bravas at the publication of the book. I am eager to use it in my classes next year. Thank you for all your hard work."
How exciting are those wonderful words? But it was all of you who were our motivation. Your work and your support mattered enormously to the creation of the book and we could not have done it without you.
Of special importance to us are the words from Debra Mesch, Executive Director of the Women's Philanthropy Institute and Andrea Pactor, Associate Director. In the Preface to "Women and Philanthropy," they wrote:
"This book should be required reading for everyone who cares about bringing as many individuals and resources as possible to the table to advance the public good, whether they are fundraisers or donors, men or women. The truth, plain and simple, is that stereotypes linger when one uses the words women and philanthropy in the same sentence. This book offers solid evidence that women’s philanthropy is not a trend or a passing fancy, but that it has become, in rich and varied ways, an important component of the philanthropic landscape."
-Sondra Hardy
http://womenandphilanthropy.org/
AWGC participated in the opinion leaders call about the research findings in Women Give 2010. Your thoughtful comments helped to shape responses to many media inquiries we received.
Press on Women Give 2010: USA Today
The press release and full report are available at: http://www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/womengive/
Maria Yoon and Kate Rigg on WNYC TV Channel 25, Asian America (PBS), Dec 6th Watch it here
Article on giving circles posted on Vivanista.com So You Want to Start a Giving Circle
AWGC steering committee at MOCA
Artists AWGC has supported
Jeanne Chinard has written a wonderful article about AWGC and our MOCA event on her blog http://www.etyand.com/journal/2010/10/26/asian-women-giving-circle.html
PAST NEWS & EVENTS
The Asian Women Giving Circle is proud to support The Up Close &
Personal series at the South Asian International Film Festival. The Up Close &
Personal series will be showing at The Rubin
Museum of Art on Saturday, Oct. 25th. The Series Includes:
"A Drop of Life"
"Healthy. Happy. Holi"
"Kerala Brides"
"Lalbatti"
"Holding Fast"
The best way to get a synopsis on the films is to visit www.saiff.org
The Living Portrait: 2007 Grantee
It announces the artist reception, the 11 day installation and the panel discussion. Considering that a recent newspaper article stated that 50% of undergraduate women say they have experienced emotional, physical or sexual violence stemming from personal relationships before or during college using the Living Portrait to educate, raise awareness and to offer opportunities for assistance is extremely valuable.
A major goal of the Living Portrait is also to inspire visitors to become involved in the fight against domestic violence. I think this installation at NYU at 5 venues is a great step toward that end.
Thanks for the inspiration and help by the Asian Women Giving Circle.
Larry Lee
Executive Director
New York Asian Women's Center
The Asian Women Giving Circle is proud to support the Asian American International Film Festival. We're sponsoring a panel discussion, "Female Gaze," and 2 docs - Megumi and Flower in the Pocket. Purchase tickets below... for our sponsored films, you can use this discount code "Cointe." For purchases of 10 tickets or more, call 212-327-9385.
Article in AsianWeek
The Asian Women Giving Circle
By: Emily Leach, Mar 23, 2008
New York City women ‘geh-t’ together to give big
The smallest piece of the pie, the least amount of visibility and little financial support are all terms that describe the Asian Pacific Islander nonprofit sector Nonprofit-Banker — but Hali Lee and her organization, the Asian Women Giving Circle, are working to change that...
2nd Annual Donor & Grantee Convening: Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Please join us as we celebrate our 2007 Grantees
The Asian Women Giving Circle invites you to our
2nd Annual Donor & Grantee Convening
Food, Drinks and Presentations of the 2007 AWGC sponsored projects by grantees on
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Location:
Asian American Writers’ Workshop
16 West 32nd Street, #10A New York NY 10001
Suggested donation $20
Please RSVP to events@asianwomengivingcircle.org
or call 646-300-6173
AAPIP - Growing Community Philanthropy Video
- Echoing Green semifinalist
-
2007 South Asian International Film Festival
October 3rd - 9th, 2007 in New York City.
www.saiff.org
DOCUMENTARY SERIES 1
RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART
BARE
India / SAIFF Premiere / 2007
English
Director: Santana Issar
Duration: 11 mins
Synopsis: In the piecing together of home videos shot by her parents nearly 2 decades earlier, and through a string of conversations with her father, mother, and sister, a daughter looks to understand the impact of her father's alcoholism on each of their lives: the sister's refusal to include him in her life; the mother's belief that her daughters should reach out to their father despite her own refusal to see him; the father's moment of honest introspection.
In talking to them, the questions she is struggling with come to the fore: should she stand behind him, drawing only on her memories of what a wonderful father he was? Or should she move on, and build her life without him?
About the Director: Santana Issar graduated in Economics from Delhi University in 2005. Thereafter she interned briefly with a news channel before coming upon work as an assistant director on a corporate film. The chance to direct Bare - her first film - came along a year later.
Since Bare’s completion she has worked with a media action group, and is currently completing a research fellowship on animal activism.
THE SKY BELOW
India / New York Premiere / 2007
Director: Sara Singh
Producer: Sara Singh
Written by: Sara Singh
Synopsis: From the shared, ancient history of the Indus Civilization, the people of the Northwest area of the Subcontinent have connections that go back millennia. In 1947, the partition of this region left a legacy of suspicion and a profound inability to reconcile this political divide. From Kutch to Kashmir and from Karachi to the Khyber Pass, some of the ground realities of the lingering fallout are explored; and also, if reconciliation is possible between two countries with interwoven histories…after 60 years of strained relations and the unresolved crisis in Kashmir. A former terrorist, politicians, royalty, citizens, historians, and others share their insights of the past, present, and future of this volatile, yet emerging, South Asian economic bloc.
Folk singers recorded live in their surroundings, found footage, verite and conceptual location shooting, contemporary and archival still photography are merged to emphasize the contrasted realities which compose this culturally connected, yet politically disconnected, region.
About the Director: Sara Singh was born in India and has spent most of her life in the US. She is an artist, writer, photographer, and filmmaker. 'The Sky Below' is her first documentary completed entirely on her own, with no other crew. - Asian Women Giving Circle: Reception to Meet the Directors -Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 4pm-6pm
Spice Restaurant 1411 2nd Ave (between 74th and 75th St.
RSVP to events@asianwomengivingcircle.org - The Asian Women Giving Circle is proud to co-sponsor three films made by our grantees to be screened at the 2007 Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) www.aaiff.org. The filmmakers and their projects exemplify our Circle’s arts and activism mission in a way that is powerful, creative and moving. Click for details.
- May 2007 Press Release
- Friday, March 16, 2007: Grant Applications Deadline 5 p.m., PST
- June 2007: Notification of Grant Awards
- Fall 2007: Convening of Awardees and Giving Circle
- February 1, 2008: Mid-year self-evaluation due to AWGC
- July 31, 2008: Final Report due to AWGC
Asian Women Giving Circle October 2006 Year End Event
 2006 Giving Circle |
 Giving Circle Member Melinda Chu |
 Giving Circle Members Lisa Philp Shinhee Han and Rini Banerjee |
 Giving Circle Member Tuhina De OConnor |
 Lisa Philp Hali Lee and Aiyoung Choi |
 Videographer Nat Soti capture sand interviews all |
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