Programs & Exhibitions
Fall 2023 - CONNECTED AS ONE
Excursions in Cultural Connections, Conversations and Solidarity
Exhibition | Connected as One
September 13 – December 16, 2023 (Closed October 13 and November 22 – 25)
Asian Arts Gallery, TU Center for the Arts, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Towson, MD 21204
Gallery Hours during exhibition:
Monday – Saturday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sookkyung Park’s immersive installation of large-scale sculptures and smaller works includes a merging and expansion of her two seminal pieces, “Blooming” and “Rise Up,” to simultaneously underscore the interconnectedness of life and bring people together. This airy and colorful dreamscape — saturated with symbols of hope, strength and harmony — inspires awe and optimism.
Opening Reception & Artist Talk | Sookkyung Park: Connected as One
Wednesday, September 13, 7:30 p.m.
Asian Arts Gallery & Center for the Arts Atrium
Celebrate the opening of Connected as One with an opening reception and introduction to the exhibition by artist, Sookkyung Park. Gain deeper insights into how Park — who was born and raised in a divided Korea — expresses her ideals for a peaceful society in her artwork.
AA&CC is a proud partner...
Film | Carmen Comes Home
カルメン故郷に帰る,
Karumen kokyō ni kaeru
Saturday, September 16, 1 p.m.
Art Lecture Hall, CA 2032, TU Center for the Arts
FREE. Registration required.
Enjoy this rare screening of a 1951 classic comedy—Japan’s first color film—from Reed Hessler’s private collection. Follow the encounters of Lily Carmen and her lovesick friend Maya when they leave Tokyo to visit Carmen’s small rural hometown in Nagano. (color) Directed by Keisuke Kinoshita. Hosted by Reed Hessler, longtime host on WBJC. Co-presented with the Baltimore Kawasaki Sister City Committee (BKSCC) and TU College of Fine Arts and Communication Dean’s Office.
AA&CC is proud to participate in...
Community Partner Interactive Exhibit at ArtScape 2023
Friday, September 22, 5 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Saturday, September 23, 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Sunday, September 24, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
INFO: https://www.artscape.org/about-artscape/
Learn about Asian Arts & Culture Center’s ever-evolving resources and programming that uplift and share APIMEDA (Asian Pacific Islander Middle Eastern Desi American) stories, challenge anti-Asian hate, and promote cross-cultural dialogue across Greater Baltimore. Create your own original paper lotuses and garlands with award-wining artist, Sookkyung Park, that symbolize peace and harmony and incorporate your wishes for the future.
AA&CC is proud to co-present...
Conversation with Dance Excerpts | In Conversation with Dana Tai Soon Burgess
Thursday, September 28, 6:30 p.m.
TU Center for the Arts Atrium, CA 2036
FREE.
Join renowned modern dance choreographer Dana Tai Soon Burgess as he shares how his
background as a gay, fourth generation, Korean American man inspires work that emphasizes
multiculturalism, equity, and social justice. Dr. Michael Masatsugu (TU Associate
Professor and Director of American Studies and Global Humanities) will interview Burgess
about his dedication to telling Asian American Pacific Islander stories through dance
as well as about his new memoir Chino and the Dance of the Butterfly. Dancers from
Burgess’ acclaimed company will perform excerpts from their repertoire. Burgess will
sign copies of his memoir, also for sale, at the event. Co-presented with TU Department
of Dance. Part of the week-long Rosenberg Distinguished Artist Residency. Co-sponsored
by TU Graduate Program in Global Humanities.
AA&CC is a proud partner...
Performance | Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company in Concert
Saturday, September 30, 7 p.m.
Stephens Hall Theatre, Towson University
Presented by TU Department of Dance
Tickets: $40
Limited number of free TU Student tickets available at the door.
Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company (DTSBDC) presents an evening of its acclaimed modern dances accompanied by Keith Hudspeth, Millicent Scarlett, Dana Scott and Erin Snedecor. Dana Tai Soon Burgess is a leading American choreographer, dancer, and cultural ambassador for the US State Department. Named the first-ever choreographer-in-residence for the Smithsonian Institution, he has been called “the poet-laureate of Washington Dance” by critic Sarah Kaufman. Now in its thirteenth season, DTSBDC is the preeminent modern dance company of Washington, DC. Based at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the company has served as a U.S. State Department cultural envoy and has toured to five continents and over thirty countries. “This artist is—not only a Washington prize, but a national dance treasure…” —The Washington Post. This event is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and is the culmination of the week-long Rosenberg Distinguished Artist Residency.
AA&CC is proud to co-present...
Performance | From China to Appalachia
Friday, October 13, 7:30pm
Saint Mark Presbyterian Church
10701 Old Georgetown Road, North Bethesda, MD 20852
Tickets: $22/advanced, $25/door
Grammy award-winning American Roots artists Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer join with Chinese hammered dulcimer player Chao Tian to combine music from China to Appalachia and beyond. Share the joy of these musicians’ love of musical exploration and music’s power to connect cultures. Delight in their unique renditions of traditional Chinese and Appalachian music as well as contemporary and traditional music from around the world. Co-presented by the Institute of Musical Traditions and the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University. Supported in part by a grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.
AA&CC is proud to co-present...
Workshop | From China to Appalachia
Sunday, October 15, 2pm
The School of Musical Traditions
7112 Willow Ave., Takoma Park, Maryland 20912
Tickets: $12/advanced, $15/door
Join Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer and Chao Tian for a discussion, hands-on workshop, and play-along while they share how they merge their musical styles. Discover the pre-existing and newly created connections between Appalachian and Chinese traditions and how these musicians blend instruments and vocals across cultures and styles like jazz, swing, Irish, and gospel music. Bring your own instrument to learn a tune from the group’s repertoire and jam together in a concluding play-along. Co-presented by the Institute of Musical Traditions and the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University. Supported in part by a grant from Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.
AA&CC is a proud partner...
Parade & Festival | Asian Community Processions at the 24th Great Halloween Lantern Parade & Festival
Saturday, October 21, 4 p.m. (Rain date: Sunday, October 22)
Patterson Park, Baltimore, MD
INFO: https://creativealliance.org/event/the-great-halloween-lantern-parade-festival-2023/
Join AA&CC in hosting Year of the Rabbit lantern sculptures, a Cambodian cultural procession, an Indian dance procession, and a Korean p’ungmul drumming procession as part of the 24th Great Halloween Lantern Parade & Festival co-produced by the Creative Alliance and Friends of Patterson Park. Experience the magic of fantastical spirits and creatures as well as spectacular presentations by diverse Baltimore-area communities of all ages.
AA&CC is proud to co-present...
Workshop | Introduction to Balinese and Javanese Traditional Music
Friday, October 27, Noon
Howard Community College
Monteabaro Recital Hall, The Horowitz Center
10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia MD 21044
FREE. Registration required.
Learn the basics of two distinct and leading styles of Indonesian traditional music with renowned masters Gusti Sudarta (Bali), Peni Candra Rini (Java), and Andy McGraw (USA). Learn to perform kecak, a traditional performing art form of telling the story of Ramayana, an important epic of Hinduism. Audience will have an opportunity to ask questions and try the instruments at the end of the session. Gusti Sudarta and Peni Candra Rini will return in the evening concert for a performance of sounds and sights of traditional and contemporary Javanese and Balinese gamelan music, dance and shadow puppets. Co-presented by the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University and Howard Community College Concert Series.
AA&CC is proud to co-present...
Performance | Music and Dance of Indonesia, Featuring Gusti Sudarta (Bali) and Peni Candra Rini (Java)
Friday, October 27, 7:30 p.m.
Howard Community College
Monteabaro Recital Hall, The Horowitz Center
10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia MD 21044
Tickets: $10-$28
Experience the sounds and sights of traditional and contemporary Javanese and Balinese gamelan music, dance and shadow puppets with visiting master artists Gusti Sudarta and Peni Candra Rini, faculty at the Indonesian Institute of the Arts. They will be joined by members of University of Richmond’s community gamelan, Raga Kusuma, led by Andy McGraw. Co-presented by the Asian Arts & Culture Center at Towson University and Howard Community College Concert Series.
AA&CC is a proud partner...
Film | Mr. Thank You
有りがたうさん, Arigatō-san
Saturday, November 11, 1 p.m.
Art Lecture Hall, CA 2032, TU Center for the Arts
FREE. Registration required.
Enjoy this rare screening of a 1936 classic comic drama from Reed Hessler’s private collection. Based on a short story by Nobel Prize-winning novelist Yasunari Kawabata and noted for its location shooting, this film portrays the lives of various bus passengers and their diverse reasons for travel from Izu to Tokyo during depression-era Japan. Directed by Hiroshi Shimizu. Hosted by Reed Hessler, longtime host on WBJC. Co-presented with the Baltimore Kawasaki Sister City Committee (BKSCC) and TU College of Fine Arts and Communication Dean’s Office.
Past Events
Exhibition | 균형이 잡힌 Balanced
Asian Arts Gallery, TU Center for the Arts
On view June 14 – July 15, 2023 (Closed July 4)
Opening Reception: Wednesday, June 14, 5 p.m.
Gallery Hours during exhibition:
Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Balancing each other’s differences and achieving synergy is important in both creative arts and our daily lives. However, attaining and sustaining a balanced life is difficult in a constantly changing world which requires us to constantly adapt to new conflicts, concerns, and environments. In particular, the unexpected COVID-19 global pandemic, made worries about reality and an uncertain future a regular part of our daily lives and thoughts. Just like finding our direction amid a foggy reality, creative activities are like taking a long journey toward an unknown destination.
Each of the works presented in this exhibition shows unique and inventive approaches to realizing balance and synergy.
Presented with Han-Mee Artists Association of Greater Washington, DC.
Exhibition + Festival | Asia North 2023: A Celebration of Art, Culture, and Community
May 5 – June 3
Station North Arts District
Exhibition | Tristan Cai: The Aesthetics of Disappearance
Asian Arts Gallery, TU Center for the Arts
On view February 8 – May 20, 2023
(Closed March 19 – 26)
Gallery Hours:
Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Through a series of digitally manipulated archival photographs from colonial Singapore,
multidisciplinary artist, Tristan Cai, creates “a gesture against historical amnesia”
and questions how history is constructed and narrated by those in power. Cai’s haunting
images draw attention to the fundamentally forgotten history of “houseboys” and their
British colonial masters in Singapore from the 1850s to the 1930s.
Gallery Talk + Opening Reception | Meet the Artist: Tristan Cai
Wednesday, February 8, 7:30 p.m.
Asian Arts Gallery, TU Center for the Arts
Celebrate the opening of The Aesthetics of Disappearance with a reception and an introduction to the exhibition by artist, Tristan Cai. Gain deeper insights into how Cai was drawn by chance to the topic of houseboys. Learn how he uses ethnography to understand the human condition and constantly reflects upon photography’s possibilities, limits, and failures. Cai is Professor of Photography at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. He received his B.F.A. from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and his M.F.A from San Francisco Art Institute. Cai’s accolades include the San Francisco Art Institute MFA Fellowship Award, the Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Award, and the Professional Development Grant and Arts Bursary Award from the National Arts Council of Singapore.
AA&CC is proud to co-sponsor:
Exhibition | "Lunar New Year" curated by Adam Chau
Baltimore Clayworks, Main Gallery, 5707 Smith Ave, Baltimore, MD 21209
On view January 14 – March 25
(Closed March 19 – 26)
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sunday, Noon – 5 p.m.
Chinese/Vietnamese American artist, Adam Chau, has produced this series of exhibitions
across the United States celebrating the Asian New Year since 2019.
Participating AAPI and mixed heritage artists share original ceramic works inspired
by the animals from the Asian zodiac – a rabbit for the year 2023. Multiple cultures
are represented in this project, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Myanmar,
Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Participating artists are Ian Basset, Ling Chun, WangLing
Chou, Grace Gittleman, Gunyoung Kim, Steven Kin, Nikki Lau, Cindy Leung, Mari Ogihara,
Eun-Ha Paek, Shoji Satake, Juliane Shibata, Hitomi and Takuro Shibata, Micah Sweezie.
Curator, Adam Chau, is a New York-based artist and Exhibitions Manager at ArtsWestchester.
AA&CC is proud to co-sponsor this exhibition.
AA&CC is proud to co-present:
Performance | Kinetic Crossings
Friday, March 10 and Saturday, March 11, 8 p.m.
Baltimore Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St, Baltimore, MD 21201
TICKETS: $15 – $25
Nicole A. Martinell (Artistic Director of Deep Vision Dance Company) and Saiko Kino (Japanese dancer and choreographer) will present an illuminating evening of contemporary dance works that cross their creative paths. Martinell remakes In Faith, a vivid, spiritual journey of friction, connection, and gratitude through the eyes of a Muslim man and a Christian woman. Kino's mesmerizing Shizuka revives Shizuka Gozen, a 12th-century mixed-gender dancer known for her extraordinary psychic powers and political influence.
The concert features collaborations with Asako Miura and Heather Mork (lighting design), Timothy Nohe (composer), Jamahl Rahmaan (movement artist), Michiyo Yagi (musician), Homayra Ziad (scholar-activist), and the Deep Vision dancers. AA&CC is proud to co-present this performance.
AA&CC is proud to co-present:
Opening Celebration Performances | Across Asia: Arts of Asia and the Islamic World
Sunday, April 23, 2 p.m.
Walters Art Museum, Graham Auditorium, 600 N. Charles St, Baltimore, MD 21201
Celebrate the opening of the Walters Art Museum’s Across Asia: Arts of Asia and the Islamic World with performances co-presented by the Asian Arts & Culture Center. Listen to Persian music by Ahmad Borhani and Japanese koto musician Masayo Ishigure and enjoy an Indian-Thai collaborative dance performance by Nilimma Devi and Anila Kumari of Sutradhar Institute of Dance and Related Arts/Devi Dance Theatre and Suteera Nagavajara and Vorayot Suksaichon of Somapa Thai Dance Company. The celebration also includes gallery talks, drop-in art-making, and tea tasting from 11 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. All ages are welcome.
Continuing Programs
TU Pin Peat Ensemble (Cambodian Classical Music)
The AA&CC and TU Department of Music teamed up to offer the TU Pin Peat (Khmer classical music) Ensemble led by master Cambodian musician, Chum Ngek. Through this course, which was established in spring 2017, TU students expand their artistic and cultural horizons while contributing to the preservation and longevity of a tradition that was nearly decimated during the Khmer Rouge era in Cambodia.
Special thanks to the Maryland State Arts Council, Citizens of Baltimore County, and AA&CC members for making this initiative possible.
Asia in Maryland (AIM) Cultural Connection
This ongoing project highlights exhibitions, performances, workshops, artist residencies, and online resources featuring local Asian arts and culture in Maryland communities. It also incorporates The Asia in Maryland (AIM) Cultural History Project, an interdisciplinary studies course combining ethnography and oral history to explore, understand and document Asian arts and culture in Maryland. Student research informs Center programming. In fall 2015, we initiated the “Connection” with an exhibition, performances, workshops and family days introducing local audiences to the living Khmer art and culture in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Asia in Maryland (AIM) Cultural History Project
The Asia in Maryland (AIM) Cultural History Project (IDFA 480/580 Interdisciplinary Fine Arts Special Topics Seminar) is an interdisciplinary studies course in Towson University’s College of Fine Arts & Communication. This course combines ethnography and oral history to explore, understand and document Asian arts and culture in Maryland. Students identify their own research topic and conduct independent research with guidance from the instructors throughout the semester. Topics can include art, music, dance, theater, foodways, costumes, healing arts, martial arts and more. Students create a portfolio of their research as a culminating project at the end of the semester. Student projects will be used in programs at the Asian Arts & Culture Center.
Read about the topics OUR students researched...
Abby Song: Contemporary Hanbok Designer
Student Researcher: Elayna Daminabo
Asian International Students at Towson University
Student Researcher: Jessica Donnelly
Asian Fusion Food and Baltimore
Student Researcher: Kiara (Olive) Oliver
Susan Weis-Bohlen: Ayurveda and Vedic Meditation
Student Researcher: Alexandra Palmer
The Life and Legacy of Grandmaster Kim and Tang Soo Do
Student Researcher: Theresa Schempp