2 minute read
Looking Forward
Reflecting on The W.O.W. Project’s Upcoming Program Year
This program year brought unexpected challenges to our work and to our communities both in and out of New York. The W.O.W. Project’s work has always been about building community and connecting with cultural heritage together — across generations, language barriers, and relationships to Asian America. As we enter our fifth program year at a time when Chinatowns across the US are facing uncertainty through multiple crises, questions we ask ourselves about resilience and community-building feel more important than ever. Who makes up our communities? What is the importance of place-based work in a virtual world? How can we show up for each other?
As we grow as an organization and a team, we want to ensure that any growth comes intentionally and in ways that help us answer these questions and center our values. In 2019, at this year’s team retreat, we spent time refocusing on what mission-driven work can look like for us going forward, as well as on grounding ourselves and our own agency in today’s political conditions.
Our virtual anniversary programming this summer focused on imagining our collective futures through healing, caring for each other, and fighting for Chinatown’s resiliency and building our solidarity practice with the movement for Black lives. While we incorporate into a non-profit, build our partnerships with other Chinatown organizations, and continue our core programs this upcoming year, we hope to stay grounded in the healing we’ve begun together in 2020.
We are so grateful for the opportunity to keep dreaming and growing with you in this program year and those to come.
- The W.O.W. Project Board Members
“As we look ahead to our 5 Year Anniversary, we hope to continue the momentum of our digital community-building and celebrate the momentous milestone of 5 years. We plan to host either digital or hybrid programming around the theme of growth and planting seeds, commemorating the long-lasting relationships between W.O.W. and partner organizations and collaborators. In our first year of our Civic Practice Partnership Residency at The Met we will be holding programs about vessels and community care to explore what we carry and what we hold. Heading into 2021, our Artist Residency, Resist Recycle Regenerate program, and the Internship program have shifted into the digital space. Despite these changes, W.O.W. remains a space where we organize, reflect, and care for each other.
The W.O.W. Project Program Team
Left to right: LNY ceramic vessel’s wishing well, LNY ceramic vessel’s ox made by Heidi Lau (Photos by Heidi Lau)
The W.O.W. Project Team
Screenshot of The W.O.W. Project team meeting, clockwise left to right: Bonnie Chen, Clara Lu, Mei Lum, Joy Freund, Emily Chow Bluck, huiying b. chan, Nisma Saadaoui, Kristin Chang, Diane Wong, Angela Chan, Yuki Haraguchi, Em He, Singha Hon, Jade Levine
” “W.O.W. feels like a space where things are abundant and possible as long as we have our creativity and imagination.
huiying b. chan
