FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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 – 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 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.
Learn more about 2012 Grant Projects