2015 GRANT PROJECTS
• ZINE
AMPLIFY(HER) • $13,000
RAISE
Amplify(Her) is a zine to spark conversation and honest dialogue about and by undocumented Asian women and youth. Each issue will focus on a specific theme and will be available both in hard copy and on a multimedia website. The project will be led by members of RAISE (Revolutionizing Asian American Immigrant Stories on the East Coast), a pan-Asian group, of all undocumented “Dreamers”—young people mobilized by President Obama’s 2012 DACA Act. RAISE is affiliated with AALDEF.
• WORKSHOPS AND READINGS
A Letter Home: Nepali Stories • $11,000
Meera Nair, Kundiman, and Adhikaar
A Letter Home: Nepali Stories is a multimedia project in partnership with Adhikaar that seeks to excavate the perspectives and voices of immigrant women from Nepal in New York City. Ten women will take part in writing and photography workshops led by award-winning writer Meera Nair. The work will be shared through public readings and displays in community-based venues such as nail salons, temples, and restaurants.
• WORKSHOPS
Muslim Women’s Story Lab • $11,000
Kayhan Irani and Women in Islam Inc.
The Muslim Women’s Story Lab is a series of hands-on workshops that seeks to deepen Muslim women’s engagement in three areas: Islamophobia, the inclusion of women in mosques and in community leadership. Ten to 15 Muslim women will participate in a monthly immersive learning community using oral history, story telling, improvisational theater, and portraiture.
• MULTIMEDIA ART INSTALLATION
Firewall • $8,000
Joyce Yu-Jean Lee
Firewall is an art installation in Manhattan’s Chinatown that will transform a rented storefront into a one-of-a-kind Internet café that explores censorship of gender issues in China. The public will be invited to compare disparities on Google and Baidu by researching terms and images online as part of a broader dialogue about Internet freedom.
• THEATER
Ms. Oriental • $8,000
Marisa Marquez
Ms. Oriental is a play that explores the high suicide rate among Asian American women. The play centers on a struggling actress who is visited by a coterie of notorious female figures including China’s Empress Dowager, Lady Murasaki, and warrior-queen Lakshmibai. Marquez will partner with New York City schools and colleges as part of her educational outreach strategy.
• EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
#NailedIt: Vietnamese and the Nail Industry • $13,000
Adele Pham and Third World Newsreel
A grant to support an organizing and education effort among nail salon workers, leveraging Nailed It, filmmaker Adele Pham’s feature-length documentary about the industry’s origins as pioneered by Vietnamese immigrants. The grant will support the creation and distrubtion of “know your rights” pamphlets about the harmful health effects of working with chemicals commonly used in the industry to nail salons workers in every New York City borough.
• WORKSHOP/DOCUMENTARY FILM
Desi Girls Documentary Film Project • $11,000
South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!)
This documentary film and education project will explore body image, personal relationships, sexual health, gender discrimination, domestic violence and cultural pressures of growing up South Asian and female in the US. Twenty young South Asian women will take part in a series of workshops that will culminate in their working with a filmmaker to produce a documentary for use as a peer-education tool.
• FILM SHORT
The Opposite of a Fairy Tale • $11,000
Jennifer Betit Yen and the Asian American Film Lab
The Opposite of a Fairy Tale is a short film that spotlights elder abuse in the Asian American community, based on the experiences of the filmmaker’s own grandmother. The film seeks to throw light on this under-reported problem, educate viewers on how to prevent and address elder abuse and offer resources for victims.