Photo credit: Melanie Fu
Save the date for our Lunar New Year Celebration!
Pao Arts Center’s annual Lunar New Year celebration is back! Come by for an afternoon of art and interactive workshops. All ages are invited to join us for cultural activities as we usher in the year of the snake! Register to receive event updates and reminders.
Suggested Donation | $10 per family
While you’re in Chinatown, also visit our friends at Chinatown Mainstreet for their Chinese New Year Cultural Village.
Drop-in Activities
11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Theater
Bầu Cua Cá Cọp with Harvard Vietnamese Student Association
Learn how to play this traditional dice game. Win exciting prizes while celebrating Vietnamese culture.
Indonesian Batik Bookmarks with Maria Salim
Make your own Indonesian bookmarks in two styles: drawing (batik tulis) and stamping (batik cap).
Korean Lucky Envelopes with Mindy Tsonas Choi and the Boston Korean Adoptees
Craft a paper, bojagi (보자기) - inspired envelope in traditional Korean colors for luck and prosperity this Lunar New Year.
Lion Showcase and Introductory Demo with Kevin Nguyen
See up close the various restored lion dance artifacts and their stories retold. Then watch an intro demonstration of the lion dance itself.
Lunar New Year Embroidery with Sam Lê Shave
Affirm your well wishes and good fortunes for loved ones through creating hand embroidered decorations or sew-able patches for protection and luck for the New Year.
Gallery
Chinese Paper Cutting with Zhonghe (Elena) Li
Learn the art of Chinese paper cutting transforming paper into beautiful gold or red snakes using just a pair of scissors. Make your own design or take a kit home to do in your own time.
Interactive Snake Mural with Amanda 陳 Beard Garcia
Add your scales and New Year’s wishes to the Year of the Snake mural.
Classroom 1
Creative Photo Booth with The Chinatown Project
Get your photo taken and decorate your instant photo to make it fun and festive.
Meet the Activity Leaders
Amanda is a Chinese American muralist, illustrator, and brand designer based in Dracut, MA. Through portraiture and digital design, her creative work reclaims and repaints her Chinese American identity by investigating the invisible history and heritage of her ancestors. She is co-founder and principal of Likemind Design, a creative studio with a mission to elevate the brands of independently-owned businesses “just like us,” as well as founder of Lucky Knot Arts, a collaborative community centering AANHPIs through pop-up arts programming on the North Shore of Massachusetts.
Photo credit: Mel Taing
The Chinatown Project is a grassroots organization dedicated to documenting Boston Chinatown as it continues to evolve.
Photo credit: courtesy of the artist
The Harvard Vietnamese Association is dedicated to fostering an awareness of Vietnamese culture on campus and within the Greater Boston area, and promoting the interests of the Vietnamese student body at Harvard.
Photo credit: courtesy of the organization
Kevin bridges the intersection of art, lion dance, martial arts, and
fashion. He wants to tackle public art, murals, installations, fashion,
and products with his work.
Photo credit: Daniel Nova, Jr.
Maria is an artist, aspiring urban planner, and dreamer who is intrigued by the ideas of home, identity, and belonging. Since moving away from Indonesia at 16, she has lived across seven cities in three continents. Through comics, ceramics, and collaging, her practice seeks to capture the beautiful, unexpected moments in our everyday life and remind us to live with empathy, curiosity, vulnerability, and kindness. She hopes to remind us of our commonalities and create a sense of collective memory and belonging in our ever-changing world.
Photo credit: courtesy of the artist
Mindy Tsonas Choi is a member of Boston Korean Adoptees, and is an artist, community organizer and facilitator working at the intersection of creativity, belonging and care. Her work was recently published in, Let's Move the Needle: An Activism Handbook for Artists, Crafters, Creatives and Makers by Shannon Downey, available where all books are sold.
Photo credit: courtesy of the artist
Sam Lê Shave is a Vietnamese-American multidisciplinary artist from Dorchester, MA. They work in various mediums ranging from painting, embroidery, mixed media, etc. They’re best known for blending storytelling through bold, colorful patterns or motifs, portraits, and obscured text. Their creative influences are informed by their Vietnamese identity, care for mental health, family, community, and organizing experience. Their works are intuitive and process-led and are used to channel and promote healing and restorative practices for themselves, collaborators, and viewers alike.
Photo credit: courtesy of the artist
Zhonghe (Elena) Li is a Cambridge-based multimedia artist devoted to fostering connections—among people, within communities, and between humanity and nature. At the heart of her artistic motivation and practice is a deep exploration of how to restore balance within individuals and in the relationship between humans and the natural world.
Photo credit: courtesy of the artist
