Experience Chinatown Arts Festival 2021
Over the month of September, thousands experienced site specific art installations at local businesses, and 5,000 enjoyed Thursday night concerts, and live performance art, dance, music, and art-making during a family-friendly Saturday.
In early September artists installed seven colorful, vibrant murals in response to theme: “How do we nurture Chinatown in 2021?” Chinatown local businesses provided the site for these artistic installations. Q Restaurant manager Billy shared, “Everyone loved the murals on the window!” Thanks to all our host sites: APM coffee, Liuyishou Hotpot Boston, Happy Lamb Hotpot Boston, Dumpling Café, Penang Malaysian Restaurant, Q Restaurant, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center.
Thursday evening performances at Auntie Kay and Uncle Frank Chin Park at the Rose Kennedy Greenway featured music by aznjujube, Ava Sophia, Amy Manion, W.A.G. Children, families, residents and guests, relaxed and connected with each other.
Finally, Experience Chinatown closed on September 25 with a mix of performances and activities at Chin Park and Pao Arts Center. Jennifer Lin and dancers opened the afternoon with bold Korean drums, ConArt got the crowd dancing hop-hop, Mikaley filled the plaza with the sounds of his valiha from Madagascar, Continuum Dance Project visualized immigrant stories through dance, and Juk Sing delighted audience members by performing in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. At Pao Arts Center the exhibition They Watch You Thrive engaged audiences in art-making and communal healing, and Becky Yee’s larger than life Lion Dance Photo Booth got people posing in the theatre.
It was a memorable afternoon, Lisa, who immigrated from China to Boston more than 20 years ago, commented, “The performances were so colorful! There were dances, solo artists, instrumentals…. The final group Juk Sing even sang both Cantonese and Mandarin music and the audience was so excited!”
Thank you to all our artists: Ang Li * Ava Sophia * aznjujube and Jeff La * ConArts * Continuum Dance Project * Lily Xie * Melody Hsu * Juk Sing * Soyoung Kim * Jillian King * payal kumar * Jennifer Lin * Shaina Lu * Amy Manion * Mikahely * Stephanie Pan * W.A.G. * Yuanyuan Wang * Helen Yung
Thank you to our individual volunteers and those from: BCNC Bamboo Circle * Tufts School of Medicine * Tufts School of Dental Medicine * MassMutual
We also thank the sponsors and partners of Experience Chinatown that made our events possible:
See the full list of artist and activities from Experience Chinatown 2021.