My project proposal is to curate a week-long festival of choreography in collaboration with Phil Chan’s Final Bow for Yellowface nonprofit to celebrate the grand opening of the National Museum of Asian Pacific American History and Culture. My aim is to celebrate the cultural diversity of Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, who make up some of the largest immigrant groups in the country. India and China (including Hong Kong and Macao but excluding Taiwan) accounted 6% and 5% of total immigrants in 2022; the Philippines, a former U.S. occupied territory, accounted for 4%. Asian people made up 31.1% of the total immigrant population in 2022 and continue to be one of the largest growing immigrant groups following those from the Americas (Migration Policy Institute, 2022). I believe it is long overdue to give Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders a home to represent their heritage in the heart of the United States. 

I am proudly Filipina American. My mom immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines when she was 15. She met my dad, an American of Polish-Danish descent, a few years later, and they started my family in the Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. I was raised in a diverse community of families who worked for the government, the military, the foreign service, the World Bank, and many more institutions that attract people of various cultural backgrounds.

When I was in elementary school, my classes would often take us on field trips to Smithsonian museums in the heart of the nation’s capital. With 17 museums free to the public, the Smithsonian Institution is one of the most incredible cultural resources available in D.C. However, these museums excluded much of American history. Although there were a plethora of visual art museums, two air and space museums, an iconic natural history museum, a zoo, a natural history museum, and a general American history museum, very few centered on the individual cultural groups that were integral to the fabric of the United States. The National Museum of the American Indian opened in 2004, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture only opened in 2016, both very new considering the Smithsonian was established in 1846. The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center is only online, providing an abundance of literature and history despite the lack of a physical home. 

The U.S. has a complex and fraught relationship with racial and ethnic identity. The Transatlantic Slave Trade was a major force in the foundations of the nation. The concept of Manifest Destiny resulted in the displacement and destruction of indigenous tribes. Immigrants from as far as Asia and the Pacific Islands to as close as the southern border with Mexico face discrimination, xenophobia, and racism. However, that does not minimize the rich traditions upheld and invaluable contributions made by the patchwork of people that make up the American identity. I have wondered since I was a child why Asian Americans were rarely represented in the Smithsonian. When the African American history museum opened, I saw an opportunity for more individual cultures to find a home of their own. In 2022, my lifelong dream for an Asian Pacific American Heritage museum finally took root in the signing of bill H.R. 3525.

My proposal is two pronged: first, I propose a week of celebrating Asian American cultural contributions featuring choreographers headlining the program. Each day would host a different performing arts related event, including traditional concert dance settings and more relaxed community dance events. Smithsonian museums are open 10am-5pm seven days of the week, so that leaves the first day for an official opening ceremony, like the ceremony for the National Museum of African American History and Culture. I hope to host this week in collaboration with Phil Chan’s Final Bow for Yellowface, the host of the annual 10,000 Dreams Festival, which has grown from an online festival in 2021 to a partnership with The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Chan’s organizations, including the Gold Standard Arts Foundation, have worked tirelessly over the past seven years to both eliminate offensive caricature and Orientalism from the stage while also supporting Artists of Asian descent in the U.S. and abroad. It feels fitting to collaborate with an organization that has become part of the fabric of Asian American culture itself.