Program areas at Asia Society Texas Center
Performing art and culture -through dance, food, film, literature, music, and theatre, Asia Society Texas Center's performing arts and culture programs celebrate the vibrancy of asian cultures through traditional and contemporary arts to engender curiosity, empathy, and a better understanding of our community and the world. Many of these annual offerings are presented in collaboration with some of houston's most prestigious and diverse cultural organizations like miller outdoor theatre, aarp, lnprint, oca of greater houston, houston cinema arts festival, the museum of fine arts houston and more.
Astc's education and outreach programs offer unique virtual and in-person learning experiences for children, adults, and families to explore diverse asian cultures. Through our programming, we provide a platform for asian american communities to celebrate and share culture through family festivals, workshops, and performances. Our teks-aligned school field trip program, educator workshops and resources, exploreasia culture camps, family days, and adult learning classes all provide an opportunity to spark curiosity, build cultural empathy, and develop global competency and connectivity in houston and beyond.
The business and policy pillar of astc fosters a better understanding of our interconnected world through programming that elevates dialogue and ideas to combat bias and connects houstonians with global business and thought leaders, authors, scholars, diplomats, and policy experts. As we exited the pandemic we began to welcome audience members back to Asia Society Texas while still having online program offerings. In fy21-22 we hosted 25 programs - 9 virtual, 14 in-person only and 2 hybrid in-person and virtual programs. We had a total of 1,489 in-person attendees, 518 live online attendees and 23,701 post live attendees for our virtual programs. Key programs included programs on u.s.-asia foreign policy, asian americans standing up for racial justice, discussions around energy, mental health, climate change, and a huffington award dinner honoring former secretary of defense dr. robert m. gates. Notable speakers included novelist charles yu, former australian prime minister and current Asia Society president and ceo kevin rudd, former deputy national security advisor ben rhodes, political commentator ali velshi, actor, author and former white house staffer kal penn, 2020 presidential candidate andrew vang, journalist and chef priya krishna, national security council coordinator for the lndo-pacific kurt campbell, psychologist and author dr. jenny wang, political figure and author huma abedin as well as chinese ambassador qin gang, pakistani ambassador masood khan among many others.
The exhibitions department at astc shares the best visual arts from and about Asia with the houston-area community. Through exhibitions and related programs in fy21-22, we featured the works of 11 contemporary artists through 5 exhibitions, both from the us and Asia. Our department's programming deepens appreciation for the arts in Texas. In fy21-22, the organization also created 6 unique programs including a focus on zine- making, the asian diaspora, and contemporary artists from japan and the united states. Featured artists included kana harada, tuan andrew nguyen, matt manalo, and hong hong.